Menu Development, Planning and Design

MENU DEVELOPMENT,
PLANNING AND DESIGN

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................................3
Principles of planning and designing menu.............................................................................................3
Comparison between different types of menus .....................................................................................4
Analysis of three menus with reference to customer and business requirements..................................5
Analyzing and discussing various impacts of customer and business requirements on the plan and
design of the menu..................................................................................................................................6
Conclusions and recommendations for following trends in customer and business requirements.........7
Budgeted menu of Costa Coffee..............................................................................................................8
Key considerations while costing and pricing menu items....................................................................12
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Menu plays a very important role in any café or restaurant or foods and beverages
company. It states the items of different category for satisfying different needs of the customers.
It is regarded as a key document through which the sales of the café and restaurants take place.
The more attractive the menu is; the more sales can be generated by the café. There are many
principles that have been followed while developing and designing menu which will be
discussed in this report. In this report, Costa coffee a UK based, coffee house dealing in many
kinds of hot and cold drinks. It is specifically operating in the beverages sector of UK. This
report is based on how a hospitality consultant should take care of menu designing principles
while developing a menu for a café in order to meet various customers and business
requirements. Also, key considerations that must be taken care of while costing and pricing the
menus are part of this report.
MAIN BODY
Principles of planning and designing menu
There are many principles that are taken into account while planning and designing menu
for a café or F&B company. These are listed below:
Balanced menu: The most important things that must be kept in mind by the hospitality
consultant while developing menu for the F&B business is to design a balanced menu. Balanced
here refers to considering the consumer expectation and needs and the switching off between
different choices and dishes which is classified into five categories that is, fruits, vegetables,
dairy products, protein and grains (Rohde, Zahnd and Whitaker, 2017). The menu must be that
comprehensive which meets all dietary requirements. Also, the seasonal items must be offered
and changes according to the environmental changes. Whatever the offerings would be, it must
be produced within the overall budgeted cost.
Diversity considerations: The customers can be of diverse category where the dietary
requirements and preferences may not be the same. Customer falling in any particular category
has their own tastes and preferences. Some of the category which can be considered by the menu
designer for including diversified items are as follows:
Age: The most important factor that will be kept in mind is to provide items in the menu for all
age groups as they have differentiating choices (Hernandez-Ocana and et.al., 2018). As an old

age people prefer more of simple and light food while on the other hand young people prefer to
have heavy foods, also, small kids who generally prefer to eat fast foods. Accordingly, the menu
must include all those items which can be sufficient to satisfy needs of different age groups.
Race: menu must be designed that cater to the needs of culture prevailing in the target sector.
Accordingly, culturally popular dishes must be at the top of the menu card.
Religious belief: Religion is also an important factor, as some foods and drinks are not consumed
in one religion while the same is mostly preferred in other.
Medical restrictions: There are many restrictions that restrict customers to demand one type of
dish over other. So items must be flexible enough to be changed with the customer’s
requirements.
Lifestyle preferences: There are many changes in preference due to the particular lifestyle. As
vegetarians prefer more of dairy products and dishes made from vegetables. On the hand, non-
vegetarians prefer dishes made from animal carcass over other dishes (Vanderdonckt and Petit,
2019).
Costs: menu development must be carried out within the extent of the affordability and cost must
be covered through the sale of the menu items.
Comparison between different types of menus
Table d'hôte menu: This menu type offers limited choices in dishes. Here a total meal is offered
at a fixed price. One meal includes number of courses with limited choice therein. The items of
the menu are prepared in advance and are served on the time set (Hong and Baker, 2017).
The advantage of this type of menu is that it requires limited area for setting kitchen, limited
equipment and labor and food wastage is limited due to limited dishes.
The disadvantage is that it provides lesser choice which can’t satisfy changing preferences of the
customers. Also, the items for all categories of customers are not possible to be offered.
A’ la carte menu: Under this type of menu, there are many choices available for different dishes
under many courses. All the dishes under different courses are priced individually. Here those
items are served to the customers for which the order has been placed. All dishes need different
time for preparation. Here customers need to pay only for those dishes which they have ordered.
The advantage of a’ la carte is; it provides huge number of choices to customers. Such menus are
helpful in serving different category of customers (Morgenbesser, 2020). Here the individual