Menu Planning Strategies for Restaurants

This assignment delves into the crucial process of menu planning for restaurants. It emphasizes the importance of understanding customer demands and needs before developing a strategic menu plan. The assignment highlights the Ledbury restaurant's success as a prime example, illustrating how meticulous menu planning can lead to recognition and awards. It also references various resources like books, journals, and online articles to support its points.

Menu planning
and
product development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
a) Factors that influence menu planning decisions.................................................................1
b) Stages of the planning of menu product development ......................................................3
c) Influences on the development process..............................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Menu planning is process of make a plan of dishes based on customer expectations,
demands and needs. Plan of menu needs changes from season to season and also due to
competitive market. To gain more profit, process of product development is necessary to
implement in restaurants. Present study lay emphasis on the Ledbury restaurant which is situated
at London, UK. This restaurant started in 2005. It is a two Michelin star restaurant and its head
chef is Brett Graham. It has approx seating capacity of 55 people. There is a hall master's house
and chapel present in the ledbury. It offers British Cuisine food. This assignment reports on the
factors which influences decision making of menu planning. It also explained the stages involved
in product development process. This report also includes the factors which influences the
development process.
TASK A
a) Factors that influence menu planning decisions
Menu planning refers to planning of meal that eat at dinner or launch for planned week or
on a trip to have refreshment and enjoy the moment. Menu planning is important task for chief of
restaurant that it indirectly leads to market share and popularity of restaurant. Menu planning in
advance saves time and money (Ozdemir and et.al., 2015). It gives refreshment to customers and
promotes healthier choices. There are some factors that influence menu planning decisions which
are explained below:
11 Economic factor- Family and friends that come in restaurant makes a choice of their
food based on their income or budget. It is very important to have all range of food so
that low income customers can also prefer to have dinner in restaurant The Ledbury.
Price of meal vary from season to season based on availability of resources. It is
necessary to avail nutritious food at low cost (Almand and et.al., 2018). For this, The
Ledbury uses jiggery in place of sugar, uses fruits and vegetables based on regional
season, use less expansive materials like cereals. But by lowering the cost of dishes, it is
necessary to maintain quality of recipe for high income customers because they want
nutritious food. By using above strategies to save prices gains customer taste and
improves menu planning so that chief of restaurant makes decision easily.11 Season- Customer preferences of taste vary from season to season. Like in summer,
customers prefer cold foodstuffs like shakes and cold drinks. In summer times, vegetables
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that are in more abundance are like pumpkin, tinder, bitter gourd, etc. customer prefer to
have seasonal foods and they are nutritious too. Like in winter, customers prefer to have
soups that makes them comfortable, chilli pannier and all (West, 2016). In winter times,
The Ledbury uses those vegetables that are in more abundance are like carrots, tomatoes,
cauliflower, etc. therefore, chief has to keep in mind to plan a meal that which season is
going on and what customer prefer to have.11 Food Acceptance- it is also necessary to recognise the region of customer that from
where they belong for example, if customer is from US then he more like to have
American food whereas for an Indian man, they will prefer to have spicy Indian food.
Planning of meal is done by analysing customer taste and their preferences. There is also
a chance of customer preference that they want to have breakfast only or have heavy
dinner. It is necessary to plan menu accordingly. The Ledbury restaurant offer british
cuisine food for UK people (Guyadeen and et.al., 2018).11 Competitive factor- This factor affects menu planning too much. While analysing other
restaurants, it gives ideas to have menu plan accordingly so that customer chooses The
Ledbury restaurant to have lunch or dinner. It also helps to make strategies against other
favourable restaurants to gain competitive advantage. It also helps to set price of means
accordingly. It also depends on space that restaurant have for customers so that they feel
comfortable to have lunch. In menu, choices of food is necessary so that customer feel
unique among others to prefer The ledbury.11 Location- This factor analyse the area where the restaurant is located and which type of
customers are living in surrounding area. It helps to plan menu in such a manner that
region/nation of customers are known and choices of mean in menu are made
accordingly. It also helps to set price of meal based on restaurant location because if
restaurant is in high competitive area then, it is beneficial to have price of meal low
comparing to other restaurants. Quality of meal in the Ledbury restaurant can also be
maintained according to location. For example, near sea areas, coastal food can be
prepared at low cost (Derqui, Fayos and Fernandez, 2016).
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b) Stages of the planning of menu product development
Menu product development means modifying menu plan according customer taste and
expectation. Attractive menu brings more and more customers which directly increases market
share of restaurant. Menu needs changes as customer taste vary from season to season. Also, the
availability of resources to prepare food also changes. So, its necessary to modify the menu plan
from time to time as per customer demands and expectations by maintaining quality and
services. Product development is a process to bring changes in overall menu or meal so that
customer prefer to have The ledbury restaurant and makes it popular among the public. There are
four stages processes in product development which are explained below:
1. Know the occasion- First, it is necessary to analyse current occasion or upcoming
occasion so that menu can be planned according to customer preference based on
occasion. For example, during Christmas occasion, people prefer to have cake, Pavlova,
Eggnog. The ledbury know the customer preference of food in different occasions by
taking feedback and then plan the menu accordingly. So, to plan a menu it is necessary to
know customers expectations, demands and needs. It helps managers to set their mind
and develop products based on occasion and gain customer trust and lead to in top list of
restaurants (Anderson and et.al., 2018).
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Illustration 1: product development process
Source: (New Product Development Stages 2018)

2. Plan the recipe- After analysing the occasion, next stage is to plan the recipe. This stage
includes the planning of recipe and serving to customers. Menu plan is made according to
customer demands and upcoming occasions and season. Customer taste vary from season
to season so it is beneficial to make a plan in advance. It can also include planning of
offers that restaurant made for bringing more and more customers. The Ledbury also
plans for providing space for gathering as per analysis of demands of gatherings. This
stage includes planning of serving dishes attractively and effectively to customers so that
customers give positive feedback about provided services which indirectly gains
customer trust towards restaurant.
3. Trial- After planning and making of recipe and strategies of serving and offers, now
stage come is to take trail of menu plan that is made based on analysis of customers and
occasions. This trial gives the information regarding effectiveness of plan. Before serving
to final customers, it is beneficial to take trial so that mistakes in menu plan can be
analysed and has a chance to modify them. Mistakes are big mess for the Ledbury
because it can decrease the market share in just a second if customers are not satisfied
with the services that they are providing. If trial get successful then go for next stage i.e.,
final menu.
4. Final menu- After completing above stages, now stage come is to serve the dishes finally
to customers and make them satisfied with their services. It gives final effectiveness of all
stages and measure market share and productivity of restaurant from menu product
development process. The Ledbury motivates managers of restaurants to bring new ideas
and innovations to restaurant if outcome from process is positive and enhances market
share.
Above stages explained the process of menu product development. It includes analysis of
customers tasted based on upcoming occasion, then make a plan for making and serving dishes
to customers, then take a trial of plan and if trial is successful then go for final menu and serve
customers. This process leads the restaurant to more market share and to increase the trust of
people.
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c) Influences on the development process
After the product development process, there are some factors that influences on process
and provide both positive and negative impacts.
11 Menu costing- This factor affects the customers who have low income due to which they
can not afford the dishes inscribed on menu after development process. This reduces
number of customers for The Ledbury restaurant. So, it is necessary to develop menu in
such a way that it does not affect the cost of dishes. It can be controlled by having
seasonal dishes because seasonal vegetables and ingredients are easily available and at
low cost (Mo, 2016).11 Purchasing specification- To make the dish, first thing that is necessary is to purchase
the material that being used for preparing dishes. After the development in menu,
investment cost in purchasing specific materials affects on the increased market share. If
profit is more than before then, purchasing cost of The Ledbury is invested is suitable for
restaurant profitability.11 Customer reference- After the menu development process, if existing customers refer
their friends or relatives for the Ledbury restaurant then, it can be said that development
process is effective and efficient. It makes a competitive advantage for restaurant to
compete against favourable restaurants by having refereed customers. It increases
popularity and publicity among the people. It is indirect way of promotion (Linassi,
Alberton and Marinho, 2016).11 Nutritional food- It is necessary to main quality of food to gain customer trust. After the
menu development process, it is responsibility of managers of restaurants to maintain
quality and provide nutritious food to customers so that it do not affects health of people
and customers feels comfortable to prefer food at the Ledbury. It is a task for mangers to
maintain quality at low cost.11 Plate presentation- This factor shows the attractiveness of serving dishes to customer.
After making the plan, it is necessary to present dishes attractively to customers. It gains
attention of customers and make them interested to have more dishes like this. The
Ledbury covers some mistakes made by employees of restaurant by presenting
attractively because it attracts attention of customer toward the dish only (Abbey, Wright
and Capra, 2015).
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11 Value analysis- This factor analyse the value that is added to restaurant productivity and
market share. This shows the effectiveness of developed menu plan by increased number
of customers than before. It is value generated after promoting, advertising, investing.
The Ledbury analyse both internal and external factors that made costing. Like for
infrastructure, money is invested which is external factor. Cost for purchasing material is
internal factor. This measure the effectiveness of plan.11 Location- This factor affects the effectiveness of restaurant too much. If location is too
much away from reach of people, then it is wastage of time and money for developing
menu. Location of The Ledbury is in reach of customers so that more customers can join
them and feel comfortable to have lunch or dinner. Place should be appropriate for low
income and high income people as well (Bouzit and et.al., 2016). High income customers
want luxurious place to have dinner. So, it is responsibility of mangers to manage the
infrastructure accordingly so that both type of customers can afford them.
CONCLUSION
This assignment concluded by measuring the effectiveness of developed menu plan. It
evaluated those factors which influenced the menu plan development process. Like costing factor
influenced too much and affects low income people to afford dishes in the Ledbury restaurant. It
also framed those factors which influence menu planning process. Menu planning is done on the
basis of collecting information first about the demands and needs of customers. Then make a
strategic menu plan accordingly and then make a trail of it for better performance. This menu
development process helped the Ledbury restaurant too much that it became one of the
favourable and preferred restaurants in top 50 list of UK. It was awarded the square meal BMW
restaurant of the Year award because of the menu panning.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Abbey, K., Wright, O. and Capra, S., 2015. Menu planning in residential aged care—the level of
choice and quality of planning of meals available to residents. Nutrients. 7(9). pp.7580-
7592.
Almand, M. and et.al., 2018. Systems and methods for displaying menu items. U.S. Patent
Application 14/220,096.
Anderson, T.M. and et.al., 2018. Primary menu.
Bouzit, S. and et.al., 2016. Automated Evaluation of Menu by Guidelines Review.
In RoCHI (pp. 11-21).
Derqui, B., Fayos, T. and Fernandez, V., 2016. Towards a more sustainable food supply chain:
Opening up invisible waste in food service. Sustainability. 8(7).p.693.
Guyadeen, D. and et.al., 2018. Evaluation theory and practice: Comparing program evaluation
and evaluation in planning. Journal of Planning Education and Research. 38(1). pp.98-
110.
Linassi, R., Alberton, A. and Marinho, S.V., 2016. Menu engineering and activity-based costing:
an improved method of menu planning. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management. 28(7). pp.1417-1440.
Mo, D., 2016. The Design & Solutions for the Web-Based Ordering and Menu System.
Ozdemir, B. and et.al., 2015. Menu design: A review of literature. Journal of Foodservice
Business Research. 18(3). pp.189-206.
Regulation, A., 2017. Nutrition and Menu Standards for Human Performance.
West, A.W., 2016. Designing a Drop-Down Menu. In Practical Web Design for Absolute
Beginners (pp. 261-269). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Online
7 Steps for Quick and Easy Menu Planning 2018. [Online]. Available through.
<http://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Menu-Planning/7-Steps-for-Quick-and-Easy-
Menu-Planning.aspx>.
New Product Development Stages 2018. [Online]. Available through.
<http://productlifecyclestages.com/new-product-development-stages/>.
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