Menu Planning for Competitive Advantage

The assignment concludes that menu planning is essential for catering to the needs of guests and providing clients with high-level satisfaction. It suggests developing understanding of principles and considering them when preparing menus, which will help management teams formulate effective menu plans.

Menu Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK A ..........................................................................................................................................3
AC 1.1 Discuss the principles and factors of recipe development..............................................3
AC 1.2 Assess the factors that influence menu-planning decision..............................................3
AC 1.3 Discuss factors that influence service methods...............................................................4
AC 2.1 Discuss the stages of menu product development planning............................................4
AC 2.2 Evaluate the influences of different factors on the development process.......................5
TASK B...........................................................................................................................................5
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Menu is defined as document which contain the list of the variety of dishes which are
required to be served to guest during the breakfast, lunch or dinner. Menu planning is defined as
the procedure of selecting dishes or food for special event. It also includes identifying the factors
which might have major as well as significance influence of menu planning and its procedure
(Ozdemir and Caliskan, 2014). Menu planning also includes determining the requirement of
resources which are required to prepare food. It also involves other activities such as Identifying
the types of food that can be prepared as per to activities and preparing schedule for particular
day is the significant part of Meal planning. Menu planning point the sequence of activities or
operations which will be arranged as well as conducted in order to achieve desired objectives.
TASK A
AC 1.1 Discuss the principles and factors of recipe development
Recipe must be developed by following various principles. It will help in maintained the
standard of food items and its quality. Recipe must consists of essential flavours that are required
in it. Also, it should have unique name so that it can be recognised (Chávez-Bosquez, Marchi
and Parra, 2014). The ingredients must be in proper quantity and proportions. The environment,
temperature for making recipe must be proper and suitable. Besides this, product developed
should be attractive and colourful so that it can attract large number of customers.
Nutritional value- The recipe should have enough nutrition. In must include protein, vitamins,
etc. in proper quantity.
AC 1.2 Assess the factors that influence menu-planning decision.
There are various number of factors that are need to be considered while planning menu,
some of them are:
BALANCE: It is very important aspect while planning a menu, it should provide well- rounded
meals. There should be appropriate number of choices in salads, starters and desserts. While
planning menu considering this is very important to keep the balance within the choices one is
offering to their customers (Sufahani and Ismail, 2015). There should be equal number of
vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes in menu card.
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VARIETY: These days there are various number of options are available for the customers, there
is wide range of options available for them. But it has been seen that offerings of almost every
place is quite same; in order to attract the attention of the customers there should be uniqueness
in the offerings provided by the restaurants and hotels, numerous variety of unique dishes will
attract the customers and helps in increasing the profit ratio's.
OCCASION: The menu offered by the hotels and restaurants should be flexible as per the
occasions and festivals (Seyitoglu, 2017). It is important for them to consider the event for
which they are planning the menu. For example : If the menu is constructed for children's party
than in that case it must include more number of sweet and healthy dishes. The elegance of the
menu should be maintained as per the event and occasion.
DIETARY RESTRICTIONS: While designing a menu, it should be kept in mind and there are
number of people who are health conscious and they don't prefer to eat spicy and oily food. So
for this situation, the menu should always cover 2-3 dishes which are very healthy and less spicy,
so that it can be consumed by the people who are very particular regarding their health and diet.
AC 1.3 Discuss factors that influence service methods
There are many factors that can influence service methods. These are as follows :-
Set table properly- Setting table properly will help in serving food in better manner. With this it
will be easy to determine which food has to be served and where (Nikolaus and Nickols-
Richardson, 2017) This will create a good impression on customers. Also, keeping knifes and
forks in proper way will give allow guest to determine service quality.
Choose plates wisely- While serving food it should be kept in mind that selection of plates is
done properly. Which food item will be served in which plate must be identified. Plates should
be big enough to let food item stand out and not too small. If cold dishes are served it must be
placed in freezer for a bit.
Garnish appropriately – Garnishing food will help in making food look delicious and
attractive. Also, it will show service quality and efficiency of chef (Sufahani and Ismail, 2014).
AC 2.1 Discuss the stages of menu product development planning
The menu product is developed by following several stages and factors that can affect
menu and product development.
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Sales mix- It refers to sales of restaurant in different food items. By analysing past data, figures
of sales, new product is developed. This helps in identifying which item needs improvement and
what more can be added in menu.
Competitor activity – It plays a vital role in product development. By identifying what
competitor products are, new products can be developed. It will help in differentiating product
quality and features (Dixon and et..al., 2014).
Feasibility studies – It describes that how strategies and plans of company will be completed. In
developing new product the overall procedure must be analysed. This will help in finding out
weak areas and developing strategies in case of any consequence.
AC 2.2 Evaluate the influences of different factors on the development process
Social – Society ensure that product are developed according to their needs. The strategies
followed must be according to change in taste and preference of society. It will be beneficial for
company in development process.
Economic- Change in income level of people affect development process. Company have to
develop new product that is affordable to people. It must match with their income level.
Domestic- It means the internal factor of a country in which company operates. It includes,
culture, lifestyle, needs, of people (Ozdemir and Caliskan, 2014).
Company staff plays a very important role in development process. They use their skills
and abilities in completing activities. By working in creative way the efficiency of process can be
improved. Also, how decisions are taken and how staff performs in critical situation helps in this
process.
TASK B
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
The project has concluded that menu planning is essential in order to cater the needs of
the guest and provide client with high level; of satisfaction. It can also been concluded from the
study that menu planning is the effective strategy which can be beneficial in terms of gaining
competitive advantages in the market or an industry. This is an effective technique which helps
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an organisation in eliminating the barriers which can create barriers in the delivery of food or
services.
It has been suggested to management team in an hotel to develop the understanding about
several principles and considers the same when preparing the same. As this will help
management team in formulating effective menu plan.
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REFERENCES:
Books and journals :-
Chávez-Bosquez, O., Marchi, J. and Parra, P.P., 2014. Nutritional Menu Planning: A Hybrid
Approach and Preliminary Tests. Research in Computing Science.82. pp.93-104.
Dixon and et..al., 2014. Application of a menu-planning template as a tool for promoting
healthy preadolescent diets. Topics in Clinical Nutrition.29(1). pp.47-56.
Nikolaus, C.J. and Nickols-Richardson, S.M., 2017. Family Menu-planning Workshop: A Pilot
Study on the Feasibility of Adult-and Peer-led Instruction. American journal of health
behavior.41(3). pp.276-286.
Ozdemir, B. and Caliskan, O., 2014. A review of literature on restaurant menus: Specifying the
managerial issues. International Journal of gastronomy and food science.2(1). pp.3-13.
Seyitoglu, F., 2017. Components of the menu planning process: the case of five star hotels in
Antalya. British Food Journal.119(7).pp.1562-1577.
Sufahani, S. and Ismail, Z., 2014. A new menu planning model for Malaysian secondary schools
using optimization approach. Applied Mathematical Sciences.8(151). pp.7511-7518.
Sufahani, S.F. and Ismail, Z., 2015. Planning a Nutritious and Healthy Menu For Malaysian
School Children Aged 13-18 Using" Delete-reshuffle Algorithm" in Binary Integer
Programming. Journal of Applied Sciences.15(10). p.1239.
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