Consultancy Report: Menu Costing, Design and Sustainable Planning

This report provides a consultancy analysis of menu planning within food and beverage operations, focusing on The Artichoke restaurant, a modern European cuisine establishment. It begins with an introduction to menu planning, emphasizing its importance in the hospitality industry, and then discusses the La Carte menu used by the restaurant. The main body of the report covers menu costing, pricing (demand-driven), and design, highlighting the importance of attractive menu presentation. It delves into cost considerations during menu planning, including time to cook, seasonal food availability, and competitive advantages. Furthermore, the report explores sustainable menu planning, emphasizing the use of organic food, transparency in ingredient sourcing, and understanding consumer preferences. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, reinforcing the significance of menu planning for restaurant success, and the report includes references to relevant literature and online resources.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE
OPERATION
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Consultancy report on a menu including its cost, price and design............................................3
Cost consideration at time of planning for the menu..................................................................4
Consideration of sustainable menu planning..............................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Food and beverage is the most important part within the whole hospitality industry and in
that also menu planning and development is the most crucial. The menu planning is defined as
the process in which all the dishes and beverages being provided by the restaurant are listed on a
menu card. The current report is based on The Artichoke which is a modern European cuisine
restaurant and rated very well over Food Hygiene rating (The Artichoke, 2020). The present
report will start by discussing about the menu of The Artichoke and its costing, pricing and
design. Further the discussion will take place on the cost consideration and in end the sustainable
menu planning consideration will be outlined.
MAIN BODY
Consultancy report on a menu including its cost, price and design
The menu is a document which is prepared by the restaurant to provide it to the
consumers so that they can order the food and beverages. The menu is a document which
contains all the list of dishes, beverages, drinks and food items being provided by the hotel.
There are a wide variety of menu types which can be used by the hotel and restaurant. The menu
type used by The Artichoke is the La Carte menu. The La Carte menu is the one which offers
separately each product and food item on the menu. For this the most essential thing for
restaurant is to decide for the following-
Menu costing- the cost is referred to as the amount of money which is levied in order to
make or produce the food products within the hotel. The menu costing is the cost which is levied
to make the food products and dishes. The Artichoke restaurant uses the costing method of food
per dish. This is a costing method which is calculated by multiplying the food cost per dish with
its weekly quantity sold. In this all the overhead cost are added and then the cost is charged.
Menu pricing- this is referred to as the price which is charged by the consumers in
exchange of the food products and services provided to them. It is necessary for The Artichoke
to price the food dishes in effective manner because if the prices will be high then the consumers
will not like it (Linassi, Alberton and Marinho, 2016). Thus, for this Artichoke uses the pricing
method of demand driven pricing method. This is a type of method in which the price is
increased if the demand is high and if the demand is low then the prices are also decreased.

Menu design- the design is the most important part in the attraction of the consumers
towards the goods and services. This is majorly because of the reason that if the menu will be
attractive then the consumers will be attracted towards ordering the dishes of the restaurant (Tsai,
Chu and Lee, 2019). Hence, for this the basic thing required by The Artichoke is that they must
try to make the menu in such a way that it attracts most of the public. For this it is essential for
The Artichoke to use attractive colours and designs for the making of the whole menu. Also, for
making the menu in more effective manner restaurant must use heading like starter, main course,
desserts, drinks and beverages and many others.
Cost consideration at time of planning for the menu
The cost is the amount of money which is being incurred by the company in order to
make and produce the food products and beverages. For The Artichoke it is very necessary to
calculate the cost in such a manner that it does not affect the profitability of the restaurant. While
calculating the cost there are many things which need to be considered because all the expenses
are added in order to finalise the cost. Thus, the different considerations to be kept in mind at
time of planning the menu of The Artichoke are as follows-
Time to cook- this is the first consideration as if the time to produce the food will be high
then the restaurant will incur high cost and this will increase the overall cost of the company.
Hence, if the hotel needs to manage the costs then they have to manage the time taken in
producing the food.
Seasonal food availability- this is another consideration because of the food will not be
made available at time of production then the cost of procuring the food will be high. This is
majorly because of the reason that if the food is available without its season then the cost will be
high. Thus, this will increase the overall cost of the company.
Competitive advantage- this is another consideration to be taken onto account by The
Artichoke because of the reason that if the competitors are high then the hotel need to work more
hard. Also, they will have to incur high cost on maintaining the quality and to use good and
effective marketing techniques and tools (Raab and Zemke, 2016).
Consideration of sustainable menu planning
Sustainable menu planning is the decision taken by the restaurant relating to the selection
of the food and beverage quality to serve to the consumers. There are many different types of
raw materials and product being used in the production of the food and beverages. Thus, the

different consideration at time of sustainable menu planning are discussed in the following points
connected below-
Use of organic food- this is the most important consideration for sustainable menu
planning because in the current trend the most important thing is that consumers have become
health conscious. Thus, they like to have and consume organic and healthy food.
Being transparent- this is also an important consideration because of the reason that if
The Artichoke will not be transparent in the use of ingredients and raw material then the
consumers will not like this fact. Also, this will increase the trust and interest of consumers as
the hotel is displaying the entire ingredient and in which quantity they have been used in the food
production (Ye and Murthy, 2016).
Know and anticipate the preference and requirement of consumers- this is also an
important criterion to be considered at time of sustainable menu planning. This is majorly
because of the reason that if the Artichoke will not be having knowledge that what the consumer
want then they will not be able to provide the same to the consumers. Hence, the consumer will
not be satisfied with the requirement of the consumers.
In the end it is said that for getting success it is very essential for the Artichoke to
consider all the necessary steps at time of planning for the sustainable menu.
CONCLUSION
In the end from the above study it is inferred that menu planning is the most important
thing in the success of the hotel. This is majorly because of the reason that if the menu will not
be good then the consumers will not get attracted. Hence, for this three consideration are
necessary that is cost, price and design of menu. Further it was outlined that for cost
consideration the major points are seasonal food availability, time to cook and many other points
are considered. In the end the consideration for sustainable menu planning was discussed like use
of organic food, being transparent and many others.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Linassi, R., Alberton, A. and Marinho, S.V., 2016. Menu engineering and activity-based
costing. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Raab, C. and Zemke, D.M., 2016. Activity-based costing in the Restaurant Industry: What's past
is prologue. The Journal of Hospitality Financial Management. 24(2). pp.133-146.
Tsai, W.H., Chu, P.Y. and Lee, H.L., 2019. Green Activity-Based Costing Production Planning
and Scenario Analysis for the Aluminum-Alloy Wheel Industry under Industry
4.0. Sustainability. 11(3). p.756.
Ye, Z.S. and Murthy, D.P., 2016. Warranty menu design for a two-dimensional
warranty. Reliability Engineering & System Safety. 155. pp.21-29.
Online
The Artichoke. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/the-artichoke_993>