Menu Planning and Product Development in Hospitality Management HND

This report explores menu planning and product development within the hospitality sector, specifically focusing on the introduction of a fusion food concept—Japanese-Italian cuisine—in a restaurant setting. The report justifies the menu design, highlighting its reflection of menu compilation, recipe development, and cultural elements. It also examines the development of the food service environment to support the chosen recipes, menu, and service style, including modifications to the dining area and staff uniforms. The research findings into customer requirements are presented, emphasizing preferences for healthy, low-calorie, and high-quality food, as well as the importance of technology in restaurant operations. The report justifies the choice of the new food concept based on market research and consumer demand for innovative and nutritious options. Recommendations are provided for the implementation of the new food concept, including the integration of technology and staff training. A review of the restaurant's performance in developing and launching the new menu is conducted, highlighting positive customer reviews and areas for improvement, such as pricing. The report concludes that the launch of the new menu was generally well-received and offers suggestions for further enhancing the restaurant's competitiveness and profitability. It is based on the assignment for the unit Menu Planning and Product Development (unit 25) of the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Hospitality Management program.

Menu Planning
&
Product Development

Table of content
Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction
Menu planning is the practice of deciding the types of meals in a
menu.
The planning procedure involves forecasting of the customers needs,
preferences and availability of resources upon which the ideas for the
dishes are revolved around.
Product development is the systematic process of creating a new
product which is distinct from other products available in the market.

Justification of menu design to reflect the menu
compilation and recipe development
The management of the restaurant decided to introduce fusion food
concept in which it chose to produce Japanese-Italian dishes and
beverages.
This idea was perceived due to the growing demand of customers of
wanting something different.
The restaurant has designed the menu in such a manner that very
effectively reflects the menu compilation and the ingredients used in
the recipe..

To be conti…
The color and design are very eye-catchy and perfectly shows the elements of
both the cultures.
Dishes are prepared with high nutritious value and low calories and are being
offered at the best price possible for meeting the food and safety standards of
the country.
The another reason for selecting low calorie food is the changing lifestyles of
the people United Kingdom.

Justifying the development of the food service environment
for supporting recipe, menu and service style
Prime Gelato for its new food concept chose mixture of hand service and cart
service method for serving the sophisticated Italian dishes and Japanese sea food to
the consumer.
Restaurant made several modifications in its dining area's decor for providing the
pleasant aroma of the authentic dishes of two very different nations.
The uniforms were chosen that reflected the authentic cultures of two different
nations.
It has also used robots for offering food and for greetings.

Findings of research into customers
requirements
The restaurant conducted research for identifying customers requirements. The
research highlighted few points:
Customer's preferences and expectations
 From the research, it was found out that customers had great demand in the market
regarding more healthy food that offer low calories and high nutritious value.
Food concept was welcomed by customers
When the new menu was tested on small scale, it was observed that people liked
most of the blended dishes of two different cultures.

To be conti…
Quality and Price
 The respondents answered that they the highest quality food at the most
reasonable prices.
Some claimed that they prefer organic food and would not waste its
money on microwaved and reheated food items, freshness matters to them.
Suggestions for improvement
People said that they find lack of technology in many restaurant in terms
of after sales services, online delivery mechanism, billing system, order
taking system etc.

Justifying the choice of new food concept
The food concept of Italian Japanese menu was chosen because of the following reasons:
The idea was supported by the market research.
Customers likes to experiment with food of different culture.
Innovative products always attract masses.
Low- calorie and nutritious value is the demand of both law and consumers.

Recommendations on the implementation of
new food concept
Recommendations:
To employ more technology in operations such as an integrated management
system for coordinating the work of the restaurant. This would the help the
restaurant in achieving higher efficiency in operations.
A problem was noted in taking orders. Waiters served wrong orders to wrong tables.
This could be resolved by providing training to the staff regarding how to manage
orders.

To be conti…
Use of electronic devise for taking orders that can directly be processed into kitchen through connected devise. This
would leave no room for human error such as omission of order etc.

Reviewing own performance related to developing
and launching the new menu
From the point of view of restaurant, the launch of new menu was very welcomed by the customers.
People gave good reviews related to the decor, ambience and service style of it.
Every activity was well managed by the floor managed and the executive chef in the kitchen.
The pilot launch reflected that consumers will like this concept as the success rate of most of the dishes was
satisfactory.
However, a negative feedback from some customers was that prices of some items in the menu was higher than
its competitors offering similar food.

Conclusion
It can be summarized that new things always attracts people.
Prime Gelato idea of launching new concept was based on this reason only.
It decided to launch new menu for reviving and increasing its profitability and for gaining competitive edge by serving
exactly what consumers require

References
Vega, D., 2016. Present and future restaurant management competencies: an industry perspective (Doctoral dissertation,
Kansas State University).
Zhang, J and et.al., 2015. Multitasking planning and executing of intelligent vehicles for restaurant service by
networking. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks. 11(10). p.273825.
Zulkifly, M.I and et.al., 2016. Customers’ technology readiness and customer information satisfaction on tablet-based
menu ordering experience. In 3rd International Hospitality and Tourism Conference, IHTC 2016 and 2nd International
Seminar on Tourism, ISOT 2016. CRC Press/Balkema.