Work Based Learning Report: Menu Development Project at Waterside Inn

This report details a work-based learning project focused on menu development at The Waterside Inn, a hotel in the United Kingdom. As a front office manager, the student planned and initiated the project with the aim of expanding the menu to include vegetarian and organic options, thereby attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. The report outlines the project's objectives, targets, and the use of the project life cycle, including initiating, planning, executing, and closing phases. It also covers the project's completion, benefits, and adherence to deadlines. Furthermore, the report includes a reflective evaluation of the learning experience, applying theories such as SWOT and PESTLE analyses to assess the project's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and external factors. The project aimed at increasing sales, improving customer experience, and enhancing brand image through strategic menu development.

Work Based Learning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN TASK...................................................................................................................................1
Planned and initiated project by setting target, aim and objective of project.........................1
Managed, evaluation and monitor progress of project by using project life cycle from starting
point to completion point........................................................................................................2
How project is completed to meet the deadline to achieve and benefits by accomplishing aim
and objectives of project.........................................................................................................2
Reflect upon and evaluation of experience and learning by applying theory........................2
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
In hospitality sector, work based learning is the learning where front office manager
analyse and identify where the skills is needed to develop and where there is need for
improvement to be done (Ye and et. al., 2018). In this report The Waterside Inn is taken as Hotel.
This hotel is located in United Kingdom where they are providing various services which include
bedrooms, dine dinning and providing food. The main project the front office manager is going
to implement is menu development which means adding and setting food menu which means
adding new food items such as vegetarian foods, organic food and many more which help them
to explore more opportunities for growth and development of hotel. As front office manager
have to perform various duties and functions in hotel in order to implement project successfully
and in systematic manner. The report include plan and initiation of the selected project which is
menu development as it include aim, objectives and target to implement the project in proper
manner. In this report it include managing, monitoring and evaluation of process of project as
this can be done by using project life cycle which means to start a project and then there are
various stages and end with a completion of project on set time. As there are various models
which include SWOT, PESTLE and Porters five forces.
MAIN TASK
Planned and initiated project by setting target, aim and objective of project
The project is based on menu development in hotel which means to set menu according
to needs and demand of customer. In other words, it can be said that to develop menu in such a
way that help to target new customer and retaining existing customer in hotel (Al-Turki, Duffuaa
and Bendaya, 2019). As the menu development can be done for attracting customer in order to
visit their hotel which lead to increase in sales and profit of organisation. The target for project of
menu development is to explore more food items which help The Waterside Inn to expand their
business and retaining customers so they can build brand loyalty which lead to increase brand
image. The main aim of this project of menu development is to develop and increase food items
according to people they want to target as if they want to attract kids so they can food item which
include cold drinks and many more. As many people are em phasing on consuming vegetarian
and organic food products. By doing this they can achieve their aims effectively and in proper
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manner. The main objective of this project is to increase their food menu by adding vegetarian
and organic food which help them to increase sales and generate revenue of selected hotel which
is The Waterside Inn. The main aim of menu development is retain more customers so that it
help organisation to increase their sales and maintain brand image. The also want to maintain
customer experience so that they can recommend to other so they visit and consume foods. The
main aim of this project is to set menu according to the needs and demand of customer as they
can set menu like they can add seasonal food, vegetarian food, organic food items and many
more. By setting aims and objectives and training employees and communicate about menu
development to employees so that they can effectively achieve success in menu development.
Managed, evaluation and monitor progress of project by using project life cycle from starting
point to completion point
Project life cycle refers to the sequence of phases through which a project go from its
initial stage to its final and closer stage. The number and sequence of these phases are
determined by management of an organisation and various factors such as need and requirement
of organisation included in the project, nature of project and area of its applications (Altshuler,
2019). It consist four important stages such as initiating stage, planning stage, executive
stage/monitoring and controlling stage and in last closing stage. For each life-cycle activity the
most important think that keep in mind is the objective of each project phase, which is based on
the company constraints includes quality and timing and cost. Other important thing that keep in
mind is product. In context of Waterside hotel, as a front office manager project life cycle
process is used for developing a effective menu. Various steps regarding project life-cycle in
context of menu development project is discuss below: Initiating process- This is the first stage of project life-cycle in which the main objective
or need of project is clearly identify. The main aim of initial phase is to define and
authorized the project clearly. For success of this project its important that project manger
provide a clear and accurate information and efficiently create a project charter. The
primary requirement of project is that the project charter authorized the project and
documentation. As a Front line manger at Waterside hotel its important that vision,
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mission, and purpose of project is clearly defines (Aziz and et. al., 2017). For achieving
success its very important that the objective of menu development is clearly define. Planning process- It refers to the second stage of project life cycle in which various
strategies and policies are prepare regarding how the project has to be performed and how
the selected project can achieve success in market. This step require strategic planning
and implementation of that planning. As a front office manager for effectively
performing this phase it require to develop various strategic planning. It includes the
overall approach regarding menu development project. At the time of implementation of
planning it describe a effective way which is used by manager for success of those
decisions. Executive process- This is the third stage in which the various decisions taken in the
second stage regarding menu development project is implemented successfully (Bansal,
2017). During this phase of project life-cycle as a front office manager its his duty that he
supervise the whole project and take necessary action if required. This executive process
is also known as monitoring and controlling phase. This is a important stage of project
life-cycle and it only forward to next step when customers of Waterside hotel are totally
satisfied with their project.
 Closing process- This is the last stage of project development which make the official
closer of the project.
How project is completed to meet the deadline to achieve and benefits by accomplishing aim and
objectives of project
The project is completed by setting objectives, goals and by developing criteria which
help selected organisation to complete a chosen project which is menu development. This can be
done by setting objectives as the main objective of The Waterside Inn is that to set menu
according to needs and demand of customer. For example, many people are focusing on
consuming vegetarian food and organic foods as for this hotel should add vegetarian food and
organic food in different section as this help them to complete the project (Jackson, 2017). The
main aim of selected hotel is that they can easily attract customer in such a way that they visit to
their hotel to consume food so that they can give review and rating. The project of menu
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development has a deadline of one month. According to this deadline they have to set menu
accordingly.
There are various benefit when the menu has been develop successfully because this help
them to attract customer because they have develop their menu according to needs and demand
of customer so they can increase satisfaction of customer (Jin, Du and He, 2017). This not help
selected hotel to generate revenue or increase sales but it also help in retaining new as well as
existing customers in hotel. This development of menu can be done in such a ways by complying
all rules and regulation which is set by government of United Kingdom in context to hotel
industry. While developing menu development they have to follow some more rules such as
cleaning of food preparation area, select and those candidate who have proper skills and
knowledge or have experience so they can make food according to set menu.
Reflect upon and evaluation of experience and learning by applying theory
There are various things that help in understanding in order to learn and experience from
workplace as this help to explore more opportunities in order to achieve business objectives
(Mazza, 2017). As a front office manager I have develop a small project in The Waterside Inn
hotel for menu development because changes occur in hotel industry regularly so select hotel
should also adopt the changes quickly as need of vegetarian and organic food arises during this
pandemic as people are emphasising on their health condition so hotel should also involve in
their menu and include food items so that ot help hotel to attract customer.
SWOT analysis: SWOT analysis refers to the analysis where front office manager by
applying this theory they can analysis what are the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat for
the planned project of menu development.
Strength: The strength of the project of menu development is that they can attract and
retain new as well existing customer as this will help them to increase development and growth
of hotel.
Weakness: The major weakness is that while implementing the project of menu
development the major weakness is that if set menu is not implement successfully then expenses
and this increase the cost of food items. As this is the major weakness as customer will not
purchase that food item.
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Opportunity: The opportunity is that they can develop menu as per the needs and demand
of customer which will help The Waterside Inn hotel to explore more opportunity. As if include
vegetarian food and organic food items which will help them to achieve the set target.
Threat: The threat is that if any competitor enter into market with same menu
development which will affect the growth and development of project in The Waterside Inn
hotel.
PESTLE analysis of project of menu development
PESTLE is an analysis where organisation can identify the external factors that directly
or indirectly affect the performance of business. While developing menu development the
learning and experience is that it help in identifying and monitor macro environmental factor as
this help organisation to analyse in which factor they can affect and what are the other factor
which help in starting and modifying new factors so that organisation can easily set menu by
analysing all the factors (Pancholi and Bhatt, 2018). PESTLE analysis of menu development
which I learn from my experience and knowledge which is explained in detail below: Political Factor: The political factor is the factor where there is intervention of
government as there are various factor that influence performance of business. While
we are planning for menu development it affect which include instability, trade
restrictions, political stability and many more. The political factor affect as there are
various rules and regulation which is to be followed by front office manager so that it
help me to learn and experience regarding political factor as The Waterside Inn is
operating in United Kingdom so there is political stability which help me to effectively
construct menu development. Economic Factor: This is the factor which include rates such as interest, exchange and
inflation, unemployment and many other factors (Raith and et. al., 2017). As a front
office manager of The Waterside Inn is that there is change in taste and preferences of
customer so it affect construction of menu development as different categories of
customer have different need and demand. Social Factor: This is the main factor where the selected organisation have to analyse
different factors which include demographics, values of customer, age, lifestyle and so
on. From this factor the experience and learning is achieved from workplace is that they
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can develop a menu development according to customer need and demand so that we
can target audience accordingly. Technological Factor: This is the another factor where organisation directly impact
performance of workplace because there is rapid change in technology (Rodríguez,
Gonzalez-Cava and Pérez, 2019). According to this as a front office manager of The
Waterside Inn it is very important to adopt technological change as this help in
attracting customer. The menu development should be done in such a manner so that it
help in attracting customer so that they can visit hotel. Legal Factor: This is the major factor where where there are many legal laws and
regulation that affect organisation as whole. The learning and experience in hotel is that
it is very important for selected organisation to follow all rules and regulation that
should be aware by them. The hotel should follow laws which include Food and safety
regulation and many other law which is connected for the protection of health and
safety of customers. Environmental Factor: The last factor is environmental factor, as it become important
because of increase scarcity of raw material, carbon footprint and pollution that directly
impact the performance of organisation (Strike, 2017). As a front office manager of The
Waterside Inn, the change in climatic condition affect the production of food in hotel.
For this, hotel should also add seasonal food according to climate change which help
hotel to run their business smoothly. The hotel should adopt Corporate social
responsibility so that they can involve in practices for protection of environment.
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CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is concluded that it is important for every organisation to
adopt the changes quickly. Work based learning is the learning where people get chance to learn
something from experience in workplace as it help in future to explore more opportunities in
organisation. In this report a project has been chosen where the front office manager have
selected a project for menu development where they have planned and set objectives, aim and
objectives of project so that hotel can effectively complete their project on time. To complete
project there is project life cycle which help in completing project on time by following all
stages. The stages include initiating, planning, executive and closing process. According to the
project of menu development there is set deadline so that it help them to accomplish the aim,
objectives and benefits for project. The front office manager have analysed that what he have
learned and experienced from his experience and learning. There is SWOT analysis which tell
what are the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat after implementing as the strength is that
they it help in attracting customer. This report also tell about PESTLE analysis that affect while
developing menu. While menu development it is necessary for organisation to follow all legal
rules and regulation that help them not to involve it any illegal activities.
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REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Al-Turki, U., Duffuaa, S. and Bendaya, M., 2019. Trends in turnaround maintenance planning:
literature review. Journal of quality in maintenance engineering.
Altshuler, A., 2019. The city planning process: A political analysis. Cornell University Press.
Aziz, E.A and et. al., 2017. An integrated Pinch Analysis framework for low CO2 emissions
industrial site planning. Journal of cleaner production, 146, pp.125-138.
Bansal, V.K., 2017. Integrated CAD and GIS–based framework to support construction planning:
case study. Journal of Architectural Engineering, 23(3), p.05017005.
Jackson, D.A., 2017. Using work-integrated learning to enhance career planning among business
undergraduates. Australian Journal of Career Development, 26(3), pp.153-164.
Jin, Y., Du, J. and He, Y., 2017. Optimization of process planning for reducing material
consumption in additive manufacturing. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 44,
pp.65-78.
Mazza, L. ed., 2017. Explorations in planning theory. Routledge.
Pancholi, N. and Bhatt, M., 2018. FMECA-based maintenance planning through COPRAS-G and
PSI. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering.
Raith, S. and et. al., 2017. Planning of mandibular reconstructions based on statistical shape
models. International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery, 12(1),
pp.99-112.
Rodríguez, G.G., Gonzalez-Cava, J.M. and Pérez, J.A.M., 2019. An intelligent decision support
system for production planning based on machine learning. Journal of Intelligent
Manufacturing, pp.1-17.
Strike, T. ed., 2017. Higher education strategy and planning: A professional guide. Taylor &
Francis.
Ye, Y. and et. al., 2018. A knowledge based intelligent process planning method for controller of
computer numerical control machine tools. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing,
pp.1-17.
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