Macau Restaurant: Gastronomy, Menu, and Customer Satisfaction Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Macau Restaurant, an award-winning establishment in Tauranga, New Zealand. It explores the principles of gastronomy, including its historical context and key components such as practical, theoretical, technical, and food gastronomy. The report reviews literature on New Zealand cuisine, wine industry, and customer satisfaction factors like price, food quality, ambience, service, and menu variety. It examines menu development strategies, considering meal content, restaurant theme, target customers, and production costs. The report also discusses the application of gastronomy concepts within the context of Macau Restaurant and concludes with recommendations for adapting to current trends like going cashless and incorporating diverse food options. The report also highlights the significance of customer satisfaction and the impact of New Zealand's cultural aspects on the restaurant's operations. Overall, the report offers valuable insights into the food and beverage industry in New Zealand and provides practical recommendations for restaurant management.

Hospitality and management
Name
School

Executive summary
The report focused on Macau which is an awarding winning exotic lounge bar and
restaurant located on Tauranga’s waterfront in New Zealand. The company offers over 27
menus, operates 24/7 with average prices ranging from $30-40. The history of Gastronomy is
dated back in the 1860s in French. Gastronomy is a study of culture and food with a specific
focus on Gourmet Cuisine. The four components of Gastronomy include four component of
Gastronomy as practical Gastronomy, Theoretical Gastronomy, technical Gastronomy, and Food
Gastronomy have been explained in the report. The report reviews literature related to
Gastronomy, history of New Zealand cuisine and New Zealand wines, the meal experience and
menu development. Over the years, the demand for New Zealand wine has risen due to its
quality. The main wine producing regions in New Zealand include Central Otago, Marlborough
and Hawke's Bay. The country produces a large variety of white and red wine. The hotel and
beverages industry greatly relies on customer satisfaction. From the report, the factors that affect
customer satisfaction are price, quality of food, the ambience of the facility, quality of services,
and items on the menu. Therefore, the management of every must integrate all these aspects to
achieve customer satisfaction. Additionally, the management must come up with properly
developed menus so as to have a large customer base. The development of the menu should be
based on the contents of the meal, the theme of the restaurant, targeted customers, and cost of
production. Therefore, like any other organization, businesses in the food and beverages industry
should consider the cost of production when pricing their products. The report further analyses
the literature in relation to the Macau restaurant and lounge. Finally, the report gives a
conclusion and recommendations of how the facility should adapt to the current trends in the
food and beverages industry. The said trends include going cashless, adopting Indian outdoor
food.

Table of Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................2
1.0 Overview of the organization................................................................................................................4
2.0 Literature review...................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Background concept of gastronomy..................................................................................................4
2.2 Aspects of New Zealand cuisine........................................................................................................7
2.3 Aspects of the New Zealand wine industry........................................................................................8
2.4 The meal experience..........................................................................................................................9
2.4.1 Affordability.............................................................................................................................10
2.4.2 Properly prepared and quality food...........................................................................................10
2.4.3 Ambience and clean environment.............................................................................................10
2.4.4 Timely services.........................................................................................................................11
2.4.5 Variety of items on the menu....................................................................................................11
2.5 Menu development..........................................................................................................................11
2.5.1 Contents of a meal....................................................................................................................11
2.5.2 Theme of the restaurant............................................................................................................12
2.5.3 Targeted groups........................................................................................................................12
2.5.4 Cost of production....................................................................................................................12
3.0 Discussion on aspects of gastronomy in the regional cuisine of New Zealand...............................13
3.1 Concepts of Gastronomy in Macau restaurant and lounge........................................................13
3.2 Aspect of food and beverage of Macau restaurant and lounge..................................................14
3.3 Menu development of Macau restaurant.....................................................................................15
4.0 Conclusions........................................................................................................................................16
5.0 Recommendation...............................................................................................................................16

1.0 Overview of the organization
Macau is an awarding winning exotic lounge bar and restaurant located on Tauranga’s
waterfront in New Zealand. Currently, Macau restaurant offers over 27 menus including cuisine
(vegetarian, vegan, Fusion, Asia and Gluten-free). The average prices of diverse menus offered
by Macau range between $30-40). The restaurant operates 24/7 with employees working in
shifts. In addition, the company was formed through partnership and is also owned by a group of
shareholders. With New Zealand being a high-context country, high collectivism culture
according to Hofstede cultural dimension and the nation having a communal eating philosophy
of the Asian table, Macau’s menu is designed in a manner that it encourages and enables the
“eating together” spirit, therefore, customers can try each dish as a part of a full dining
experience. Currently, Macau’s exotic lounge bar is opened in three days: Thursdays, Fridays
and Saturdays. Macau’s lounge usually serves diverse food types and beverage such as beer and
wine paired with Asian fusion bites, cocktails and stunning water views. The lounge has recently
grown to incorporate other services such as conferences halls, business and meeting halls and a
perfect location for gathering with friends and any hosting any other social gathering.
2.0 Literature review
2.1 Background concept of gastronomy
Gastronomy in relation to hospitality and tourism industry is defined as a study of culture
and food with a specific focus on the Gourmet Cuisine (De Jong et al., 2018). Generally,
Gastronomy involves the relationship between culture, food, the science of getting eating,
cooking styles of certain regions, and an art of preparing and serving rich, delicate and
appetizing food (Navarro et al., 2012). The history of the Gastronomy is dated back to French
Reign of Louis XIV in the eighteenth century when people extended their thinking to define

culinary taste and sophisticated and lavish cuisine practices of French became French’s culinary
model. The first person to wrote gastronomic work was Alexandre Grimod de La Reyniere
basing his view on French morals and tradition on food disclosure status. After the Gastronomic
work, Alexandre expanded gastronomic literature to diverse genres involving gourmet
periodical, gastronomic treatise and the guide book. The end of nobility in French influenced the
growth of Gastronomic as it changed the food consumption patterns in French; the wealth house
in French employed cooks and the new bourgeoisie emphasized on asserting their identity and
status by consuming the most elitists’ food. This increased in desire led to the emergence of
restaurants enhanced the availability of good food for popular consumption as well as the
satisfying social need of French people. In addition, culinary excellence centre moved from
Versailles to Paris where there were more competitiveness and innovative culinary culture.
Although contemporary gastronomy has its origin based on numerous texts published in
the 1800s, the ideas related to the arts, society, science and food has been there for a long period.
Currently, Gastronomy is demanding multidisciplinary art exploring food along with its history,
freshness, presentations and context. There are four key components of Gastronomy that
determines how food and culture are practised and distributed around the world. Sivakumaran &
Prabodhani (2018) outlined the four component of Gastronomy as practical Gastronomy,
Theoretical Gastronomy, technical Gastronomy and Food Gastronomy.
2.1.1 Practice Gastronomy
In practice gastronomy perspective, practical gastronomy is associated with practice and
study of production, preparation and service of various beverages and foods across the world.
Generally, practical gastronomy is concerned with the study of production, preparation, service
and practice of diverse beverages and food such as cuisines across diverse nations around the
world. Apart from production, services, preparation and product, Practical gastronomy also

extends to incorporate standards and techniques involved in the cycle of transforming raw
material into aesthetic, regional, nationally and cultural specific edible product. The practical
specialists have various areas of specialization. For example transformation of beverage and
food into a complete menu, dishes and accompanying drinks as used in various countries.
Through the practical Gastronomy, diverse hospitality stakeholders have been able to develop
dishes and menu in a modern environment of catering. In addition, practical gastronomy plays a
critical role in the determination of diverse factors affecting dining experience and the demands
and needs of customers and further uses the knowledge to develop complementary foods and
beverages.
2.1.2 Theoretical Gastronomy
Theoretical Gastronomy supports practical gastronomy and it is much concerned with
system approach, cookery books, techniques, focused on recipes and process approach. Through
the theoretical Gastronomy, diverse hospitality stakeholders are likely determining the influence
of media, iconic people and culture in contemporary gastronomy. In addition, theoretical
gastronomy has recorded various policies and procedures that have been practised by diverse
organizations within the hospitality and tourism sector to maximize profits and generate more
revenues. In the modern world, theoretical gastronomy has been regarded as a source of
innovation and creativity which has contributed significantly to national and classical dishes
across the world.
2.1.3 Food Gastronomy
Food gastronomy is usually connected with beverages, food and their origin. Through the
food gastronomy and determination of their genesis, key stakeholders are able to investigate and
strategize on how to source foodstuffs so that they are able to select appropriate suppliers as well
as innovative menu prices.

2.1.3 Technical Gastronomy
Technical gastronomy underpins practical gastronomy, introducing a rigorous approach
to the evaluation of gastronomic. “Rigorous evaluating approach” in this context means
technical gastronomy evaluates every aspect that requires appraisal in gastronomy field.
Technical gastronomy is well known for its ability to link mass production and small scale
operations. Currently, technical gastronomy has tended to be more than specification knowledge
for machinery and plants and how they impact production and service. Generally, technical
gastronomy involves evaluation of skills and equipment required in the hospitality industry, new
production methods, convenience food and new and evolutionary plant
2.2 Aspects of New Zealand cuisine
New Zealand cuisine has been around for many years, with its fusion from influences
from Polynesia Europe and Asia making it unique. From previous literature, the origin of New
Zealand cuisines dates back from as early as the eleventh to thirteenth century when the settles
from Polynesia started settling in New Zealand. Legend has that traditionally; New Zealand
foods were provided by sons of the sky as sacred gifts, with the foods being seafood, edible
fruits, and vegetables (Bell & Neill, 2014). According to the literature, the three sons were
Rongo, Tangaroa, and Haumia, with each gifting the people with different types of foods.
When the settlers came in, they started employing simple agriculture and horticulture
practices since they were customary in their culture. The practices included irrigating crops on
enclosed gardens and beds. They cultivated plants such as taro, yam, and bottle gourds.
However, due to the soil and climatic conditions of New Zealand, some plants did not thrive.
Therefore, the settlers from Polynesia started consuming other wild fruits such as puha and
seaweed.

Polynesia settles practised several methods of cooking such steaming and grilling of
foods, with the two methods still being practised up to date (Bell & Neill, 2014). Food was
steamed using makeshift ovens while the meat was grilled while placed on sticks then placed
over hot embers. Alternatively, they used to boil meat, though not often.
Previous literature has evidence of vast varieties of foods that were consumed in New
Zealand. The food items included fish, rats, and varieties of birds that were hunted (Potts &
White, 2008).. However, literature shows that the Maori had no wider variety of foods. By the
end of the eighteenth century, the Maori were producing a large variety of European foods such
as potatoes. However, they rarely consumed the products. They instead used the foods for
trading with other European travellers. The Maori later adopted the foods with potatoes and other
European vegetables becoming part of their stable diets (Lewthwaite, 2005). The vegetables
replaced their indigenous crops such as puha due to the Europeans who started settling in New
Zealand.
The literature reviewed shows that it is clear that the European and Asian settlers greatly
influenced the food customs of New Zealand. The settlers brought their traditions and integrated
with the Maori. The customs and practices brought about the New Zealand cuisines we have
today. Additionally, industrialization made the people of New Zealand adapt to packed and
manufactured foods.
2.3 Aspects of the New Zealand wine industry
Since the soils and climate in New Zealand are conducive for grapes growing, the county
has numerous wine producing regions. Due to the vast development of the industry, the demand
of the wine produced in New Zealand has risen, making the industry to be a major boost to the
economy (Wilson & Goddard, 2004). Currently, the county has over 450 wineries; thus, the wine
is part of New Zealand’s culture. Some of the major wine producing regions are the Central

Otago, Marlborough and Hawke's Bay. The country produces about four hundred thousand
tonnes of a wide variety of grapes yearly. The varieties of white wines produced include
Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay. The varieties have different methods of
production with its grapes being produced in different regions of New Zealand. The most
common variety is the Sauvignon Blanc, with its vines taking up more than 50% of the total
vines grown in the country. On the other hand, the varieties of red wines produced in New
Zealand include Pinot Noir, rose, sparkling white, Bordeaux-style blends, and Syrah. The Pinot
Noir is mainly produced in Central Otago with Bordeaux-style blends primarily being produced
in Hawke's Bay.
New Zealand exports most of its wine, with major markets in the United States and
Europe with exports being valued at over one billion dollars. These trends have seen the growing
of vines and grapes increasing drastically. However, the growers and producers of wine are
taking measures to maintain the quality of the wine by creating schemes and agencies aimed at
controlling production. Their unique styles ensure that demand for New Zealand wine remains
high, thus ensuring the growth of the industry.
2.4 The meal experience
In every industry, customer satisfaction is crucial for an organization to maintain a
profitable market share. The situation is no different in the food and beverages industry. With the
current trends, customers are becoming more demanding as the industry diversifies to ensure
satisfaction. Since customer demand value for their money, the main aspects of customer
satisfaction in the industry include price, quality of food, ambience, quality of service provided,
and a variety of options on the menu. The main key needs a customer might be seeking to satisfy
in a meal experience include properly prepared and quality food, variety of items on the menu,
hospitality, affordability and timely services.

2.4.1 Affordability
Price of commodities is always a significant consideration given by customers.
Consumers view the price of a product as the window to check the experience and services that
are provided by the seller (Mattila & O'Neill, 2003). Therefore, a customer is more likely to
make a decision of buying based on the price of the product or service offered. Organizations
should price their products and services in a manner that will ensure customer satisfaction. When
developing a marketing mix, it is crucial to come up with an effecting pricing policy that will
ensure both customer satisfaction and profitability of the business.
2.4.2 Properly prepared and quality food
Customers yearn for quality food that will guarantee satisfaction. According to literature
by Ryu, Lee, and woo (2012), the quality of food depends on smell, nutrition value, and
freshness of food. Literature by Shaharudin, Mansor, and Elias (2011) shows that of all the
characteristics of quality food, freshness is considered to be the key. Therefore, the quality of
food being offered is vital for customer satisfaction since non-quality foods can have negative
implications on the health of consumers. However, every customer has a different perception of
food quality. Thus sellers have to have a vast variety of items to attract more customers.
2.4.3 Ambience and clean environment
The food and beverages industry has undergone drastic changes with sellers providing
different forms of ambience to their customers. A study by Ha and Jang (2010) shows that
customer is more likely to revisit a facility that has a good physical environment. Therefore,
depending on age, class, and culture, clients prefer different forms of ambience while they are
having their meals. The ambience differs from the manner which furniture is arranged, lighting,
and sound systems in a facility. Customers consider the environment of the place before deciding
on purchasing. Additionally, cleanliness is a major factor in customer satisfaction since

customers prefer dining in hygienic places. Current trends in the industry are forcing hotels and
restaurants to invest in interior decoration to ensure customer satisfaction.
2.4.4 Timely services
Responsiveness and timely services are crucial aspects of the food and beverages industry
since the majority of clients prefer getting served promptly, and being assisted when necessary
(Paul & Rana, 2012). Therefore, as seen in a vast literature, the quality of service is a major
aspect of customer satisfaction. Players in the food and beverages industry have undertaken
numerous measures in improving quality of service in their operations. These measures include
after-sales services, empathy, and assurance. Workers in the facilities have to give maximum
attention to clients’ requests and needs.
2.4.5 Variety of items on the menu
The most significant aspect of the food and beverages industry is the food and drinks
being offered (Sulek & Hensley, 2004). Customers prefer dining places where the menu has
numerous items on their menu. Therefore, clients are more likely to revisit places with a variety
of products offered, especially when dining in groups. Additionally, clients can try out new and
foreign cuisines in a restaurant that has a wide variety of item on their menu.
2.5 Menu development
Menu development has undergone a complete metamorphosis from the traditional menus
that were based on classic cuisine to modern menus that are based on the current trends.
Currently, principles influencing the style of the menu include the content of a meal, theme of
the restaurant, targeted group, and cost of production.
2.5.1 Contents of a meal
The content of a meal is a crucial aspect to consider when designing a menu. The current
trends in foods and beverages, such as diet watch in terms of fats, calories, and vitamins, are

considered when designing a menu. Therefore, menu designers are cautious on every item on a
menu to ensure a single meal has a balanced diet. Additionally, the availability of ingredients of
a meal is vital since customers despise ordering an item that is not available. The availability
depends on the season, location, and nature of the ingredients.
2.5.2 Theme of the restaurant
A menu is usually based on the specific theme of a restaurant. These themes are based on
cuisines, religions, and different cultures. Therefore, when deciding a menu, only items that are
related to the theme are offered since customers visit the place with given expectations.
However, a few items of general items are offered for special customers and tag along. For
instance, an Italian restaurant is likely to have only Italian food as items ion their menu.
2.5.3 Targeted groups
When opening a restaurant, the proponent has a specified target group in mind. These
groups are based on age, social, and economic class. Therefore, customers visit restaurants and
other dining areas with a picture of what should appear on the menu. When planning a menu,
factors related to target groups such as financial status and the amount the set customers are
willing to spend are considered.
2.5.4 Cost of production
Just like any other business, restaurants consider the cost of production when designing a
menu. Therefore, Aspects such as the price of ingredients, the cost of labour, and the expected
selling price influence the design of a menu. Additionally, time taken to prepare a meal form a
menu is a great factor since giving more time to a specific meal will reduce sales. Generally,
menu planners ensure that all cooking and preparation of all items in a menu is profitable.