Menu Planning and Product Development at ASK Italian Restaurant

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of menu planning and product development within the ASK Italian restaurant chain. It begins by identifying the key influencing factors, including economic conditions, seasonality, food accessibility, consumer tastes and preferences, food acceptance, budget constraints, and lifestyle considerations. The report then delves into the stages of menu planning, outlining the processes involved in developing new dishes, from initial idea generation and concept testing to market analysis and test marketing. The report also highlights the importance of understanding the occasion, planning recipes, and conducting trials before finalizing the menu. The report aims to provide a clear understanding of the factors that influence menu planning and product development, the stages involved, and their impact on the overall success of the restaurant chain. This document is available on Desklib, a platform providing resources for students.

Menu planning and
product development

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
a) Influencing factors of menu planning in ASK Italian-.......................................................1
b) Stages of the planning of menu..........................................................................................3
c) Evaluation of the impact on the development process-......................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The creation of products or services with new and different methods that purpose new or
additional benefits to the target customers. Products development includes modification of
current goods and present it in the different way, which satisfies customers through the fulfil
their requirements (Bhushan, 2017). ASK Italian is a British dining restaurant chain which serves
Italian cuisine in 120 locations in The United Kingdom. The chain introduced by brothers Adam
Kaye and Samuel in 1993. Report explain about affecting factors of menu planning and menu
development planning stages. Further it evaluates impact of factors on the development process.
MAIN BODY
a) Influencing factors of menu planning in ASK Italian-
Menu planning- It is a method to make individual eating a balanced diet and completing
their nutritional requirements and every restaurant know that menu planning can save time and
money. This is the simple process of taking some time to plan any count(number) of person
meals for the 7 days. It may be for single or family too. Its an important task because it not only
saves time but promote healthier choices, develop grocery shopping skills and maintain meal
times fresh with variety (Brown, 2018). These foods are divided into various groups like milk,
fruit, fat, vegetable, non-veg and starch etc. It is not easy to provide demanding foods as per the
liking of family members. ASK Italian restaurant's menu planning influenced by few factors
like-
 Economic factor- The amount and type of food variety for ASK Italian restaurant's
customers depended on economic condition of it. With the decrease income percentage,
expenditure meal increases and more awaking efforts are needed for meal. Society
divided into three level according to their income- lower, middle and upper income class.
With the high income choice in selecting foods is wider for non-seasonal foods and
seasonal. People who belongs to lower income level can't afford expensive meals like
milk, fruits etc. It is desirable to gain nutritious foods at low cost. Few measures are
below-
1. ASK has to use less expensive meals like cereals. In the place of these costly food
cited restaurant offer less costly like rage, mower etc. to low income people.
2. They can use jiggery in place of sugar.
3. Utilisation of local and seasonal fruits or vegetables
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4. Utilisation of methods such as pressure cooking to maintain value of meal with
respect to nutrition. Season- ASK Italian has to provide seasonal foods to their customers. With the change of
season, food availability and consumers taste also change. In the summer ridge gourd,
cold drinks, ice-cream, etc. are in abundance whereas carrots, peas, meat, chicken etc. in
winter. These seasonal foods are more likeable as well as nutritious. Physical
requirements also change with weather. Cold drinks like lemon water, coffee, alcohol,
high calorie meals all are become necessary as per the weather needs. ASK Italian is
advised to purposed new dishes to their customers according to weather situation. Like a
large variety of cold drinks, ice-cream flavours can be kept for the summer time. In
winter few costly or exclusive recipe which will force the customers to taste the meal can
be kept as well. Accessibility of foods- Most essential factor for the ASK Italian restaurant is ensuring the
availability of meals that consumers are demanding. Seasonal foods are generally found
available and in the meantime substitute foods should be kept off. This affect the
planning of meal (David, David and David, 2017). Customers maximum like to use of
locally produced foodstuff because they are not expensive, tasty and match with climate.
Lets tale an example- sea food is easy to available and not costly in coastal areas that's
why it is the staple food of the individual surviving. With the use of transportation,
preservation and storage, ASK Italian can increase availability of foodstuff has increased
by which at the time of variety may be added to the meal. Tastes and preferences- Consumer's taste, preferences and food habits also affects the
menu planning of ASK Italian restaurant. Culture, religious, sex, rituals, customs are the
scale of the customers' meal habits and preferences. Their taste change with season and
time or it is not easy to come to know about individual demand. So, decrease this issue
the cited company keep relations with their consumer and create innovative ideas to
change menu planning and make more profit. Food acceptance- Acceptance or rejection of food by an individual is depended on their
likes or dislikes, social traditions and customs. All those factors are kept in the mind of
ASK Italian manager while planning for meal. Religion also play important role in the
food acceptance like non-vegetarian foods are not allowed in few religions and some
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people like to eat mutton compare to meat. These all kinds persons views make impact on
menu planning of cited company. Food habits also influence meal planning because some
persons like to have heavy break-fast, while others prefer heavy dinner. But personal
likings and disliking should not be a barrier in complete the nutritional quarrymen's of
individual. Budget- The availability of funds is another factor that has a great impact on planning of
menu in ASK Italian decision. Like- If cited company create a menu which cost too
much, the demand for that certain dish will be very low as compare to others. So, it is
important to make the optimal budget for dish. Organization finance staff has to create
budget for new recipe, which can provide a brief idea of the nearest expenses (Davis and
et.al., 2018). This is helpful to increase the worth of ASK Italian restaurant. Lifestyle- ASK Italian restaurant have various customer, who carry their own lifestyle.
The age, gender, occupation, social life of the customers must be considered while
prepare recipe. Because all these classifications of consumers make impact on products
demand. Consumer life style make impact on the their thought process and they create
personal opinion for available products.
 Availability of resources- ASK Italian must consider the seasonal food in situation of
planning of recipe development. The cited organization also need necessary raw materials
to manufacture those meals. They have to make sure that all these resources are not much
costly for them. High expensive raw products for recipe one of the factor which influence
menu planning. Not a single business want to buy high cost products and sell them at low
price. All available resources are the main factor which make impact on the product
development and make strong economy.
b) Stages of the planning of menu
In the process of menu develop ASK Italian needs to follow certain steps, the first stage
is aim or idea of resources required on which all the activities can be designed and performed in
order to achieve the objectives and goals of the business. The organization needs to choose the
kinds of menu to be selected after market study. In the next step once menu is finalised the
resources are selected according to their cost, methods of marketing, management planning,
improvement strategies, distribution of funds and challenges in the manufacturing procedures.
Cited company has to use some steps before developing their new dishes (Hu, 2017). Firstly
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chefs of the restaurant generate new ideas to increase economy and like to take suggestions for
improvement from consumers. Employees are the internal customers of the organization, so
their opinion is also compulsory. Brainstorming advices for new menu products. They always
take feedback from customers to increase productivity and prepare new dishes compare to
competitors. To maintain market image it is necessary to introduce new recipe time to time.
Developed new market where cited company easily can lunched their new dishes. After the
above development stage ASK Italian restaurant make efforts for next step which is concept
testing. In this customer understand the idea behind new dishes (Manning, 2018). Organization
address the customers needs and way to fulfil them. To implement this process chosen firm
select small group of people, who given complete information about the new recipe. Chefs are
asked whether they like the new dish or not. So, concept testing is done to find out the customers
response towards the tasty dish. If large number of people like the new taste, then business
analysis is done. It is a very important stage in new product development. Selected organization
address whether the new recipe is commercially profitable or not. The company has decided to
lunched the product in market. This will take all compulsory steps to prepare and distribute new
taste (Wallace, Sperber and Mortimore, 2018). The finance department provide finance for
advertising of new dish. Now management of the restaurant want to test their new recipe on very
small selected people group. It they get success in its lunching then the organization regularly
cook the same dish as per the high demand of customers, but this not happened then in this
condition they try to make necessary changes. Test marketing reduce the risk of large scale
advertising. It is one of the safety device for firm. Negative side of it that this process consume
more time. If organization get positive feedback for new dish, then they introduce new recipe at
large scale production. ASK Italian makes a huge investment in their new developed product. To
capture more customers they can advertise new services on the online marketing like TV, radio,
what-app, magazines etc. Organization like to review market response performance of the new
dishes and services. They keep their eyes on the performance of new lunching. And keep ready
another plan if products face failure. Few stages are below of menu development planning-
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 Know the occasion- It is very essential to understand the occasion initially so that
effective menu can be developed. ASK Italian must consider this as a major element
while creating their menu (Planning stages of menu product development, 2016). It is
very essential to identify the demand of the people and event in order to provide best food
services. They have considered consumers requirements and prepare menu planning as
per the taste. In the occasion timing everyone wants traditional dish and like to enjoy it.
Restaurant staff always has to advance dishes planning to keep customer in touch. Plan the recipe- After the become familiar with the country occasion and demand
gathering ASK Italian staff start the plan for developing recipe. It is not a easy process.
They have to know information about customers taste. Before cook new dish, chef take a
demo. This method includes what to serve the customers and how to serve it in the well
manner (Marriott, Schilling and Gravani, 2018). Dish decoration is one of the important
art, which attract customers towards menu and they like eat. But it is not enough, staff
members has to quote reasonable price for such kind of recipe, thus consumers easily can
order for it. Trial- Before serving the developed recipe, ASK Italian staff like to trial for that dish
because a silly mistake may be become a cause of the biggest mess in front of customers.
It is a necessary part to increase food quality. If they do not take trial before serving, it
would be become reason of ruin restaurant image in the market. So cited company has to
taste dish when they are going to serve it to customers. This stage is quite risky for
organization if they have high price for it customer not like to order it and maybe they
avoid visiting the ASK Italian again.
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Illustration 1: Stages of the planning of menu
product development
(Source: Planning stages of menu product
development, 2016)

 Final menu- After complete above all steps ASK Italian restaurant like to served dishes in
front of customers. It is the that stage where consumer give their opinion regarding the
dish taste (Nuttavuthisit and Thøgersen, 2017). If they like it, customers also want to
order again, that is positive feedback for cited organization but if they do not like the
recipe consumer give their negative response.
c) Evaluation of the impact on the development process-
Impact of evaluation analysis the changes which can be attributed to certain intervention
like project, strategies or program. Evaluation is a method which critically examines a program.
This includes gather and evaluating knowledge about customer taste, to improve effectiveness of
products and services. Through the developed products ASK Italian can easily cover large
numbers of customers and built there unique image. They not only changes dishes in their menu
plan but also present services differently. Provide foods according to season is the best way to
keep customers happy. They like to eat that kind of meal, which is full of nutritions. More
expensive menu not acceptable for all consumers. Their income level decide menu chart. So,
when the cited organization want to develop new recipe into the market they have to set prices as
per the consumer social level. Sometimes age, sex also give new ideas to change restaurant dish
card. Without their opinion ASK Italian chain fail to introduce new products. In all this research
finance is an important part of developing team (Proctor, 2018). They have to produce those
recipes which are less expensive, thus they can cover investment money from consumptions.
When cited organization are making strategies for development management by the use
of various stages accomplish task before the time. Prepare dishes according to situations like
provide occasionally recipe menu planning make different impact on customers mind and they
love to celebrate enjoyable moments at ASK Italian restaurant chain. Senior employee of
kitchen staff cook new dish for trial and received feedback provide them a different path to
introduced their menu planning chart. Target people group is more important to developed
product because they give right response towards organization efforts (Tukker and Tischner,
2017). If firm get positive response that's mean now they are ready to launched foods at wide
scale but negative answer is the sign of more development. Selected company maintain dignity
through new developing products and serve various qualitative products. Market trial, knowledge
of customers taste, restore facility of available resources to provide products in all seasons.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that to operate a restaurant management has to do
market study and address all factors which can influence business. Customer taste is priority for
the organization and resources, funds, weather, consumers lifestyle are the those elements which
play important role to reduce productivity. Development is necessary to sustain into the market
and through the research on demand make firm task easy. Without knowing consumers'
requirement organization fail to create flourish image in front of others.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bhushan, B. ed., 2017. Springer handbook of nanotechnology. Springer.
Brown, A.C., 2018. Understanding food: principles and preparation. Cengage learning.
David, M.E., David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2017. The quantitative strategic planning matrix: a
new marketing tool. Journal of Strategic Marketing. 25(4), pp.342-352.
Davis, B. and et.al., 2018. Food and beverage management. Routledge.
Hu, R., 2017. Food product design: a computer-aided statistical approach. Routledge.
Manning, L., 2018. Food and Drink-Good Manufacturing Practice: A Guide to its Responsible
Management (GMP7). John Wiley & Sons.
Marriott, N.G., Schilling, M.W. and Gravani, R.B., 2018. Principles of food sanitation. Springer.
Nuttavuthisit, K. and Thøgersen, J., 2017. The importance of consumer trust for the emergence
of a market for green products: The case of organic food. Journal of Business Ethics.
140(2), pp.323-337.
Proctor, A. ed., 2018. Alternatives to Conventional Food Processing 2nd Edition (Vol. 53).
Royal Society of Chemistry.
Tukker, A. and Tischner, U. eds., 2017. New business for old Europe: product-service
development, competitiveness and sustainability. Routledge.
Wallace, C.A., Sperber, W.H. and Mortimore, S.E., 2018. Food safety for the 21st century:
Managing HACCP and food safety throughout the global supply chain. John Wiley &
Sons.
Online
Planning stages of menu product development, 2016. [Online]. Assessed through:
<http://www.innovationcoach.com/2013/05/step-process-perfects-product-development/>.
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