Strategic Menu Development and Design for Waterside Inn Restaurant.

This report provides a detailed analysis of menu development planning and design for the Waterside Inn restaurant in the UK. It explores the principles of menu planning, different types of menus, and how to meet customer requirements while maximizing profits. The report compares and contrasts various menu types, analyzes the impact of customer and business needs on menu design, and offers recommendations for future trends, including sustainability and technology. It outlines a realistic plan for developing a menu that meets these requirements, covering aspects like market research, pricing, course design, and legal considerations. The report emphasizes the importance of health and safety, staff training, and effective operational management in achieving menu success and overall business objectives. It concludes with recommendations for improvement based on menu testing and evaluation.

Menu development
planning and design

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Principles of menu planning and different types of menus to meet customers’
requirements.............................................................................................................................3
Determining the customer and business requirements which need to be fulfilled to
maximize profits for a range of different menus..................................................................5
Compare and contrast a range of different menus and the customer and business
requirements which have impacted on their design............................................................6
Analysing how customer and business requirements impact on the design of a broad
range of menus and make recommendations to meet future trends...............................7
Realistic plan for developing menu which meets customer and business requirements
to maximize profitability...........................................................................................................8
Producing a menu which meets customer and business requirements to maximize
profitability..................................................................................................................................9
Test and evaluate the menu produced.................................................................................9
Produce a realistic menu that meets the overall business objective..............................10
Recommendations for improvement based on tests and evaluation of the menu.......10
In depth plan for menu development including KPI to measure success......................10
COCLUSION................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Menu planning plays a vital role for food industry because it attracts more
customers. There are many factors that will influence the customers’ needs and
business requirements. The present report will be based on the waterside inn restaurant
which is based in UK. The hotel provides varieties of food and beverage to satisfy
customers. This study will discuss different types of menus that are being used by
hotels. Further, it will discuss impact of customers’ requirements on menu designing
and performance of hotels. Lastly, this study will discuss different methods of strategies
of measuring effectiveness of menu.
Principles of menu planning and different types of menus to meet customers’
requirements
For preparing and planning menu, it is important to consider principles. Some common
principles of menu planning include:
Variety: It is important for menu planner to add nutritional values and for that,
they need to consider verities of ingredients. By adding number of varieties that consists
of effective nutrition is important as it can help them out in attracting customers . There
are number of healthy food items that are not being liked by customers as different
customers have different needs. So, for satisfying their needs, manager should add
variety of food items while planning menu.
Balance: Restaurants add number of food items in their menu but manager
needs to make products in a manner that has balanced amount of carbohydrate, fat,
protein and other nutrition (Mathews, Patten and Stokes, 2021). By using such items
that have balanced nutrition, manager can plan their menu accordingly.
Adequacy: It is one of the main important principles that need to be added while
planning menu. It is all about planning meals and deciding as whether food items can
give adequate energy, consists of micronutrients, macro nutrients and all other things
that body need to function. Thos food items should be added that can help out people in
improving their health and support lifelong health.
Here are some different types of menus such as:

A La carte: It is a common type of menu in which prices has been listed and
mentioned separately for each item. Prices in this type are more likely to be higher and
have more flexibility. Customers are flexible and choose individual item and combine
them if they want.
Cycle: It is a type of menu that has repeated options over a specific period of
time. When food items are being repeated on weekly basis then it is known as cycling
(Madejska and Persson, 2019). For example: restaurants add some types of sandwich
and offer them on Monday then another type can be added on Tuesday.
Waterside inn can develop La carte type of menu.

Determining the customer and business requirements which need to be fulfilled to
maximize profits for a range of different menus
Food and beverage industry is the fastest growing industry in the world, with
innovation and many new trends. Nowadays, customers are more concerned about
their health, so they prefer to eat healthy food instead of consuming unhealthy food like
high calories' food.
Customer requirements-
As per the current trends people are more attracted towards meat free food,
vegan, sugar free, alcohol free and many more. So, while planning menus, the hotelier
needs to take all these trends into consideration. These current trends influence menu
choices due to the fastest change and trends among people.
 Customers always needs change to meet their requirements so food industry
needs to focus on lifestyle choices such as vegetarianism. For example- the
waterside inn needs to focus on trends like veganism as they do not consume
dairy product such as milk and eggs, honey and many more.
 While preparing menu the hotel needs to understand the needs and
requirements of customers in order to meet their preferences and taste for a
range of different menus. Customer's tastes and preferences change with the
change in trends.
 Also, customer preference and tastes are so powerful in nature that they can
immediately change how businesses conduct their business activity (Pranita,
Ramzani and Auliya, 2019). Before targeting customers, an organization needs
to design its menu in such a manner that they meet their needs effectively.
 Effective cost of menu and gender differences is a very essential for the
restaurant to gain the competitive advantages. The Cost of dishes in the menu is
what the clients look at the most so it is essential to take price into consideration
and by referring this they have potential of changing their preference.
 Nowadays young generation needs are more attracted towards better quality
food and beverages, healthy nutrition and quality food. And old age people are

focusing on taking diabetic diets and gluten free diets. So Before menu planning
hotel needs to focus on factors like price, quality, choice and convenience.
Business requirements-
while planning and designing realistic, profitable and achievable menus, it is
important to focus on requirements like kitchen plans, equipments, availability of
facilities, development and training of employees and other staff members.
 To meet the maximum profit the food industry needs to provide effective training
to staff and hire experience staff (Salsabila, 2019). For example- for preparation
of food it is essential to hire cook with good knowledge and skills so that he/she
can maintain the viability in food preparation time.
 Make sure staff members follows kitchen protocols to avoid any uncertainty.
Also, it is essential to focus on availability of proper tools and equipments in
kitchen such as oven, knife and many more.
 In order to maintain consistency, they need to focus on providing roles and
responsibilities to each staff, training on maintenance and cleaning, food safety
and hygiene training sessions on recipes, set shifts for staff (Pichugina, 2020).
Having a wide range of variety in the menu is helpful for the business to offer
different types of clients with diversity in their offers.
Compare and contrast a range of different menus and the customer and business
requirements which have impacted on their design
À la carte- This type of menu is basically well-known for its benefit in which
customer has a choice of individually priced dishes for each and every course.
Cyclic menu- it is a type of menu which is repeated over a specific time period,
For example as four weeks. Here, menu is served differently each day, at the end of this
food cycle, the dishes is repeated.
The waterside inn is following À la carte dining where they reveal the full seasonal
variety of cuisine and satisfy the needs of customers.
Analysing how customer and business requirements impact on the design of a broad
range of menus and make recommendations to meet future trends.
A good and effective menu design plays a vital role in any restaurant's marketing
plan, so it is important to design a menu in a really effective manner. When the hotel

design a menu for their customer it should express everything to meet the customer
trends (Baiomy, Jones and Goode, 2019). For example- while preparing menu design
its is important to focus on overall business operations, promotion, promotes
profitability, budget development and keep the brand fresh in the mind of customer by
offering them varieties of dishes. If the waterside inn hotel properly design menu then it
can direct the attention of the customers and increase the chances that those food
items will be ordered by them. In addition to this, if the restaurant follow customer
requirement and business needs then they can easily attract more customers and
satisfy the preferences of their existing loyal customers. This will immediately increase
the reputation, profitability and performance of the hotel. On the negative side, if the
hotel doesn't follow customer and market trends then they cannot satisfy the needs of
customers and not able to achieve success in food industry.
Recommendations-
As food and beverage industry is taking sustainability seriously, the waterside inn
needs to focus on providing organic food, CSR, healthy diets, gluten free dishes and
many more. Managers chose sustainability as it is the more essential trend in the
industry of food and beverage which needs to be focus on in the upcoming year. They
also need to focus on factors like innovation, using new technology, effective cost to
attract more customers (Lee, and et.al., 2020). The menu needs to be prepared
according to the target customers and their choices. It is important for restaurant to
keep the ingredients which is needed for the production of the dishes to avoid any
delay. Menu planning is important part for hotel industry so it is essential for the
requirement of business and customer both. The hotel also be looking for various ways
to have more control over the system of transportation and supply chain management.
Realistic plan for developing menu which meets customer and business requirements to
maximize profitability
In order to meet the needs of customers and business requirements, the
waterside inn needs to follow the below mentioned plan for developing menu:
Market research- By doing proper market research, organization can find out
key consideration of internal and external factors which can impact the market position
of hotel.

Prices- prices can provide customer more options to choose from menu, which
means as price can attract the customers it is important to focus on pricing strategy
while planning menu.
Courses- dishes and meals in the restaurant are divided into various categories
such as main course, beverages, starters, soft drinks and many more. This should be
addressed effectively and properly to satisfy the convenience of customers.
Design and layout- layout and designing of menu played a vital role because it
can eventually attract the customer so that they can choose from the mentioned dishes
names. If the hotel follows attractive and clear layout then it will be helpful for guest to
understand the dishes.
Staffs- employees and staff members in the hotel plays a very important role. So
it is essential for hotel to distribute roles and responsibilities among staffs so that they
can serve properly to customers.
Legal requirements- the legal laws regarding the menu planning are important
and need to be properly checked. It is important to provide training on such laws to staff
members for being active while serving food to customers. For hotel, it is important to
follow legal laws and maintain legal standards to achieve good reputation. For example-
menu labelling law can be followed effectively to meet the requirements.
Tools, equipments and facilities- the hotel needs to be focus on cleaning and
maintenance of equipments and facilities they offer (Ho, and et.al., 2021). While
producing dish it is important to use some tools and equipments which should be
properly clean and maintained. For planning menu it is vital to bring effectiveness in the
operational and production management.
Health and safety- menu planning and development of menu is directly
connected to health and safety of people. Thus, it is important to consider safety,
hygiene and health of people while preparing menu list. It is essential for the hotel to
maintain cleanliness to attract more customers and meet the profitability.
Producing a menu which meets customer and business requirements to maximize
profitability
Balance- balance has been maintained in the menu planning of the restaurant as
there are different types of dishes available as per the needs and requirements of

customers. It contains dishes which are more beneficial for customers such proper
nutrition meals, proper protein and many more (Lai, and et.al., 2021). Also, it is
developed in such a way that is beneficial for vegan customers. Balance between
marketing, food cost, diversity, health and hygiene, menu prices and financial
consideration is well maintained.
Price- To all different types of dishes the price given here is effectively
maintained which can attract customers. This menu has followed pricing strategy in
which customer can afford it. Due to its price effectiveness the restaurant will be able to
attain competitive advantages.
Test and evaluate the menu produced.
In order to evaluate the menu produced the hotel can use the Key performance
indicators and benchmarking so that they can understand the success of its business.
For example- customer satisfaction, employee job satisfaction, total profitability,
revenue generation and many more can be evaluated through these methods. Proper
systems for recording, collecting and evaluating feedback on menus can be done.
Feedback- By collecting feedback from customers, menu update can be done which
can include dislikes and likes about dishes and what more improvement can be done in
the menu list.

Survey- By doing market survey, proper ratings can be collect about the experience of
customers. This can be done by providing them feedback forms and ask them to rate
dishes from 1-10 scale and provide suggestion to improve it.
Owner of the hotel used menu engineering matrix for improvement in the menu
planning. Basically, it as process in which management team of hotel break down menu
item by item into four categories. Analysing each performance of dishes and then make
adjustment on the basis on those metrics is known as menu engineering.
Star- fish n chips and turkado come under this category because its popularity is high as
compared to others
source: (Lai, and et.al., 2021)
Dogs- bison burger come under this category because its popularity is low as compared
to others. Thus, the hotel is not gaining more profit out of it and needs to focus on
developing its popularity by making innovation.
Puzzle- hamburger comes under this category because it has low popularity and high
profit, Although the hotel needs to focus on improving this.
Plow horse- cucumber sandwich and meatloaf fall under this category.
Produce a realistic menu that meets the overall business objective
The menu planning should be done in effectively to satisfy the needs and
expectations of guest. It should be maintained properly as per the customer needs and
business requirements because they have different values. Menu should have done in

such a way to attain the marketing objectives and goals. By focusing on pricing strategy,
market research, provide training to staff members, health and safety of customers the
hotel can easily achieve profitability. Courses must be categorized into various
headlines such as beverages, main course, starters, soups and many more. While
preparing menu, the management team needs to consider attractive design and layout.
Make sure to follow kitchen protocols to maintain the cleanliness in kitchen and safety
and health of customers and employees.
Recommendations for improvement based on tests and evaluation of the menu
For menu planning, it is important to be more specific and effective to promote
sale specific dishes which provides the business success and profitability (Weriza and
et.al., 2021). It can be said that improving the main titles and headlines of the menu will
attract more customers. It should be clearly mentioned such as in beverages section
they can add soft drinks in different types of flavours. Seasonal dishes needs to be
mention to attract customer attention on the theme of the hotel.
In depth plan for menu development including KPI to measure success
With the help of KPIs the food industry can quickly identify any issues in the way
they are running their business.
Customer satisfaction- By using customer focused KPIs the hotel is focusing
on per customer efficiency, customer retention rate and customer satisfaction level.
Prime cost- the turnover rate of the hotel will explain the menu and cost-
effectiveness, as it is a combination of cost of goods sales and labour cost.
Sales and Revenue growth- The sales and revenue growth of the selected
menu will show the success of business.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, menu planning and development plays an important role in food
preparation, so the hotel industry needs to focus on some of the criteria while preparing
it. This includes pricing, market research, customer trends and many more. Moreover,
the hotel is focusing on a la carte menu type to meet the requirement of customers. The
report has covered menu engineering analysis to make improvement in menu planning.

It is recommended to concentrate various strategy such as on cost effectiveness and
KPIs to measure the performance and profitability of hotel.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Menu Planning Processes Using a Flowchart. SAGE Open. 11(4).
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Performed by SME Restaurants in Malaysia. Journal of Academic Research in
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menu scheduling for critical illness patients. In IOP Conference Series: Materials
Science and Engineering (Vol. 917, No. 1, p. 012057). IOP Publishing.
Madejska, A. and Persson, A., 2019. Menu anchor interactors in mobile website
contexts: The perceived usability of menu navigation on three different types of
websites.
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Perspectives on Nutrition and Menu Planning in Student-Operated
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IEEE 2nd International Conference on System Analysis & Intelligent Computing
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HOTEL JAKARTA SIMATUPANG. Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy
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Asrama Pondok Pesantren Modern Terpadu Prof. Dr. Hamka II Padang Tahun
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Sufahani, S. F., and et.al., 2020. MALAYSIAN SECONDARY BOARDING SCHOOL
MENU PLANNING SYSTEM. International Innovation Competition (INNOCOM)
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