Cornell Hotel School SHA602: Optimizing Food and Beverage Menu

This project focuses on optimizing the menu of the Olympic Mediterranean Grill, a family-oriented restaurant in Greece. It begins with an evaluation of the menu content, assessing its alignment with the restaurant's concept, resources, and business goals. The project includes detailed menu item descriptions and suggestions for improvements. It then analyzes the menu format and design, offering recommendations for visual enhancements. The assessment continues with an examination of pricing strategies, including price bundling and price discrimination. Finally, the project evaluates menu item performance, categorizing items based on popularity and contribution margin, and providing a performance analysis calculation worksheet. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and recommendations for menu optimization.

Optimizing your Food and Beverage Menu Course project
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Part one: Evaluate Menu Content....................................................................................................3
1. A The Olympic Mediterranean Grill Menu.............................................................................3
2. Menu content aligns with your concept...................................................................................5
3. Menu’s alignment with your resources....................................................................................5
4. Business goals..........................................................................................................................6
B. Three menu item descriptions.................................................................................................6
Part Two: Evaluate Menu Format and Design................................................................................7
Part Three: Assess How Menu Prices are presented.......................................................................8
1. Price bundling..........................................................................................................................8
2. Pricing strategy.......................................................................................................................8
Part Four: Evaluate Menu Item Performance..................................................................................8
Evaluate the performance of the menu items in one category on a menu.......................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
Reference list.................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Food and Beverage Menu Course project has the purpose of optimizing the menu planning and
changes. In the food restaurant, it is foremost to plan the food and beverage menu card by
identifying the target customers, size, and organization in Greece. In Greece, the food and
beverage trends and concepts are needed to evaluate as per the menu's alignment with resources.
The course project will shed light on Olympic Mediterranean Grill Menu with menu descriptions
and popular courses to attract the customers.
Part one: Evaluate Menu Content
1. A The Olympic Mediterranean Grill Menu
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Figure 1: Menu card
The Olympic Mediterranean Grill menu is consists of a three-course menu for the project. This
restaurant is a family-oriented, casual lunch, and dining chain in Greece. This venture provides
the best Greek cuisine to the guests. The kitchen includes six-burner stoves, four basket fryer,
and double-deck convection oven, French-fry cutter, meat grinder, and others. This Greek recipe
is famous and popular among the customers. It is specialized in the chicken wrap and burger.
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The restaurant targets the customers from age 18 to 55 generally. There are separate options for
side course, starter, soup, dessert, and main course. The menu pricing is kept moderate to be
consistent with the concept.
2. Menu content aligns with your concept
The menu content is very simple but attractive to the customers. The menu contains 6 starters
and side items, two soup items, 3 burgers items, 2 chicken items, 5 beverage options, and two
dessert options. The special menu items are Olympic garlic bread, lamb burger, falafel wrap, and
loukoumades. Olympic garlic bread contains house-made egg bun sliced in half with brushed
butter, and it is served with fresh herbs (Buisman et al. 2019). The inclusion of a house-made
egg is a specialty of the dish. Their lamb burger is the chef's choices that are made up of
chargrilled, fresh ground lamb, oregano, thyme, and fresh garlic. The house specialty is falafel
wrap with house-ground chickpeas, cucumber, with tomato, tzatziki that is served in a pita,
garlic, and parmesan base. Ukoumades is made up of house-made fried donuts, honey drizzle,
and powdered sugar.
From the analysis of menu content, it can be stated that some changes are needed in beverage
items along with normal coffee and tea. It can be explained that the food section and beverage
section needs to be changed and separated (Cruz Moreira et al. 2018). The beverage options need
to be increased with a variety of options besides tea and coffee. In the side dish, the sandwich
items can be added to enhance the variety of food. It is not consistent with other food items.
3. Menu’s alignment with your resources
There is 3 staff serving the guests and one head chef in the kitchen. The assistants of the chef are
four in number. The manager of the restaurant coordinates with all staff and maintains the
accounts department of the restaurant. The owner visits the restaurant daily. The equipment is
enough for the listed menu items. The size of the menu is perfect, as per the menu items. As
there is less option of baked items, a two-sided oven is enough for attending the customers. If
sandwiches were added, toaster and grillers would be needed. 6 burner stoves can be challenging
when many items would be ordered in seasons or occasions. One commercial mixer can be
challenging while preparing the meals. French fry cutters and meat grinders are perfect for
serving the dishes.
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The menu is quite simple for understanding guests. Aligning with the resources is perfect for the
existing menu and resources. Under the restaurant’s circumstances, it is important to focus on
establishing the key resources and changes in the menu. Changing or adding items on the menu
is not enough. Preparing and adjusting with the resource is also important. The utensils and other
equipment are important to be reviewed while planning for adding or changing menu items.
4. Business goals
The Olympic Mediterranean Grill needs to focus on the business goal of utilizing the existing
resources to improve the menu and items. The goal can be increasing community involvement by
developing an attractive food menu. Additionally, environmental sustainability needs to be
ensured by involving effective communication and promoting local food as enhancing Greek
cuisine. Adding fish items can be a great opportunity to represent the country. They can focus on
the goals of reducing waste streams by minimizing the impact on the environment. Cutting down
energy can be another objective.
B. Three menu item descriptions
Description 1: CHICKEN SANDWICH
Suggested change:
The chicken sandwich may need to include several veggies along with lettuce, tomato, onion.
Chicken layers can be added to incorporate the chicken breast with toasted egg pita or bun. The
layers with some chickens and sizzling spices can be added to establish a solid and wholesome
food. Some chips or French fries can be added to enhance the quality of the food and portions.
Description 2: Coffee
Suggested change:
As the main theme of the restaurant is food and beverage, it is important to incorporate some
attractions in the beverage section. The restaurant can implement the change for delivering
coffee variations such as Café Latte, Espresso, Macchiato, Cappuccino, Irish Coffee, or others
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(O'Neill et al. 2020). In this section, variation regarding flavors can be added as a coffee drink.
Crème type and frothing types can be changed and improved to attract customers.
Description 3: Guacamole
Suggested change:
It is a type of avocado salad popular in Greek concisely. Along with tomato, tortilla chips, lime
juice, and cilantro can be added as a favorite dip in the food course. Top of tacos and pita can be
added with guacamole as a dip. Salsa can be added to mashed avocados to enhance the taste and
quality of the items (Simpson et al. 2018).
Part Two: Evaluate Menu Format and Design
The current menu has loud colors. The use of yellow, oranges as well as green is contrasting to
each other. The use of a special box to highlight the special items has been done to attract the
attention of the customers. The entire menu is divided into seven categories. The starting of the
menu is with the starters followed by soup, burger, chicken, beverages, and desert. The menu
needs to be restructured. The presentation of the menu also needs changes. The following
recommendation is presented to change the outlook of the menu in an effective manner
Use of pastel color for the background of the menu cared:
The use of loud colors is done in the current trend. People prefer pastel colors, as it is classic and
are eye-pleasing. The use of light color for the backgrounds is considered effective in enabling
the customers to concentrate on the menu (Seyitoglu, 2017). The use of correct size font and
theme is needs so that the customers can go through the entire menu easily without any
confusion.
Use of pictorial representation of the food in the menu card:
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The name of the dishes presented on the menu is a bit confusing for the customers. The use of
pictures of the listed dish on the menu will be helpful for the customers to reduce their level of
confusion (Lee et al., 2017). It has been evaluated that the customers will get a clear picture of
the item they are ordering.
Categorizing the entire menu under two broad sections vegetation and non-vegetarian:
Dividing the entire menu as per the vegetarian dish and no vegetarian dish is considered to be
beneficial for the customers to place the order effectively. The customer can be doubt free and
thus enjoy their presence in the restaurant.
The above recommendation is considered beneficial for the business to grow in the competitive
environment
Part Three: Assess How Menu Prices are presented
1. Price bundling
It is the pricing strategy used for separate products as a single price. Mixed bundling is used
within Olympic Mediterranean Grill. Mixed bundling is currently used in the context of
evaluating the appropriate strategy for the menu. In a bundle pricing, it is significant that the
customers are getting attractive for establishing the option packages over the single food item.
For example, dips and bread are sold differently. It is a strategy to sell both items separately. It is
complex at certain times. Every customer has different perceptions regarding choosing the items.
2. Pricing strategy
Price Discrimination is included to set different prices set for developing the market status for
the buyers. By implementing the bundle pricing, it can be improved to establish the customer
perception and their psychology to retain in the food and beverage industry. Pricing is strategized
to improve the bundle pricing along with financial positioning in the sector (Simpson et al.
2018).
Part Four: Evaluate Menu Item Performance
Evaluate the performance of the menu items in one category on a menu.
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The menu items of the Olympic Mediterranean Grill have been reviewed and are categorized into
Snacks and starters, Burgers, Sandwiches, Beverages, and a special house item. Each item has a
separate category and those categorized effectively by their performance and popularity. The
main items of popularity are Chicken Sandwich, Cold Drinks, and Burgers. These items are
having the highest popularity and are popular among the customers. They have exceptional taste
and presentation, and the beverages that are mostly consumed are coffee and cold drinks. Cold
drinks have experienced the highest sales and are regarded as stars of the restaurant. Beer is
another beverage but is only meant for adults (Seyitoglu, 2017).
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Menu Performance Analysis Calculation Worksheet
Item Price
COG
S%
GP
%
DOE/
Order
CM
$/Order
#
Order
s
Menu
Mix
Position
CM
Position
Item
Classificati
on sales
Tzatziki Sauce
$
2.49 23.5
76.
5 0.4 1123.5 3000 puzzles puzzles
sides and
starters
$
7,470.00
French Fries
$
1.39 25.2
74.
8 0.4 525.2 1500 puzzles dogs
sides and
starters
$
2,085.00
Onion Rings
$
1.21 23.1
76.
9 0.4 923.1 2500 puzzles puzzles
sides and
starters
$
3,025.00
Olympic Garlic
Bread
$
2.12 15.1
84.
9 0.4 395.1 1200 star dogs
sides and
starters
$
2,544.00
Spinach/
Artichoke Dip
$
2.81 19.6
80.
4 0.4 777.2 2144 star dogs
sides and
starters
$
6,024.64
Hummus
$
2.41 18.5
81.
5 0.4 718.5 2000 star dogs sandwich
$
4,820.00
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Chicken
Sandwich
$
3.99 27.8
72.
2 0.4 2167.8 5600
plough
horses
plough
horses burgers
$
22,344.00
Hamburger
$
7.69 45.3
54.
7 0.4 945.3 2500 dogs dogs burgers
$
19,225.00
Lamb Burger
$
6.21 30.3
69.
7 0.4 3130.3 8000 star star burgers
$
49,680.00
Veggie Burger
$
5.59 25.3
74.
7 0.4 2925.3 7500
plough
horses puzzles burgers
$
41,925.00
Falafel Wrap
$
9.21 35.1
64.
9 0.4 3335.1 8500 puzzles
plough
horses
house
specialties
$
78,285.00
Loukoumades
$
3.41 8.3
91.
7 0.4 1688.3 4450 star dogs beverages
$
15,174.50
Soft Drinks
$
1.79 9.5
90.
5 0.4 8709.5 22000 star star beverages
$
39,380.00
Tea/Coffee
$
1.65 5.1
94.
9 0.4 305.1 1000 star dogs beverages
$
1,650.00
Orange Juice
$
2.39 19.5
80.
5 0.4 719.5 2000
plough
horses dogs beverages
$
4,780.00
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Ouzo Shots
$
4.20 15 85 0.4 1995 5200 star puzzles beverages
$
21,840.00
Draft Beer
$
4.20 15 85 0.4 2115 5500 star puzzles beverages
$
23,100.00
Summary for Menu Category
Total Orders 84594
Sales $ 343,352.14
Cost of Sales $ 201,545.00
Gross Profit $ 141,807.14
Total Direct Operating Expenses $ 33,837.60
Total Contribution Margin $ 32,498.80
Average Popularity 4.1
Average Contribution Margin 4.3
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