Menu Planning and Product Development: Factors, Stages, and Influences

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MENU PLANNING AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
INDIVIDUAL REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
a) AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE MENU PLANNING DECISIONS................3
b) A DISCUSSION OF THE STAGES OF THE PLANNING OF MENU PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.........5
c) AN EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCES ON THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.................................7
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Planning is menu is one of the essential parts of hospitality organization in the food and
beverage industry. The hospitality organization that has an attractive menu pulls a large
number of customers. Menu planning helps in identifying that an individual is having a balanced
diet and his nutritional needs are satisfied. It is essential for the hospitality organization to set
and plan their menu in consideration with the desires of the customers at affordable prices
(Millar et al., 2010). The report is prepared and presents the factors that impact the decisions
related to menu planning. It includes a discussion about the stages of menu planning for new
product development. At last, it evaluates the influences on development processes.
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a) AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE MENU PLANNING
DECISIONS
The menu represents the list of options that are offered for sale this list of options includes the
eatables, dishes and beverages. It is a very time-consuming process which must be designed
through proper planning and decision. The menu of any restaurant and any other eating place
should meet the requirements of the guests according to their taste and preferences (Kalenjuk
et al., 2016). The below given are various factors that affect the planning decision of the menu:
TYPE OF CUSTOMERS: these are the most important and most influential factor in planning the
menu as the customers have different food habits, tastes and preferences. The demographic
background such as sex, gender, age, spending power, belief and income affects their selection
of food items (Malik and Kumar, 2012). The individuals who perform laborious work would
prefer more substantial meals to individuals who do clerical or secretarial work.
AVAILABILITY OF TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS IN KITCHEN: this is another crucial factor as the
chefs and its support staff will require tools such as utensils and ingredients such as vegetables,
spices and fruits to prepare meals and other food items (Pirani and Arafat, 2016). The menu
should not be elaborated beyond the capabilities of chefs and support staff and also beyond the
availability of tools and ingredients.
SEASONAL VARIABILITY: the decision regarding the menu planning depends highly on the
running season (Cao and Kim, 2015). Although technology has helped a lot as the convenient
cold storage allows the availability of ingredients and items of the food irrespective of the
season and include in the menu.
LEFTOVERS IN HAND: some chefs recuperate the leftover food for good health promotion
rather than ruining the food (Cao and Kim, 2015). They have the ability or talent to improve the
leftovers with innovative dishes to be served to guests so that the customers do not
comprehend.
COST OF MENU LISTS: this is another factor that needs to be considered while making the
decision for menu planning. Costs and expense that complements the portions size and quality
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must be considered so as to achieve value for money (Malik and Kumar, 2012). The cost of each
food item must be reasonable and effectively controlled.
BUSINESS POLICY: the policy or strategy of the business must be considered regarding the
supply of exception stuff such as pork, beef and other items (Malik and Kumar, 2012). If the
eatery business is pure vegan then this exception stuff must not be included in the menu and
vice versa.
SERVING HOURS AND OCCASION: the serving hours also affects the menu planning decisions as
people may visit in any time in a day and would prefer to order items based on the time (Cao
and Kim, 2015). For example, the guest visiting in morning time would prefer breakfast and
coffee or tea while guest visiting in dinner would prefer light and nutritious food. The occasion
is another determining factoring a selecting menu.
LOCATION OF BUSINESS ENTITY: The location of the restaurants or other eatery places is also a
deciding factor in menu planning. If an eating place is situated in the business area, the rates
and menu lists would range between moderate to high class while if the eating place is situated
on highways or on the roadside, the price and menu lists would be reasonable (Malik and
Kumar, 2012).
In today's scenario, the food and beverage industry has become highly competitive as every
organization focus on delivering effective and quality services to its guests and also adopt
different service methods to attract large numbers of customers. Timing affects the menu lists
in the restaurant. The promptness of the chef in preparing the dishes and of the server in
serving the same affects the brand image of the restaurant (Kalenjuk et al., 2016). Nutrition
concern and quality standards must be considered while planning the menu. People have now
become health conscious and prefer services with low-fat, low sugar and high fibre diet. So
these are some of the factors that must be considered while planning a menu for any
restaurant or any eating place.
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b) A DISCUSSION OF THE STAGES OF THE PLANNING OF MENU PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
The stages to plan the menu product development are:
IDEA GENERATION:
Market and consumer trends: any changes in choices and taste of customer leads to a change
in market trends which is required to be analysed by the company before undertaking menu
planning.
Swot analysis: it is essential for the company to carry out swot analysis which helps in
identifying the strengths and weaknesses so as to grab the opportunities and avoid threats.
Intense competition is a major threat in menu planning implementation in the market (Sandvik
et al., 2011).
Employees: involvement of the employees in making a decision-related to menu planning can
be effective as they may offer different and innovative ideas or plans for menu planning
(Sandvik et al., 2011). It may lead to generating more profit. Proper training at regular intervals
improves the skills and knowledge resulting in organizational success.
Focused group: a group of individuals selected to review and provide insights regarding the
launch of a new product and gain profit (Sandvik et al., 2011).
Brainstorming of new menu, services or restaurant concept: brainstorming is another effective
method to understand the concept of the restaurant so as to align it with new menu and
services (Halvaei and Ejlali, 2015).
IDEA SCREENING AND CONCEPT TESTING:
Production issues: the organization must consider the issues such as tastes and choices of
guests, good availability, weather conditions and budget related to the product during menu
planning.
Cost: the cost and budget are to be estimated before undertaking a menu planning. This is the
major factor that affects both the organization and customers as well (Halvaei and Ejlali, 2015).
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Developing and marketing: the menu is to be developed and marketed by the company in front
of the employees so as to ensure its viability before the customers using different promotional
and marketing activities (Seyitoğlu, 2016).
Feasibility: the preparation of the food items included in the menu list during menu planning
must be considered so that they are feasible to be offered to the guests. Feasible and viable
food items with good tastes and economic prices attract a large number of customers.
Elimination of unsound concepts prior to devoting resources: different concepts are adopted
by different business hospitality organization to attract the customer based towards the food
items (Bondzi-Simpson and Ayeh, 2017). These concepts comprehend the resources as if the
concept of any organization is based on to serve non-vegetarian dishes, the resources required
would include beef, pork and other non-veg items. Similarly, a vegetarian restaurant will not
plan to launch a non-veg item.
Once the food items of the menu lists are decided that the decision is to be taken on the type
of menu and serving style for food. Also, the manager of the hospitality organization will
prepare the budget for the session of dinners (Seyitoğlu, 2016). The food items will be selected
for the menu after considering the set budget.
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c) AN EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCES ON THE DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS
Various internal, as well as external factors, influence the development process of the
hospitality organizations in the current scenario. The development of the new product is highly
affected by the costs of materials as well as resources including employees; support staff, as
expenses on other activities required, must be reduced to maintain the cost in the development
process (Seyitoglu, 2017). Also, any change in the external factors of the environment such as
technology, political, environmental must be considered while developing a new product.
The needs and taste preferences of the customer keep on changing and is also dependent on
different social factors such as tradition, beliefs, culture and so on which impacts the
development process (Sims, 2010).
BUSINESS ANALYSIS:
Sales volume: the volume of sales is predefined by the hospitality organization. The
organization estimates the number of footfalls who would eat at their eating place on a daily
basis. This helps in avoiding the lack of food resources or an excessive waste of food resources.
Estimated selling price: the selling price for each menu item will be decided on the basis of
portion size and quality of the ingredients used to produce the same (Mackenzie et al., 2011).
The selling prices of the menu items will have an impact on the profit ratio and profit margin of
the organization.
Breakeven point: a breakeven point is decided by the hospitality organization to identify when
total expenses are equal to total revenue (Ozdemir and Caliskan, 2014). This helps the
hospitality organizations in determining the point of profit margin within sales.
Market testing: there are some of the customers who prefer to taste new food items prepared
by the hospitality organizations. It helps in determining the food habits, consumer preferences
and current market trend for successfully planning the menu (Ozdemir and Caliskan, 2014).
Technical implementation: technology supports the hospitality business to minimise the time
of cooking different food items so as to include in the menu while planning (Seyitoğlu, 2016).
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Grillers, cold storage, large refrigerators, microwave ovens and other electronic equipment
allow the chefs and support staff to prepare food with minimum required time.
NEW PRODUCT PRICING:
Value analysis: effective menu planning requires internal and external analysis. The trends in
the market are the external factors which along with internal factors such as availability of
cooking staff and resources affect menu planning (Bondzi-Simpson and Ayeh, 2017).
Impact of a new product: the new food items included in the menu must be attractive enough
to grab the attention of the individuals (Ozdemir and Caliskan, 2014). The customers constantly
look for new food items to taste, a new product such as new food items allow hospitality
organization to attract the market and compete with other competitors.
Differing value segments: the hospitality organization must focus on the demographics of
different segments while deciding food items (Halvaei and Ejlali, 2015). Such as it should fulfil
the tastes of adults while it should also offer choices to young kids and old aged people.
Products costs: the cost of the product such as Risotto is decided as per its quality of raw
materials used and portion size (Mackenzie et al., 2011). $18 can be fixed as the cost of a new
product during the menu planning.
Revenue and profit: revenue is the total amount of business sales received from the guests.
While profit is the net amount remaining after deducting all the expenses (Ozdemir and
Caliskan, 2014). Effective menu planning helps in improving the revenue as well as sales of the
hospitality organization.
Forecast of unit volumes: forecasting is the most effective tools to be used to manage the
business in an effective manner (Sims, 2010). This helps the hospitality organizations in
identifying the fluctuations in its sales volume. It is essential to estimate the unit volumes
before undertaking a menu planning.
Also, the menu development process is impacted by the availability of time and number of
dinners which is a very important element in the menu development process. The different
tastes, religions and beliefs of the customers must be considered as it affects the development
process of the menu (Bondzi-Simpson and Ayeh, 2017). Some of the other factors are industrial
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production, company identity; environment and raw materials availability affect the
development process. It is equally essential for the staff members to be trained at the time of
designing the menu.
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CONCLUSION
Thus it can be concluded that proper menu planning helps the hotels and restaurants to
increase their market share along with their profitability. When the food items are included in
the menu considering the tastes and preferences of customers it will increase the number of
customers. Also, hospitality organizations must consider the factors that may influence the
decisions related to menu planning and designing. The different stages of product development
for menu must be evaluated and monitored. There are various factors that must be identified
and managed in the process of menu development. Provision of high-quality services results in
attracting a large number of customers within the food and beverage industries.
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REFERENCES
1. Bondzi-Simpson, A. and Ayeh, J.K., 2017. Serving indigenous dishes in hotels: An inquiry
into the conative response of menu decision makers. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 67, pp.115-124.
2. Cao, Y. and Kim, K., 2015. How do customers perceive service quality in differently
structured fast food restaurants?. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management,
24(1), pp.99-117.
3. Halvaei, M.A. and Ejlali, S., 2015. Using Conjoint Analysis To Generate A New Customer
Based Food Menu Case Study: Art University Of Tehran–Iran (pp. 81-88). JIEB.
4. Kalenjuk, B., Tesanovic, D., Banjac, M., Gagic, S. and Radivojevic, G., 2016. Offer
structure and design of the menu in the hospitality industry. In Faculty of Tourism and
Hospitality Management in Opatija. Biennial International Congress. Tourism &
Hospitality Industry (p. 131). University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism & Hospitality
Management.
5. Mackenzie, M., Cheung, C. and Law, R., 2011. The response of hotels to increasing food
costs due to food shortages. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 16(4), pp.395-416.
6. Malik, S. and Kumar, S., 2012. Factors affecting menu planning in hotels: a study of
North India. Innovative Journal of Business and Management, 1(06).
7. Millar, M., Mao, Z. and Moreo, P., 2010. Hospitality & tourism educators vs. the
industry: A competency assessment. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 22(2),
pp.38-50.
8. Ozdemir, B. and Caliskan, O., 2014. A review of literature on restaurant menus:
Specifying the managerial issues. International Journal of gastronomy and food science,
2(1), pp.3-13.
9. Pirani, S.I. and Arafat, H.A., 2016. Reduction of food waste generation in the hospitality
industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 132, pp.129-145.
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