Report: Menu Planning and Product Development - London Overlord

This report, focused on menu planning and product development, examines the London Overlord Restaurant, an Italian establishment with 20 tables and 100 covers. It delves into the principles and factors crucial for recipe development, analyzing how these influence menu planning decisions. The report outlines the stages of menu product development planning and explores the factors impacting service methods. It also includes a menu design reflecting menu compilation and recipe development, and considers the development of a food service environment to support the menu, service style, and recipe. The analysis encompasses customer requirements for a new food concept, choice of a new concept, and recommendations for its launch, concluding with a review of the process. The report highlights the importance of menu planning for restaurant success and profitability, covering topics such as pricing, customer segments, dietary restrictions, and resource availability. It also examines various service methods, including pre-plated, silver service, and buffet service, and provides insights into the menu development planning stages, including idea generation, screening, concept testing, business analysis, and product development. The influences of location, customer types, seasonal availability, and costs on menu development are also discussed.

MENU PLANNING AND
PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
1.1 The principles and factors of recipe development................................................................1
1.2 Factors that influence menu planning...................................................................................2
1.3 Factors that influences service methods................................................................................3
2.1 Stages of menu product development planning....................................................................3
2.2 The influences of different factors on the development process...........................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 A menu design in order to reflect a menu compilation and recipe development..................6
3.2 The development of food service environment to support the menu, service style and
recipe...........................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Customer requirements of the new food concept..................................................................8
4.2 Choice of new food concept..................................................................................................8
4.3 Recommendations on launch of new food concept...............................................................9
4.4 Review...................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Today, it is important to consider a good menu-planning in order to operate and manage a
successful restaurant. The below report identifies the importance of menu-planning and
development. The restaurant on which the report is developed is named as London Overlord
Restaurant. It is having 20 Tables and 100 covers. Its theme is Italian and is located in down-
town London. It discusses the principles and factors required for recipe development. The report
assesses those factors which influences the decisions made while menu-planning. Along with it,
the stages of menu product development planning have been discussed briefly. The factors which
influence the service methods of a restaurant are explained. Later, the stages of menu product
development planning have been explained as well (Browning, 2018). These all explanations and
evaluation's make one able to understand in what ways successful menu-planning is done.
TASK 1
1.1 The principles and factors of recipe development
It is important for a restaurant business to develop a menu in order to serve their people
with the best of the available dishes and to earn profitability. A good menu-planning or
development ensures that the organisation is serving the people's needs and wants and providing
them with good taste and satisfaction. Below mentioned are the needs for food businesses to
develop their menu: To provide customers with available choices: It is important for a restaurant to provide
its customers' information about the available foods and beverages in the restaurant. A
menu ensures that this information is easily being provided to the guests in a simple
approach (Duda, 2018). To provide its customers with important information: A menu makes it easy for a
restaurant to provide its customer brief information about the policies, payments,
restaurant history and disclaimer.
 To draw customer attention: For a restaurant, a menu serves the purpose of drawing
customer attention towards the products and services offered. A menu helps the
restaurant to explain its consumers about the style of restaurant and its offered services.
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This garners the required attention of the people towards the food, beverages and services
offered by the restaurant (Dunford and et.al., 2018).
Below mentioned are the factors considered while menu-planning:1. Pricing: Pricing is important because it allows the customer to choose the items from the
menu as per their budget.2. Customer segment: Customer segment is important because it allows the restaurant to
determine which type of customers it is serving.3. Dietary Restrictions: Dietary restrictions ensure that people are being served with right
diets.
4. Available foods items: The available food items allows the restaurant to decide what
dished to offer to its consumers.
1.2 Factors that influence menu planning
Below mentioned are the factors that influence menu-planning:
Price: Price is an important factor while menu-planning. A restaurant needs to consider
pricing of its products and services in the menu while its planning. Pricing the products and
services as per the restaurant needs and profit requirements creates an ease of transaction of
services between a consumer and a guest (Graham and Harris, 2018).
Quality: Quality is another essential factor that needs to be considered while planning of
a menu. Good quality of food ensures that customer are being served with best services and it
also helps the restaurant to earn good sums of money. Also, the quality of service plays an
important role too.
Service: The service of the restaurant needs to be fine dining and special, it creates an
environment where guests feels comfortable and special. Along with it, it ensures that guests are
leaving with a good experience and good word of mouth. While planning the menu the service
style needs to be considered as the food will be prepared and served in that particular style of
service.
Decor: The décor of the restaurant is another important factor that needs to be considered
while planning of menu. The food items offered in the menu should be as per the theme and
décor of the restaurant (Graziose and Ang, 2018).
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Availability of resources: The availability of resources such as vegetables, fruits, and
other ingredients used in cooking needs to be considered while menu-planning as well. It ensures
that the establishment is having proper resources to serve its customers well.
1.3 Factors that influences service methods
Below mentioned are different types of service methods used within food businesses:
Pre-plated: This is the style of service where food is prepared and plated in the kitchen.
It is then directly served to the guest at the table. This advantages of pre-plated service is that it
does not require much attention and the guests can have everything in their plates just at once.
The disadvantages of it includes the service is way too fast and can might leave the customer
unsatisfied. Restaurants using pre-plated service can suffer from profitability issues.
Silver Service: Silver service is the style of the service where food is prepared in the
kitchen and is served to the guest's table by the wait staff in a series. The advantage of silver
service is that it provides customer satisfaction. Its disadvantage is that it requires too much
attention to each and every customer and is very costly for the establishment. The impact it has
on restaurant is that the establishment have to invest a lot in recruiting skilled employees for the
service style. This can make the organisation suffer from profitability and budget issues
(Grynchenko and Nataliya, 2017).
Buffet Service: In buffet, the food is served in the chaffing dishes by the restaurant and
the guests have to take the food by themselves. The advantage of such service is that it is cheap
and does not require a lot of staff. Also, it reduces wastage of food. Its disadvantage include the
service being less effective as the guest can leave with dissatisfaction if he/she did not like or
enjoyed the food. The impact that it can have on business includes that the business can earn
profitability and the reduction of wastage would allow the restaurant to flourish.
2.1 Stages of menu product development planning
Menu development process guides in developing the best presentation of food products
recipes and servings (Leber and et.al., 2018). The menu is made in such a well-defined and
understood way that it meets demands of customers and it also effectively fits in different
occasions. Following are given steps and stages of menu development planning:
Idea Generation: This is the first step of menu product development planning in which
managers needs to conduct proper market research for finding out needs and wants of customers
and according make changes in menu planning. Market and customer trends neeeds to be
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considered and manager can also ask for suggestions from employees and customers.
Brainstorming regarding new product and menu ideas needs to be taken. Managers needs to take
feedback from dealers, agents and employees regarding competitors services.
Idea Screening: Restaurant and Hotels have Idea committee that studies new product
development ideas carefully and accordingly make judgements for selecting or rejecting it. Menu
product development idea is selected or rejected on the basis of its necessity and importance and
also if old or available resources can produce new products or not (Grynchenko and Nataliya,
2017).
Concept Testing: In this step, feasibility of new menu product development is checked.
Concept testing helps in identifying if consumers actually need the new product or it will be
accepted or not.
Business analysis: This stage helps in finding out profitability of new menu product
development process, cost of new product and resources required for developing new menu.
Demand and sales of new menu product development process and cost required for advertising
and marketing etc. is identifies at this stage.
Product development: This is the last stage where organisation introduces new menu
product in the target markets. Production and distribution of new product takes place at this stage
of product development planning process (Leber and et.al., 2018).
2.2 The influences of different factors on the development process
There are different factors that brings influences on the menu development process,
which are explained as follows:
Location of the Hotel or Restaurant: menu development process needs to consider the
location of the Hotel. For e.g. Menu for residential area needs to be family appealing and needs
to be in term of good ingredients and cost as well. Hotels in road-side needs to have highway
based menu and in menu for business areas needs to price moderated.
Types of customers: The culture, trends, gender, beliefs and livelihood of people in
functional area needs to be considered while developing menu as it brings great influences on
menu development process.
Seasonal availability: While developing or preparing menu, one needs to consider
seasonal availability of foods and fruits (Lezama-Solano and Chambers, 2018). This brings great
influences on menu development process.
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Raw material, time and resources: Managers must develop the menu by considering the
budget and resources available with them. Quick services and quality food needs to be provided
to customers.
Cost of menu: While preparing menu, manager needs to reserve in mind the fair cooking
cost of the food given in menu. The cost of producing food needs to be included, profits, salary
of employees, etc. in the menu prices (Lister, 2018).
Service hours: This is also one of the factors that brings influences on the menu
development process. Operating or service hours also brings influences on the type of menu.
Occasion: The choice of menu also influences according to different occasions such as,
marriage party menu, birthday party menu or tea-party menu.
Business Policy: The policy of business is to sell only vegetarian food products,
therefore, it will not supply beef, chicken or pork according to the policy. Therefore, policy of
business organisation also influences menu development process.
TASK 2
NOTE: From here, all of the tasks are covered in Presentation and their Text is below:
3.1 A menu design in order to reflect a menu compilation and recipe development
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A menu design is important in order to run smooth operations and achieve required
profitability. A good menu design always attracts customers attention towards the products and
services provided by the restaurant and creates a good word of mouth (Müller, and et.al., 2019).
Why it is important?
A menu is important for a restaurant to achieve success and profitability. The menu
compilation provides the restaurant with new ideas to serve its consumer well and ensuring that
better services is being provided. Along with it, it brings an ease within the restaurant and its
functions while serving its consumers. Recipe development helps the food business to stand apart
from other restaurant businesses and provide a unique taste of their own. In these terms, both
recipe development and menu compilation are necessary for a food business (Ofori, Boakye and
Narteh, 2018).
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Illustration 1: New Designed Menu for London
Overland Restaurant
(Source: Menu Templates, 2017)

Its purpose
A menu design serves the purpose of attracting customers attention to the restaurant
provided product and services. The compilation of menu serves the idea to making things easy
for both restaurant and customer to provide and select the offerings. Also, recipe development is
essential in nature to provide the guest with a unique and different taste (Oldewage-Theron and
et.al., 2018).
In what ways it helps a restaurant
A menu design helps a restaurant in many ways. It helps the outlet in achieving growth
and success by gaining more consumers. Along with it, a menu design ensures that customer are
having an ease of selecting the offerings. It helps the restaurant in making its customers aware
about the style of the restaurant.
The menu compilation makes it easy for the restaurant to provide specific details about
the dishes and beverages. Also, it has been seen that menu compilation and recipe development
goes hand in hand to provide customer a good experience of the restaurant.
3.2 The development of food service environment to support the menu, service style and recipe
For a restaurant, it is important to develop a food service environment in such ways that it
serves its purpose of providing best services to its customers and earns desired profitability. In
order to do that, the restaurant ensures that the environment in which its food is being served is
as per the set standards.
A good food service environment requires a restaurant to be perfectly set and maintained
as per the set of services offered. To make sure this, the establishment have to prepare and
develop the overall restaurant reflecting its style and type. In that order, the restaurant have to
prepare its menu designs according to the theme of the restaurant. The menu needs to be match
with the restaurant environment and its theme to attract the customers and make them feel
special (Rothenberg, 2019)
.
The recipes which are going to be served in the menu should be as per the food service
environment to provide the customers with an experience of the meal. Along with it, the service
style also plays an important role. The right kind of service style which is set as per the theme
and food service environment of the restaurant ensures that the customer are going to leave with
a better experience and satisfaction (Browning, 2018).
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4.1 Customer requirements of the new food concept
The customer requirements were one of the most important factors that needed to be
consider while planning and implementing the menu. These requirements ensure that the menu is
being developed as per the needs and requirements of the customers and the food which will be
served will not create any sort of disarray while making choices.
Below mentioned are the requirements of the customers for the new food concept:
Taste: Taste is one of the most important customer requirement as it is the only reason
for which a customer makes a choice to eat in an outside outlet rather an eating at home.
Customer wanted the food to be tasty and delicious and thus, the establishment made the choice
of preparing its food concept accordingly (Graham and Harris, 2018).
Quality: The next important customer requirement is better quality. Quality was one of
the essential factor which was considered while making new food concept. Customers wanted
the best quality of food which gives them satisfaction and make them happy and wanting more.
Pricing: Pricing is another important customer requirement that was considered while
creating new food concept. The customers wanted the food prices to be low and as per their
budgets. The concept prepared is as per these requirements (Leber and et.al., 2018).
4.2 Choice of new food concept
The new food concept is based on the current market trends and customer's needs. The
concept is focused on providing proper service to the customers while ensuring they are getting
better taste and their overall suitability for wine and dine. It is created in order to serve the
consumer with the best Italian food in London. The restaurant is themed with Italian-theme. In
which its tables and chairs are ordered straight from the Italy.
It is essential for a restaurant to contain traditional furniture, this makes the restaurant
look better and gives a touch of theme. The other considered things in food concept was ensuring
proper Italian recipes. It was essential to add traditional recipes to give the customers a taste of
traditional food, for which they are coming in the restaurant for.
The chosen service style is silver service. Silver service adds more receptivity of the taste
to the consumers and leaves them with a good experience. Also, it makes the theme of the
restaurant appealing. The chosen food concept allowed the restaurant to develop an environment
where its services can be easily sold and the customer gets required satisfaction (Rothenberg,
2019).
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4.3 Recommendations on launch of new food concept
Below mentioned are the recommendations on the launch of new food concept:
1. The tables and chairs of the restaurant needs to be properly checked as they are not
having any problems that can make the consumer sitting difficult.
2. The menus should be properly checked by the Executive Chef before coming into
operations. This can make the menus clear and precise and the transaction between
customer and restaurant easy (Leber and et.al., 2018).
3. The service should flow properly. The managers should ensure that its wait staff is
properly being trained about the service and they are aware about the procedures. Also, it
is important to consider that the staff members are properly groomed and are wearing
right uniforms as per the set standards.
4. The kitchen where food is being prepared should be neat and clean. This will create an
environment where good food is being served. Also, it is going to ensure that customers
are being served with right quality food.
5. The manager's should ensure that the customers feedbacks are being taken regularly. This
will help the establishment to understand at what places it requires improvements and
would help to develop its products and services accordingly (Müller, and et.al., 2019).
The above mentioned recommendations would help the Italian Overland Restaurant to
successfully launch its new food concept.
4.4 Review
As per the above developed and implemented food concept, I have found out that it was
hard for me to create an effective menu. The problems areas where I found it difficult to create a
successful menu included not having better understanding of the customers needs and
requirements. The developed plan required more perfection and it was not as per the needs and
requirements of the management staff. Overall, the concept proved to be a successful one and the
chosen theme was as per the current trends. The factors found and implemented made it able for
the establishment to prepare the new menu properly. Along with it, It can be seen as the
developments made as per the food service environment made the environment of the restaurant
as per the set theme. Along with it, the food service environment played an important role in
providing better service to the customers and fulfilling their wants (Lezama-Solano and
Chambers, 2018).
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CONCLUSION
The above showcase the importance of menu-planning in a restaurant or a food business.
The report analyses the important factors of recipe development from which it has been found
out that the major reason why restaurants develops menu is because of earning large profits and
maintaining their success and growth. The factors which influences menu-planning are discussed
which showcases that pricing, customer segment and dietary restrictions are some important
factors required to ensure successful menu-planning. The all evaluations and understandings
makes it able for one to understand the importance of menu-planning.
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REFERENCES
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Browning, T. R., 2018. Planning, Tracking, and Reducing a Complex Project’s Value at
Risk. Project Management Journal. p.8756972818810967.
Duda, J. A., 2018. Modelling and implementation of product development strategy. Concurrent
Engineering. 26(2).pp.187-197.
Dunford, R. And et.al., 2018. Integrating methods for ecosystem service assessment: Experiences
from real world situations. Ecosystem services. 29.pp.499-514.
Graham, S. and Harris, K. R., 2018. An Examination of the Design Principles Underlying a Self-
Regulated Strategy Development Study. Journal of Writing Research, 10(2).
Graziose, M. M. and Ang, I. Y. H., 2018. Peer Reviewed: Factors Related to Fruit and Vegetable
Consumption at Lunch Among Elementary Students: A Scoping Review. Preventing
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Grynchenko and Nataliya, 2018 “DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY OF SEMI-FINISHED
DESSERT PRODUCTS BASED ON DAIRY AND FRUIT-BERRY RAW MATERIALS
USING THE PRINCIPLES OF COLLOID STABILIZATION OF MILK." EUREKA: Life
Sciences 1 (2018): 39-45.
Leber, M. And et.al., 2018. Fostering Alliances with Customers for the Sustainable Product
Creation. Sustainability. 10(9). p.3204.
Lezama-Solano, A. and Chambers, E., 2018. Development and Validation of a Recipe Method
for Doughs. Foods. 7(10). p.163.
Lister, C., 2018. Easily accessible food composition data: Accessing strategic food information
for product development and marketing. Food New Zealand. 18(5) p.17.
Müller, R. And et.al., 2019. Communication and Knowledge Management Platform for
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Manufacturing. 28.pp.107-113.
Ofori, K. S., Boakye, K. and Narteh, B., 2018. Factors influencing consumer loyalty towards 3G
mobile data service providers: evidence from Ghana. Total Quality Management &
Business Excellence. 29(5-6).pp.580-598.
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Oldewage-Theron, W. H. And et.al., 2018. Comparative analysis of the factors contributing to
sustainability of a food and nutrition intervention programme: Two case studies from
South Africa. Evaluation and program planning.71.pp.51-57.
Rothenberg, E. V., 2019. Encounters across networks: Windows into principles of genomic
regulation. Marine genomics.
Online
Menu Templates. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.canva.com/templates/menus/>
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