Menu Planning and Product Development for Olive Garden Restaurant

This report examines menu planning and product development, focusing on Olive Garden's initiative to launch an Indo-Italian food concept. It explores recipe development principles, factors influencing menu planning and service methods, and stages of product development planning. The report analyzes factors impacting the development process, justifies menu design and food service environment, presents findings on customer requirements, and provides recommendations for concept implementation. It also reviews restaurant performance in relation to the new food concept, covering taste, quality, customer preferences, cultural considerations, and food safety standards. The report also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of introducing the new concept, and the impact of factors such as quality, decor, resource availability, budget, and lifestyle on menu planning. The report concludes by evaluating various service methods like self-service, French-style, and waiter service, along with their pros and cons and emphasizes the importance of considering customer preferences.

Menu Planning and
Product Development

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
AC 1.1 Principles and factors of recipe development.................................................................1
AC 1.2 Factors influencing menu planning decision..................................................................2
AC 1.3 Factors influencing service methods..............................................................................3
AC 2.1 Stages of menu product development planning..............................................................5
AC 2.2 Evaluation of different factors influencing development process..................................6
TASK B...........................................................................................................................................7
AC 3.1 Justification of menu design to reflect the menu compilation and recipe developments
.....................................................................................................................................................7
AC 3.2 Justification of development of food service environment to support the menu, recipe
and service style..........................................................................................................................7
AC 4.1 Findings of the research into customer requirement for new food concept...................8
AC 4.2 Justification of choice of the new food concept.............................................................8
AC 4.3 Recommendation on implementation of new food concept...........................................9
AC 4.4 Reviewing the performance of restaurant in relation to development and
implementation of new food concept..........................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Menu planning is the basic function of the product development in restaurant businesses.
It is the process to designing the list of all the dishes to be served by the restaurant. Olive Garden
is a Italian cousin restaurant located in London. The company wants to launch a new food
concept of Indo-Italian foods The study will show various principles, factors which have
influence over the recipe development along with advantages and disadvantages of making
changes in the restaurant and factors influencing menu planning decision. It will also provide
information about factors influencing service methods of restaurant and development process.
The assignment will also provide a presentation showing justification of menu design,
development of food service and findings of customers requirements for new food concept. It
will also provide a presentation showing justification of new food concept along with some
recommendation to be implemented by the restaurant on new food concept and review of the
performance in relation to development of and implementation of new food concept in the
restaurant.
TASK A
AC 1.1 Principles and factors of recipe development
Recipe development is the process to deciding the process of preparation of food. There
are various principles that need to be implemented by the restaurant while developing new
recipe. Some key principles that should be implemented by the Olive Green restaurant are as
under:
 Taste and Quality: The recipe of the new food should be developed on the basis of taste
of the population. Olive Garden restaurant should develop the recipe of each dish of
Indo-Italian food as per the taste of nearby population. It would help it in attracting them
towards the new concept (Boger, 2017). Further maintenance of set standards of quality
in the food leads in maintaining the customer with the restaurant for long time.
 Creative Serving: Creative serving is the necessity of each restaurant. Olive Garden
should also decide the garnishing process of each dish of new food concept in an
attractive way (Tourism And Hospitality, 2018). It also has ability to provide a sort of
satisfaction to the customers.
 Customers' preference: The taste and ingredients of the recipe should be decided by the
Olive Garden while taking in to account the taste preferred by the population of the
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region in which the restaurant is located. Further, preference of the targeted and potential
customers are also needed to be considered by the business while developing recipe of
the new food concept.
 Culture: Culture influences the taste of the nearby population i.e. taste of the customers
of the restaurant. Olive Garden should analyse the culture of the region while developing
the recipe of foods of the Indo-Italian concept.
 Food safety standards: While developing the recipe of foods, Olive Garden also
evaluate the food and safety standards provided by the government for each types of
food. It need to include minimum quality standard in the food recipe as mentioned in the
food and safety standards (Musina, 2017). Non compliance of these standards may also
result in attracting the legal proceedings over the company.
Advantages
 Introducing the new food concept may help the restaurant in gaining the rapid growth in
near future.
 It may also result in attracting numerous customers towards the company.
 Development of new food concept can also help the company in globalising the business
of the Olive garden.
 Further, it may also lead in enhancement of profitability and marketability of the
company.
Disadvantages
 It contains a huge risk.
 In case of dissatisfaction of the customers, company may suffer loss from the business.
 It may result in increasing the operating cost of the company.
AC 1.2 Factors influencing menu planning decision
There are some factors that have influence over the recipe development process. These
should also be considered by the Olive Garden while processing the recipe development process
for the new Indo-Italian concept like:
 Quality: Maintenance of quality in the food is important to sustain the customers with
the business. If the Olive Garden fails to maintain the standard quality of food in the new
dishes, it may result in losing the loyal customers of it (Al-Baik and Miller, 2016). It will
have direct effect over the marketability and profitability of the company.
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 Decor: Decor in menu planning refers to design of the menu. It provides the first
impression of the food. The décor of menu need to be designed in such a way so that it
could provide a complete reflection of the food concept. For example, Olive Garden
should design its menu in such a way so that it could reflect the tradition of both Indian
and Italian concept.
 Resource availability: Food of new concept i.e. Indo-Italian should be decided as per the
availability of food in the nearby or approachable market of the restaurant. Ignorance of
this factor may result in enhancement of cost to the Olive Garden restaurant.
 Budget: It is the most important factor to be considered by the restaurant. Any dish
decided by the organisation beyond the budget of it may result in not meeting the demand
of customers. It may lead in losing the loyal customers of it.
 Lifestyle: Lifestyle of the nearby population affects the choice and taste of the population
(Bondzi-Simpson and Ayeh, 2017). Olive Garden should plan the menu as per the
lifestyle of its customers. It would help it in attracting maximum amount of customers
towards it and enhance its profitability.
Designing the menu while taking into account all the above factors will defiantly result in
development of an attractive and effective menu for the new food concept. Further, it would also
help in gaining a sustainable growth in the near future.
AC 1.3 Factors influencing service methods
The service method can be defined as the way in which the restaurant serves its
customers. It mainly includes the way of providing foods to the customers in case of restaurant
business. The service methods should be decided while considering the following factors:
 Availability of resources: Involvement of service method involves cost of the company.
Therefore, Olive Garden need to select the service method which could be affordable by
it.
 Consumer preference: If the company decides the way of providing services after
reviewing the customer's choice, the company would be able to attract maximum amount
of customers towards it (Otten, Hirsch and Lim, 2017).
There are range of service methods that can be adopted by the Frankie and Benny like:
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 Self services: This service method is suitable for those restaurants which provides fast
food meals to their customers rather than meals for lunch or dinner. In this method,
customer gives order and pick the foods as per the order on their own.
Advantages
▪ It reduces the cost of company.
▪ The restaurant does not need skilled workers in this method.
▪ It reduces the need of waiters ion the restaurant.
Disadvantages
▪ This method may lead in dissatisfaction of some customers who does not like to
take the foods on their own in the restaurant.
▪ It enhances the amount of rush on the service counter. French styled service method: It is the traditional serving style of French region. In this
method, the waiter attends each customer and serves food slowly and professionally.
Advantages
▪ It is the most attractive method of serving foods.
▪ It can help in gaining more market share by the company (Ramanathan, Di and
Ramanathan, 2016).
▪ It may enhance the amount of loyal customers towards the company.
Disadvantages
▪ It enhances the cost of restaurant.
▪ It requires the more professional waiters.
▪ It enhances the need of customers. Waiter services style: In this type of service style, each service provided to the
customers are being performed by the waiters (Module 9 - Methods of Food Service,
2019). It is a common method of serving food in all over the world.
Advantages
▪ It is the most preferable style of serving.
▪ The attention of restaurant to be provided to each customer can be enhanced
through this style.
▪ It enhances the satisfaction level of customers.
Disadvantages
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▪ It enhances the requirement of waiters in the restaurant.
▪ It increases the cost of the restaurant.
In this regard, it can be analysed there are several methods of serving food to the
customers (Cho, 2016). Each have their own pros and cons. The Olive Garden should adopt the
type of service method after analysing each method carefully.
AC 2.1 Stages of menu product development planning
While planning for menu and product development, the restaurant need to follow the
following stage:
 Idea generation: The development process starts with the generation of idea. The idea
should be generated by the Olive Garden taking into account various factors like target
customers, potential customers, culture of the region, budget of the restaurant, etc.
 Idea screening: The idea need to be evaluated carefully (Armstrong, 2015)). It also
needs to compared with the existing resources of the business. In this order, the needs of
the restaurant in developing the new concept could be determined properly. Further, the
restaurant also should evaluate the feasibility of the idea i.e. the idea should be
measurable and achievable as well by the business.
 Concept testing: After a proper analysis of the idea and comparison of it with the
existing resources, company need to test the new concept which is going to be launched
by it. This stage would ensure the business about the success of the new idea and may
also provide some requirement of changes for the purpose of gaining more success.
 Marketing test: At this stage, the restaurant need to test the target market. For this
purpose, the Olive Garden need to analyse ther competition in the market, competitive
strategies, profitability in the market, etc. development of plan while taking into
consideration all these factors will result in development of the most effective plan for the
company.
 Product development: After analysing all the above mentioned facti\ors in different
stages, the Olive Garden can develop new foods based on the Indo-Italian food concept
like Panjabi pizza, Rajasthani flavoured pasta, etc. developing the product including taste
and décor of the food based on the above factors will result in developing most suitable
product through which the restaurant would be able to gain maximum profit and attract
maximum customers towards it.
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 Development of food: After development of range of the most appropriate products of
the Indo-Italian food concept, the Olive Garden can launch the new food concept in the
market and serve it to the customers (Wu, 2018). This stage can also be termed as the
commercialisation stage of the product.
 Review of marketing performance: The product development process does not end
with the commercialisation of food. After commercialisation, Olive Garden restaurant
should also review the performance of the new food concept in the market. In this regard,
it should analyse the response of the customers for the new food, profit earned by the
business, sales volume of the foods, etc. i.e. sales mix of the product.
AC 2.2 Evaluation of different factors influencing development process
While performing the development process, the Olive Garden should consider the
following factors, as these have the major influence over the development of new product
containing new food concept:
 Economic factors: This factor includes the inflation rate in the country, economical
condition of the domestic population, spending power of the target and potential
customers, etc. all these factors directly influences the sales volume of the business.
Further, these elements also need to be consider while deciding the price of the food
served by the restaurant.
It would result in development of plan in more effective way through which could provide a
sustainable growth to the company in near future.
 Technological factors: Technology is the key factor to be considered by each business
organisation (Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa, 2018). Technological advancement
provides the efficiency to the business further, it will also help in attracting maximum
amount of customers towards it. The Olive Garden can also use the media for advertising
purpose.
 Financial position: The financial position of the company affects the quality and
standard of food that can be provided to the customers. Olive Garden should analyse its
financial position first before developing the new food concept. In case of insufficiency
of finance, the restaurant first should identify the sources of finance and ensure the
availability of finance. It will help the business in eliminating the insufficiency of the
finance and will lead in smooth running of the business.
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 Product availability: The food concept need to be developed as per the availability of
range of foods in the market (Noe, 2017). Decision of launching any food which can not
be prepared with the food ingredients available in the market, may lead in increasing the
cost of the company.
 Worker's skills: Workers includes the waiter, chefs and other employees of the
restaurant. The development procedure including the new food concept, service
procedure, etc. Each should be decided as per the skills of its employees. As the
implementation of the new concept depends upon the performance of the workers.
TASK B
AC 3.1 Justification of menu design to reflect the menu compilation and recipe developments
Covered in ppt
AC 3.2 Justification of development of food service environment to support the menu, recipe and
service style
Covered in ppt
AC 4.1 Findings of the research into customer requirement for new food concept
Covered in ppt
AC 4.2 Justification of choice of the new food concept
Covered in ppt
AC 4.3 Recommendation on implementation of new food concept
Covered in ppt
AC 4.4 Reviewing the performance of restaurant in relation to development and implementation
of new food concept
Covered in ppt
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that the Olive Garden has decided to launch
a new food concept in the market i.e. Indo-Italian food. The restaurant has analysed each factor
influencing the menu design, recipe of food, internal environment, etc. further it has also
analysed various service methods of serving the foods to the customers. The restaurant has
decided to adopt the waiter service as it was the most preferable as per the questions asked to the
population. The company has designed its menu, recipe, internal environment and other product
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development elements in the most effective way. It has helped the company in gaining huge
profitability and market share. Further, from the review of the performance of the restaurant, it
has been concluded that the restaurant has performed its overall product development activities
in the most effective way.
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REFERENCES
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technologies. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology. 12(5). pp.480-490.
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.
Cho, M. and et.al., 2016. Workplace incivility and its effect upon restaurant frontline service
employee emotions and service performance. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management. 28(12). pp.2888-2912.
Musina, O. and et.al., 2017. Application of modern computer algebra systems in food
formulations and development: a case study. Trends in food science & technology. 64.
pp.48-59.
Noe, R. A. and et.al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Oinas-Kukkonen, H. and Harjumaa, M., 2018. Persuasive systems design: key issues, process
model and system features. In Routledge Handbook of Policy Design (pp. 105-123).
Routledge.
Otten, J.J ., Hirsch, T. and Lim, C., 2017. Factors influencing the food purchases of early care
and education providers. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 117(5).
pp.725-734.
Ramanathan, R., Di, Y. and Ramanathan, U., 2016. Moderating roles of customer characteristics
on the link between service factors and satisfaction in a buffet
restaurant. Benchmarking: An International Journal. 23(2). pp.469-486.
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Wu, Z. and et.al, 2018. Semantic hyper-graph-based knowledge representation architecture for
complex product development. Computers in Industry. 100. pp.43-56.
Online
Tourism And Hospitality .2018 [Online] Available Through:
<https://tourismandhospitality.wordpress.com/2017/08/26/principles-of-recipe-
development/>
Module 9 - Methods of Food Service .2019. [Online] Available Through:
<http://www.touristikiekpaideysi.gr/index.php/articles/presentations/410-module-9-
methods-of-food-service.html>
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