Quantity Food Production: Reflective Journal on Menu Planning SOP

This reflective journal documents a 16-hour work-based learning experience focused on menu planning and quantity food production at 'New Soho,' a Kuala Lumpur restaurant specializing in bulk catering. The journal discusses the restaurant's standard operating procedures (SOPs) for menu planning, emphasizing balance, variety, attractiveness, cost-effectiveness, and adequacy. It details the four-step SOP, including menu style, customer expectations, production capabilities, and financial goals. Issues such as equipment limitations, serving miscalculations, and costly exotic ingredients are identified. Suggestions for improvement include investing in fondant equipment, using recipe cards, incorporating local ingredients, and providing staff training. The journal concludes that while New Soho effectively meets customer needs, implementing the suggested improvements could further enhance its operations and customer satisfaction. Desklib offers similar solved assignments for students.

Running head: QUANTITY FOOD PRODUCTION
QUANTITY FOOD PRODUCTION
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Introduction
To ensure production of menu items which are compliant to the customer’s varied tastes,
cultures and cuisine preferences, at adequate quantities and with optimum utilization of available
budgets for labour, inventories and equipment, sound menu planning practices are essential
prerequisites (Linassi, Alberton & Marinho, 2016). Hence, the objective of the following paper
is to discuss the functioning of a commercial mass food production operation in terms of
compliance to standards of quantity food production and menu planning. The food organization
so chosen is ‘New Soho’ - a restaurant located in Kuala Lumpur, the commercial capital of
Malaysia. Along with provision of an expansive menu of foods, drinks and desserts, the unique
selling proposition (USP) of this establishment lies in its ability to accept and deliver orders in
bulk quantities for special occasions such as birthday parties in optimum budgets and time -
highlighting quantity food production and menu planning principles and hence justifying its
selection in the case study research.
Discussion
Background
The establishment is a multi-cuisine restaurant specializing in an extensive menu of
foods, desserts and drinks, catering to customers of all age groups and preferences. Further the
establishment also adheres to provision of casual dining services, hence engaging in food
production and menu varieties priced at cost effective budgets. In addition to providing a cost
effective menu, the major attraction of New Soho is its bulk catering service. The establishment
hence, specializes in producing and providing catering services which involves delivering food

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orders in bulk quantities, required especially for customers who wish to host special occasions
involving group gatherings such as birthday parties, weddings and anniversaries. Considering its
location in an area bustling with busy employed in competitive environments short of time, and
belonging to a variety of socioeconomic groups with multicultural tastes – major challenge
encountered by New Soho is the mass production of food products and items which is fit for all
occasions and customer groups, within a limited time and in budgets which are complaint to
customer socioeconomic status (Payne-Palacio, 2016). Such bulk food production services
also necessitates the establishment’s needs to plan menus which are avoid expensive budgetary
concerns such as exotic ingredients, increased labour services and specialized equipment (Din,
Zahari & Shariff, 2017). Hence, the following case research was presented with the objective to
personally explore the strategies with which New Soho’s effective bulk food production
objectives are met with optimum menu planning principles. Hence, 16 hours of my work based
learning provided me with beneficial insights at how New Soho efficiently meets its mass
production requirements.
Area Discussion
Considering that for ensuring customers satisfaction during mass production of food
items, food establishments must adhere to standard operating procedures which reflect the core
menu planning principles of Balance, Variety, Attractiveness, Cost Effectiveness and Adequacy
(Thomas, 2016). Hence to assess the same, as part of my work experience, I extensively
observed the menu planning principles practice by the staff engaged in New Soho as well as
interview the manager and head chef at the establishment to identify and assess the Standard
Operating Procedures of menu planning and quantity food production to meet bulk production
needs of the customers. As per my observations and experience, I learned that the New Soho

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followed an SOP consisting four steps for the purpose of evaluating a menu as per menu
planning principles of Menu Style, Customer Expectations, Production Capabilities and
Financial Goals.
The menu planning aspect of menu style implies the formulation of a menu which is
reflective of the characterized style, cuisine and specialty of the establishment (Gottschall,
Gultek & Heroux, 2018). Hence, to comply with this principle, for example, while managing an
order for a bulk kid’s birthday party food production, New Soho’s SOP involves managers, chefs
as well as employees working collaboratively together in the development of a birthday menu
which is adequate for the ages of the children at the birthday party and reflects cost effective,
casual dining image of the restaurant. To achieve the same, New Soho’s managers, adequately
take into account the logistics and socioeconomic background of the customer placing the
birthday party order – which are highly relevant to the basic and core menu planning principles
of cost effectiveness (Seyitoglu, 2017).
The next menu planning SOP as per New Soho’ standards involves development of a
birthday party menu which adheres to every aspect of expectations held by the customer placing
the order (Zulkifly et al., 2016). To meet this criteria, New Soho’s chefs and staff seek to design
a menu which is nutritious, contains a variety of ingredients, is balanced nutritionally and
incorporates a variety of colors and flavors to suited to multifaceted customer palates. In order to
fulfill this criteria, managers of New Soho engage in person centered approaches and actively
discuss with the customer on the demographics of the children or adults engaged at the birthday
party, any favorite dishes which may be requested specially by the children or the presence of
any adult or children who have specialized dietary conditions such as allergies, diabetes or
gastrointestinal sensitivities. Hence, by following such SOP principles, New Soho adheres to

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core menu planning principles of developing a special occasion’s menu with colorful, attractive
menu items, a variety of dishes with varied textures and consistencies and items which are
adequately meeting the preferences and health needs of the concerned customers (Boo & Bae,
2016).
The next SOP which New Soho adheres to is the planning and production of a menu
which is as per the labour, purchasing, functional and equipment capabilities of the
establishment’s existing cooking operations (Bondzi-Simpson & Ayeh, 2017). To ensure the
same, for successfully managing a birthday party order for children, the head chef of New Soho,
actively communicates the feasibility of the menu to the manager responsible for the customer’s
orders, after comparing the menu requirements with the existing equipment available, the current
inventory of ingredients, the monetary and storage capabilities prevalent in the case of inclusion
of exotic food ingredients and items and the existing food preparation skills possessed by the
assistant and trainee chefs at New Soho’s kitchens. By following such an SOP, New Soho’s staff
ensure production of a menu for meeting a bulk food order, which is cost effective, not only for
the establishment’s capabilities but also for the purchasing power of the customers (Yoong et al.,
2017).
The final SOP involved in New Soho’s planning of a menu for bulk production and
special occasions is the staff’s evaluation of a menu’s long term effect on the establishment’s
profits and losses as well as overall fulfillment of customer satisfaction (Ahn et al., 2018). To
address the same, after fulfilling such orders, the managers seek to obtain feedback from the
customer after fulfilling the food production at events such as the children’s birthday party, in
order to understand customer satisfaction level, possible strengths and weaknesses. Further SOP
assessment involves managers evaluating the profits and losses after the menu by evaluating the

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plates and items sold which will further enlighten them on characteristics of customer spending
to be used for future menu planning. Hence, through this SOP, New Soho’s menu planning
principles again administer core compliance to aspects of cost effectiveness and customer satiety
values (Sufahani & Ismail, 2015).
Issues and Challenges
Despite the usage of an effective SOP, I was able to identify several issues in New
Soho’s menu planning principles. A key issue was in terms of equipment, where the lack of
fondant molding appliances made it difficult for New Soho to accept intricately designed
birthday cake orders, resulting in either cancelling of the order and associated customer clientele
or outsourcing the same from a different establishment resulting in higher costs and losses.
Another issue was miscalculation of serving estimates for each dish resulting in excessive food
production, perishable surplus and food wastage. Lastly, another key issue identified was
incorporating menus with exotic food items in order to attract upscale customer clientele
resulting in excessive expenditures during food procurement.
Suggestion
In terms of managing the first issue of managing intricate fondant based orders, it is
suggested that New Soho invest its profits in the procurement of simple, low cost fondant
equipment or in the training of their staff on fondant usage. While this may seem like a difficult
short term investment, the same will result in long term benefits in terms of the establishment’s
capability to accept a variety of orders and expand its customer group demographics (García et
al., 2016). In order to avoid overproduction and food losses, it is suggested that New Soho
adhere to strict recipe cards for each recipe. A recipe card provides standardized details on the
ingredient amounts required for each dish and hence is helpful in preventing issues with

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overproduction. Usage of planned and standardized recipe cards will also compel New Soho to
incorporate plan, procure and incorporate local and seasonal food ingredients which is an
efficient way of preventing difficulties associated with exotic food items (Sahak et al., 2019).
Lastly, as a long term goal, it is suggested that the managers of New Soho provide facilities of
training and education of varied food preparation techniques and cuisine styles which will assist
in widening customer group and satisfaction (Vanderlee et al., 2016).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude , this case study research was helpful in providing me with an insight
on practical application of principles of menu planning and quantity food production. From the
case study research it is evident that New Soho is a restaurant which successfully meets the
needs of a variety of customers in terms of dining as well as bulk food production. It was also
observed that its present SOP for menu planning is relatively comprehensive and takes into
account essential food production aspects. However, it is estimated that the establishment will
prosper even further with incorporation of suggestions like equipment investment, standard
recipe card usage and provision of staff training.

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