MENU MANAGEMENT

Menus, as a list of prepared foods, have been discovered dating back to the Song Dynasty in
China. In the larger populated cities of the time, merchants found a way to cater to busy
customers who had little time or energy to prepare food during the evening. The variation in
Chinese Cuisine from different regions led caterers to create a list or menu for their patrons.

Menu is a French term. It means ‘Bill of Fare’. It is a sequential list of food items to be
served in a meal.

Objective of Menu Planning:

1. The menu must satisfy guest expectations.

2. The menu must attain marketing objectives.

3. The menu must help achieve quality objective.

4. The menu must be cost effective.

5. The menu must be accurate.

Satisfy Guest Expectation:

The menu must satisfy guest expectations: Because guest satisfaction is a byword of dinning
service management, your menu must, above everything else, reflect your guest’s tastes and
preferences – neither the chef’s, the food and beverage director’s nor those of the manager of
the particular dinning outlet.

Marketing Objective:

While part of marketing is discovering what guests want, another important aspect is
providing for their needs at convenient locations and times and at prices that they are willing
and able to pay.

In some cases, excellent product development, pricing and promotion will convince guests
that you have what they desire – even if up until now they never knew what it was that they’d
been looking for.

The advertisement many time is not the real replica of the product. Hence, it increase the
expectation but guest get different product. Hence, dissatisfaction.

Quality Objective:

Quality concerns are closely related to marketing concerns. It is important that you clearly
understand all aspects of quality requirements and develop menus that incorporate these
standards into your food menus. High quality and good nutrition go hand – in – hand. A menu
that helps achieve quality objectives would also offer enough choices to the guests so that
they can order a nutritionally well-balanced meal. Other aspects of food quality include

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flavor, texture, color, shape, consistency, palatability, flair and guest appeal. As you plan the
menu, remember to balance it so that textures, colors, shapes and flavors are not repetitive.

Cost Effective:

Both commercial and institutional food service operations should plan menus that recognize
financial restraints.

Generally, commercial properties cannot attain their profit objectives unless their product
costs, which the menu often dictates, fall within a specific range.

In institutional food service operations, minimizing costs is also the menu planner’s
responsibility. Whether you plan a menu for a commercial or an institutional operation, you
must select menu items that are within the operation’s budget.

Menu must be accurate:

You are responsible for telling the truth when you formulate menus. You must not mislabel a
product, describe it inaccurately, or deceive the guest by your menu presentation. The menu is
a powerful advertising tool. It can influence what guests order and their expectations. If your
food service operation does not deliver the type of products that your menu represents, your
guests may feel cheated and never return.

Constraint of Menu Planning:

 Age- The preference of food items varies with age group. The children and aged
people prefer less spicy food while the younger likes rich and spicy dishes. Ideal
menu should take care of people in each and every age group.
 Profession- People in different profession have different food preferences, athletes,
sport person will go for high carbohydrate while people in entertainment business will
prefer low fat/ cholesterol diet.
 Nationality- People of different nation have different food preferences. An European
will like mild continental food, while Indian, Thai and Mexican will prefer spicy food.
 Group size- When group size is large it is difficult to serve elaborate menu.
 Type of Establishment - There will be considerable variation, for example, in menu
of five star hotels and restaurants, school meals, heavy manual worker’s canteen or
hospitals.
 Location: Study the area in which your establishment is situated and the potential
target market of customers.
 Time of the year - The prevailing temperature should be considered as certain dishes
suitable for cold weather may not be acceptable in mid-summer. Foods in season are
usually in good supply and more reasonable in price.
 Price Range: Unless fair prices are charged (so that customers are satisfied) repeat
business may not occur and the outlet may go out of business.
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  Competition - It is wiser to produce a menu quite different to those of nearby
establishment both in terms of price and quality.
 Location: Study the area in which your establishment is situated and the potential
target market of customers.
 Space and Equipment - The menu writer must be aware of any shortcomings or
deficiencies in equipment and may be wary of offering dishes that are difficult to
produce.
 Language: Always use a language that customers can understand.
Functions of Menu:

 Basis of Operations- The menu forms the basis of all activities that are carried out in
the restaurant and in F&B Department as a whole. Activities such as equipment
purchase, ingredient purchase, staff recruitment, production process, organizing
service areas, pricing, interior design, cooking methods, service procedure, and so on
depend on the menu.
 Communication Device- The menu communicates to the guest the dishes available
for sale, along with price and short description of each item. It also informs whether
the dishes are spicy or non spicy, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the tax percentage,
waiting time, and so on. From the Menu card, a guest gets to know what he/she can
order and what the bill would be at the end of the meal.
 Effective Sales Tool – The menu is primarily a sales tool. In fast food outlet and
casual dining restaurants, they are presented attractively in bright colors on display
boards with pictures which motivate people to buy. Menu card describe dishes in
appetizing way, making it easy for customer to select dishes, help locate dishes they
are looking for by printing pictures, promote ‘chef’s special’ dishes, happy hour and
so on.
Presentation of Menu:

 Book Form: This type of presentation of menu is very common in large

establishments where there are more items. The items are listed along with their
respective prices. Most of the restaurants follow this style.

 Card Form: The food items along with their pricing are written on a card for smaller
establishment.

 Board Form: It is mostly found in fast food centres, food courts or pavilion where a
large board is displayed with the names of the dishes and their pricing.

 Place Mat: Such form of menu presentation is generally found in food service areas
where turnover of the guest is very high and fast efficient service is required.

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  Place mats are printed papers placed on the guest table with the names and prices
displayed. Once the guest is done with their meal, the mats are immediately removed
and new ones are placed. Usually followed in coffee shop, fast food centres etc.

 Digital Menu: One of the most popular form of Menu in Fast Food Outlets. The
menu is displayed with good contrast and lights to support it looks. Many time video
is also played in the same board with Price and Menu items being displayed
simultaneously.

CLASSIFICATION OF MENU:

Menus may be classified in four different ways:

A. Pricing

B. Schedule

C. Meal Times

D. Speciality

A. Pricing: Under this category, there are three types of menu. Those are:

1. A La Carte: The term a la carte may be translated as ‘from the card’. This type of menu
may be defined by the following points:

a. It gives a full list of all dishes that may be prepared by the establishment.

b. Each dish is priced separately.

c. A certain waiting time has to be allowed for each dish.

d. Each dish is cooked to order.

2. Table d’hôte: The definition of table d’hôte menu is covered by the following points.

a. The menu has a fixed number of courses.

b. There is a choice within each course.

c. The selling price of the menu is fixed.

d. The dishes provided will all be ready at a set time.

3. Combination Menu: This menu combines the a la carte and table d’hôte menus.

B. Menu Schedule: This category focuses on the frequency of menu revision. Under this
category, there are two types of menu. Those are:

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1. Fixed Menu: A fixed menu is one which is used daily for a period of months or a year, like
most restaurants. The restaurants that use such menus either have a large variety of items
within each course or when the frequency of repeat guest is less.

2. Cyclic Menu: These are designed to offer frequent guests a variety. The cycle of menus
can be on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. These menus may be found in downtown lunch
restaurants frequented by a dedicated business clientele.

C. Meal Times: The traditional meal times of breakfast, brunch, lunch, Hi-Tea, Dinner have
their special types of meals justifying separate meals for each. Eg. Breakfast menu, brunch
menu, lunch menu, hi-tea menu, dinner menu, supper menu, snack menu and so forth.

D. Speciality Menu: These types of menus cater to market segments that have particular
need. E.g.

Children’s Menu, diet menu, dessert menu, room service menu, banquet menu.

California Menu: This type of menu offer breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack menus round the
clock.

PLAT DU JOUR- (dish of the day/ chef’s special): "Plat" is the French word for "dish" /
"course"; "Jour" means "day".. "plat de jour" is the "dish of the day",

A special food item prepared by the chef for a particular day. It is quite expensive.

These special dish can be introduced for every meal, ever day or every week according to
catering policy of the restaurant.

Advantage:

 It act as an effective sales tool.

 It adds up to the image of the organization.
 It reflect the skill of the chef and motivate him and his staff to introduce new
recipe.
 It gives an edge over the competitor since this menu introduces very special dishes
which is exclusive to the restaurant.
Limitation:

 If unsold, it results in food wastage since specialty dishes call for ingredients that are
either not used in preparation of regular dishes or are treated differently.
CARTE DU JOUR- (Menu for the Day): Literally means “Card of the day”.

It is a card comprising of food items listed with composite pricing and has been planned for
the day.

Mostly used for institutional/ industrial/ welfare catering.

It may refer to all menu of the day, combining a la carte, table d hote and plat du jour menu.
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Diet Menu: A normal diet satisfies the nutritional needs of a healthy individual.

But when a person falls sick there is a malfunctioning of parts of the body, therefore, the
nutritional needs of a sick person changes.

For example, in diabetes, the pancreas do not produce insulin which is needed to digest
sugars. In such a case, presence of the normal amount of sugar in the food will be harmful to
the system.

In jaundice there is malfunctioning of the liver, hence digestion of fats is affected and
presence of normal amounts of fats in the diet will be harmful to health.

In case of diarrhea, there is loss of body fluids and salts with every passage of stool. Also, the
digestive system is unable to cope with the solid food eaten.

Therapeutic Menu: A therapeutic diet is a meal plan that controls the intake of certain foods
or nutrients. It is part of the treatment of a medical condition and are normally prescribed by a
physician and planned by a dietician. A therapeutic diet is usually a modification of a regular
diet. It is modified or tailored to fit the nutrition needs of a particular person.

Therapeutic diet is the special diet given to a person suffering from a disease, to facilitate
recovery. It is a modification of the normal diet.

PRINCIPLES OF MENU PLANNING

Following factors must be kept in mind while planning a menu:

A. Type of Institution: The type of institution id the first consideration in menu planning.
Each kind of operation has a different menu pattern because each serves the needs of different
clientele.

E.g. Hotels, Hospitals, Schools, Fast Food Outlets, Institute Canteen, Flight Catering etc.

B. Type of Service: Menu should be planned in relation to the type of service e.g. cafeteria or
seated service.

C. Type of Customer: Menu must be planned for the people eating the food. The kind of
clientele the business service will influence the form the menu takes.

 Age and Sex

 Nationality
 Life Style of the clients
 Economic Status
 Customer Preferences

D. Availability: Availability of the raw materials must be considered while planning a manu.

 Use food in season

 Use food locally available

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  Food ingredients in season are less expensive, fresh, good in quality and their supply
is regular.

E. Optimum Utilisation of Foods: Total utilisations of food ingredients play a vital role in
Food Cost Control.

Left over food:

 Plan in such a way to cook exactly to the requirement. Handling food twice is more
expensive and twice as consuming as handling it once.
 Always plan well in advance on the usage of left over food.

Use of Edible Trimmings: Plan the menu and compile the recipes in such a way that all parts
of the ingredients are sensibly used. i.e. After removing the bones from the chicken, the bones
can be used for the stock, vegetable trimmings for the vegetable stock or mirepoix, use left
over bread trimmings for bread crumbs.

Use of spoiled ingredients:

 Make paneer from curdled milk

 Use over cooked potatoes for potato puree
 Over ripe tomatoes can be used for puree/soups

F. Facilities: The facilities such as, equipment space available will also influence the menu
planning.

 Production capacity needs to be assessed.

 The menu must be spread over to have an even distribution of workload among the
equipment.
 Availability of equipments, storage facility, temperature of production and service
area, availability of service equipment, availability of restaurant space must be
assessed.

G. Cost:

 The cost of food ingredients to be used.

 The cost of labour and fuel to be used.
 The budget of the customer.

H. Nutritional Values: Nutritional values and dietary requirement of the customers must be
kept in mind. Balance diet:

 Variety in food.
 Avoid too much fat, saturated fat and cholesterol.
 Avoid too much sugar and sodium.
 Food with adequate starch and fish.
 Food with minerals and vitamins.

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I. Policy of the Establishment: The policy of the establishment must be kept in mind while
menu planning. E.g. Some establishments do not use beef.

J. Balance:

Variety: provide enough variety in usage of food ingredients.

Flavour: have a different flavour for different items in the same menu.

Texture: application of firmness and softness. Have different texture for different course and
food items.

Appearance: Serve food with a variety of colour, shapes, and ingredients with a pleasing eye
appeal.

K. Menu Accuracy/Presentation:

 Write menu legibly and in easily understood language.

 Use international accepted menu terms.
 The menu card must be designed to go well with the decor, concept of food.
 Do not give misleading names in the menu.
 Use correct and applicable terms, such as, Point of Origin, Grade or Quality, Freash,
‘Imported’, Home made, Size, Brand Names.

L. Personnel:

 Skill and number of employees must be considered.

 Do a time and motion study and analyze with the planned menu.

 Avoid overloading of item for one particular department/section of the kitchen.

 Also time for garnishing, reheating, portioning and food arrangement.

 Plan in such a way that the staff can handle efficiently.

M. Long Range Operational Planning:

 Analyse the entire production and execute operations, well in advance.

N. Course and Arrangement:

 Arrange the course in sequence.

 In a Buffet Service, arrange the food in sequence, more presentable.

 Temperature and Quality of food.

O. Innovation and Creativity:

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  Use new methods in production.

 Use new variations and combinations.

 Create and Innovate new dishes.

 Include items which are not found in your competitors menu.

MENU PRICING STRATEGY

Basically, prices can be either Market driven or Demand driven.

Prices that are market driven must be more responsive to competition. Prices that are market
driven tend to be on the low to moderate side.

Prices that are demand driven is where the customers openly ask for the item and where
there are little or no alternatives in the market. Perhaps it is a speciality item or signature food
item that can only be obtained at one particular restaurant.

A. High Cost/Monopolistic Approach:

If your operation has a “monopoly” in the market place and demand exceeds supply, pricing
at the highest price the customer is willing to pay will not result in a reduced demand, and if
prices were lowered, demand would not increase enough to make up for the reduced profits.

B. Low Cost Approach:

The extreme opposite approach is to charge the lowest price at which you can still make a
reasonable profit. When this approach is taken, customers almost always will comment on the
reasonableness of the prices, the large portions and the high quality of the ingredients.

MENU PRICING METHODS:

There are six methods of menu pricing.

A. Base Price Method: The base price method is a system in which, as the first step, the base
price establishing the dish cost is developed from a customer-check distribution graph. This is
a system in which the menu items are priced at a certain level to satisfy the market.

For example, the customer who can afford to pay Rs. 100 for breakfast. The first question
then becomes, “What can be served for Rs.100?” This system starts with the menu price and
then works backward to the profit. It is very much like the actual pricing method but done in
reverse, the amount that can be spent on raw materials is established last.

B. Non Structured Method: This system is probably the simplest menu pricing method in
the world. You simply go to someone else’s food service operation, take his menu away you
and copy his price.

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This may sound strange, but it has been done, because it assumes that the customer make
their purchase decisions based on price alone and it does not recognize the cost differences in
ingredients, labour and operating expenses incurred by different restaurants.

This method is inadequate because, it fails to account for the many other factors that
influence the purchase decision, such as product quality perceptions, ambience, service and
even location.

C. Pricing Factor Method: The simple way to reach the selling price is to first fix a desired
food cost percentage. Suppose you want to run the restaurant on an average at 35% food cost.
Then find out the actual cost of material going into that particular menu item. The formula is:

Actual Material Cost X 100 / Desires Food Cost % = Sales Price

So if the actual material cost for a portion is Rs.70 then

Sales Price = 70 X 100 / 35 = Rs. 200

D. Gross Profit Method: This method is suitable for pricing the buffet menu. The gross
profit method of menu pricing is designed to determine a specific amount of money that
should be made from each customer who comes into the operation. It is based primarily on
past financial statements, customer counts, and guest check analysis.

Here is how it works.

A food service operation has:

Rs. 10,000 Sales (Food)

Rs. 3500 Food Cost

Rs. 6,500 Gross Profit Serving 50 Covers

A careful customer count has to be kept, which makes it easy to determine the gross profit per
check or an average gross profit per customer. The gross profit is divided by the number of
customers and an average gross profit of Rs. 130 is established. Keep in mind that this is not
net profit. It is profit after the raw product was paid for, but nothing else.

With the gross profit method of menu pricing, the higher priced dishes are brought down to
lower price. This system largely benefits the customer who tends to choose from the
expensive menu items and penalizes the customer who is looking for the less expensive
items. This system uses figures based on past financial records and a pro forma budget or
budget forecast and it assures the owner-operator that he is going to make a predetermined
sum of money on every customer.

The problem with this system is that it is hard to adjust for any serious decline in business or
for major price fluctuations. It breaks down unless the operation runs at a pretty steady level,
because it must be based on a projection of total number of customers if the operator is to get
the amount of money he is going to need in income.
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E. Actual Cost Method: The actual pricing method accomplishes the goal of any menu-
pricing system: to include profit as part of every price on the menu. A menu-pricing system
always develops to a point where all the cost factors and profit have been established and
covered. Using the actual pricing method you are beginning to develop a complete system,
but you are not doing it to the degree that it should be done.

Raw Materials Cost + Labour + Variable Cost + Fixed Cost + Profit = Sales Price

F. Forced Food Cost Method: The system is based, first of all, on the following
consideration: operators have to charge enough to stay in business. They must also, as the risk
of loss or spoilage increases, make sure; they are making a reasonable profit. As the risk goes
up, it is only right to charge more for the product.

MENU ENGINEERING

Menu engineering has developed systems to evaluate the popularity and the profitability of a
particular menu. It is a menu management application that provides a deterministic approach
in evaluating decisions regarding current and future menu pricing, design and content and this
is a popular approach for menu evaluation.

The menu engineering comprises of:

 Menu Item Analysis

 Menu Mix Analysis

 Four Box Analysis

 Menu Matrix Analysis

Menu Item Analysis

In this, all the items are listed with the cost price of the individual item, selling price,
contribution margin and item count. This gives an idea of the variations in selling price and
helps as a tool for the other facets of the Menu Engineering.

Example A

The following table illustrates ten selected items from the menu for an accounting period of
one week. The total count of main courses chosen for the accounting period is 3000.

Item Name Cost Price Selling Contr. Margin % Cost % Item Count
Price

Lobster 60 150 60% 40% 90

Thermidor

Crayfish 60 150 60% 40% 60

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Newburg

Fried Fish 25 75 66.66% 33.34% 210

Pomfret 30 90 66.66% 33.34% 150

Duglere

Chicken Tikka 30 75 60% 40% 420

Masala

Chicken 10 60 83.33% 16.67% 600

Winglet

Tangdi Kebab 30 70 57.14% 42.86% 360

Fish Tikka 25 75 66.66% 33.34% 510

Chicken 25 85 70.58% 29.42% 240

Maryland

Chilli Chicken 25 85 70.58% 29.42% 360

Szechwan

 Selling price is obtained from the menu

 Cost price is obtained from the standard recipes

 Item count is obtained from the KOT analysis

Menu Mix Analysis

Item Name MM % Group Rank* Food Cost GroupRank# Menu

Count MM % Class
Share

Lobster 90 3 Low 40% High 1

Thermidor

Crayfish 60 2 Low 40% High 1

Newburg

Fried Fish 210 7 High 33.34% Low 4

Pomfret 150 5 Low 33.34% Low 3

Duglere

Chicken 420 14 High 40% High 2

Tikka Masala

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Chicken 600 20 High 16.67% Low 4
Winglet

Tangdi 360 12 High 42.86% High 2

Kebab

Fish Tikka 510 17 High 33.34% Low 4

Chicken 240 8 High 29.42% Low 4

Maryland

Chilli 360 12 High 29.42% Low 4

Chicken
Szechwan

*Group Rank for Menu Popularity

#Group Rank for Food Cost.

The report gives us an idea of the overall menu popularity. The % of menu mix is obtained by
each item count divided by the total number of items sold in an accounting period. Each item
is ranked high or low depending upon its comparison with the Menu Engineering rule for the
menu mix. In this example 5% or less (150 count) is taken as low popularity. As per the
company policy the budgeted food cost % is 35%. Items less than 35% food cost is
considered as low while items above 35% food cost is considered as high.

Menu Mix % = (Item Count / Total Count for the Accounting Period) X 100

Food Cost % = ( Cost Price / Selling Price ) X 100

Four Box Analyses

This is an important tool for Menu Marketing Strategy. The items are listed in various boxes
depending upon the characteristics of the menu item in terms of its popularity and cost. There
is a basic strategy which can be considered for items which fall into each of the four
categories of the matrix.

Low Popularity High Popularity

High FC % (Above Lobster Thermidor Tangdi Kebab

35%) Low Margin Crayfish Newburg Chicken Tikka Masala

1 2

Pomfret Duglere Fried Fish, Chicken Winglet,

Fish Tikka, Chicken
Maryland, Chilli Chicken.
3 4 13
Low FC % (Below 35%) High Margin

Four Characteristics of Menu Item

Box 1: Dogs : High food cost %, Low popularity

Box 2: Plow Horses : High food cost %, High Popularity

Box 3: Puzzles : Low food cost %, Low popularity

Box 4: Stars : Low food cost %, High popularity

Menu Matrix Analysis

Square Characteristics Problem Strategy

1. Dogs High food cost %, Less Contribution Remove from the

Low popularity Margin and Less menu.
Turnover
Try to reduce the
price to attract
buyers.

Try to reduce portion

to control cost.

Try to change the

method/style of
preparation.

2. Plow Horses High food cost %, Less Contribution Try to reduce portion
High Popularity Margin to control cost.

Try to substitute
expensive
ingredients.

Reduce its
prominence on the
menu.

Combine this item

with one that is of
Low Cost.

3. Puzzles Low food cost %, Less Turnover Give more

Low popularity importance on the

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 menu.

Reduce menu price.

Rearrange the
method/style of
cooking.

Remove from regular

menu.

4. Stars Low food cost %, None Promote well.

High popularity
Give importance in
the menu.

Menu as a Merchandising Tool: The printed menu is an important merchandiser. The

customer frequently forms his first impression of the restaurant from the menu presented to
him. It should be designed to harmonize with the decor and atmosphere, and it should be
planned to function as a promotional tool that will increase sales through customer
satisfaction. Whether a simple menu that lists the menu for the day or one that is more
complex with a wide selection of courses and dishes, the menu should be written in a clear
style and arranged on the card so that the guest can make his choices easily.

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