Menu Planning Guide for Foodservice Operations

Foodservice Organizations, 5th edition
Spears & Gregoire
©2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
The Menu
 Lists items available for selection by a
customer.
 Most important internal control of the
food service system.
 Major determinant for the budget.
 Gives customers a sense of who you are
as an operation.
 Part of an organization’s brand identity.

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Trends
 Menu items from other countries.
 Vegetables (meatless entrées).
 Self-contained foods (wraps and
calzones).
 Focaccia and flavored breads.

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Presentation
 Function of menu – customer education
 Spoken Menu – orally presented by dietetic
technician to a patient
 Braille, picture, & large-type menus for
customers with vision, hearing, or speech
impairments
 Table d’hote – food items grouped together &
sold for one price
 A la carte – food items priced individually

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Pattern
 An outline of the menu item categories
for each meal (appetizers, entrées, and
desserts).
 Number of menu item choices in each
can vary according to the goals of the
foodservice operation.
 One of three basic types of menus used.

Spears & Gregoire
Types of Menus
 Static Menu
 Same menu items are offered every day.
 Frequently used if restaurant’s concept is
built around the menu, including:
 Décor
 Advertising campaign
 Market segment identified as the target audience
 Examples: Red Lobster, Olive Garden

Spears & Gregoire
Types of Menus (cont.)
 Cycle Menu
 Different items each day on a weekly, bi-
weekly, or some other basis, after which the
cycle is repeated.
 Seasonal cycle menus are common.
 Used in healthcare institutions and schools.
 Offers variety with some degree of control
over purchasing, production, and cost.

Spears & Gregoire
Types of Menus (cont.)
 Single Use
 Planned for service on a particular day and
not used in the exact form a second time.
 Used in on-site foodservice in which the
customer does not vary much from day to
day.
 College and University foodservices use
single-use menu as “monotony breaker.”

Spears & Gregoire
Degree of Choice
 Number of choices determined by goals
of each foodservice operation
 Static menu might have few choices in
limited-menu restaurant
 Cycle or single-use may provide
selection for some items but not others
 i.e. – catered business lunch, no choice for
center-of-the-plate or salad but choice of
bread, beverage, or dessert

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Structure
 Issues to consider in menu structure:
 Location of foodservice
 Name of the foodservice (what it says to a
customer)
 Primary target audience
 Menu priorities
 Capabilities of the staff

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Structure (cont.)
 Balancing labor & food cost is challenge
 Menu planner concerns:
 Adding variety to seasonal menus
 Keeping cycle menus exciting
 Offsetting high-priced items with low priced
 “Grazing” – eating small amounts of food
throughout the day
 Grazing = flexibility + frequency + food

Spears & Gregoire
Breakfast and Brunch
 Breakfast
 Fewer people eat breakfast than lunch or
dinner, accounts for ~20% of daily
restaurant traffic.
 Commercial and on-site foodservice
operations usually offer traditional breakfast
items and light and healthful options.

Spears & Gregoire
Breakfast and Brunch (cont.)
 Brunch
 Mid- to late-morning meal.
 Combo of breakfast & lunch type items.
 Commonly served on weekend or catered
events.
 On-site foodservice operations may serve
brunch in lieu of both breakfast & lunch on
weekends and for special occasions.

Spears & Gregoire
Lunch
 Difficult meal to deliver to customers.
 More complicated than those served at
breakfast.
 Must be produced faster than dinner items.
 Meal most eaten away from home.
 60% of individuals consume a commercially
prepared meal at least once a week.

Spears & Gregoire
Lunch (cont.)
 Lunch-to-go
 Quickly growing trend for workers.
 Must travel well.
 Cheap and fast.
 Packaging, while adding cost, is secret to
successful lunch-to-go program.

Spears & Gregoire
Lunch (cont.)
 Catering
 Remains one of the big profit makers.
 Time is most important factor (usually part
of the contract).
 Offered by many restaurants.

Spears & Gregoire
School Lunch
 The goals of the USDA School Meals
Initiative (SMI) for Healthy Children are:
 Incorporate culinary principles of taste &
presentation
 Incorporate regional, cultural, ethnic, &
other preferences
 Provide safe meals for children
 Make meals accessible to all children
 Reinforce classroom nutrition education

Spears & Gregoire
School Lunch (cont.)
 Increase appreciation for food origins,
cultural food history, variety of foods, and
relationship to environment and agriculture
 Support & teach principles of “social meal”
 Educate in preparation & service of healthy,
economical meals
 Serve in encouraging environment with
adequate time for meal service
 Link with school nutrition policy promoting
healthy food choices throughout the school

Spears & Gregoire
School Lunch (cont.)
 Schools can choose one of four systems
for their menu planning:
 Enhanced Food-based menus
 NuMenus (Nutrient Standard Menu
Planning)
 Assisted NuMenus (Assisted Nutrient
Standard Menu Planning)
 Traditional Food-based

Spears & Gregoire
Dinner
 Traditionally includes entrée, potato,
vegetable, & salad
 Supper – lighter or late evening meals,
menu similar to breakfast, brunch, lunch
 Menus getting shorter, but appetizer
section is getting longer
 Ethnic cuisines impact menus
 Desserts commonly included on menu

Spears & Gregoire
Factors Affecting Menu Planning
 Customer satisfaction.
 Producing menu items at an acceptable
price.
 Government regulations.
 Management decisions.

Spears & Gregoire
Customer Satisfaction
 Sociocultural factors – customs, norms,
values, and demographic characteristics.
 Food Habits and Preferences
 Small-scale surveys
 Formal and informal interviews
 Observations of plate waste
 Customer comment cards
 Tallying of menu selections

Spears & Gregoire
Nutritional Influence
 Should be a primary concern for
planning menus.
 Motivated by increasing public
awareness of the importance of nutrition.
 Food Guide Pyramid
 Most on-site foodservice operations have
registered dietitian or consultant for
nutritional aspects of menu planning.

Spears & Gregoire
Food Guide Pyramid

Spears & Gregoire
Aesthetic Factors
 Includes:
 Flavor
 Texture
 Consistency
 Color
 Shape
 Combinations of foods

Spears & Gregoire
Government Regulations
 Menus will be impacted by local, state,
and/or federal regulations.
 Required to meet menu planning guidelines,
if receive state and/or federal funding.
 Required to plan meals in advance for
periodic review by state or federal
reviewers.

Spears & Gregoire
Management Decisions
 Food Cost – include both raw and
prepared food costs for each menu item.
 Production Capability – skill of personnel
and layout of the facility.
 Type of Service – holding capability and
amount of employees.
 Availability of Foods – improvements in
transportation make foods available.

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Planning
 Responsibility of team rather than an
individual.
 General Considerations:
 Quantity.
 Quality.
 Price.
 Brand names.
 Product identification.

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Planning
 General Considerations (cont.)
 Points of origin.
 Merchandising terms.
 Means of preservation.
 Food preparation.
 Verbal and visual presentation.
 Dietary or nutritional claims.

Spears & Gregoire
Planning Process
 General principles applicable to on-site
and commercial foodservice operations
 More variety needed in on-site
foodservice
 Person eating out often goes to
restaurant for particular menu item
 Do not want change every day or week

Spears & Gregoire
On-site Foodservice Operations
 Steps in Menu Planning:
1. Plan dinner meats or other entrées
for entire cycle.
2. Select luncheon entrées or main
dishes, avoiding those used on
dinner menu.
3. Decide on starch item appropriate to
serve with entrée.

Spears & Gregoire
On-site Foodservice Operations
 Steps in Menu Planning (cont.):
4. Plan desserts for both lunch & dinner.
5. After luncheon & dinner meals have
been planned, add breakfast & any
others.
6. Evaluate if clientele, government
regulations, & managerial
considerations have been met.

Spears & Gregoire
Commercial Foodservice Operations
 Systematic approach to menu planning.
 Conduct a market study
 Perform a competitive analysis
 Interview restaurant critics/reviewers
 Attend food shows
 Develop a unified theme
 Include current trends
 Analyze nutritional content

Spears & Gregoire
 Systematic Approach (cont.)
 Ensure variety and balance of menu items
 Price menu accurately
 Check on availability of food products
 Match menu with skill level of kitchen
personnel & balance production stations
 Control labor costs

Spears & Gregoire
 Systematic approach (cont.)
 Increase sales with menu merchandising of
appetizers and desserts
 Test recipes and make adjustments
 Standardize recipes
 Conduct taste testing
 Establish garnish, plating, & portion
standards

Spears & Gregoire
Menu Pricing
 One of the most difficult decisions
management makes
 Covers cost of food, labor, additional
operating costs (rent, energy,
promotional advertising)
 Includes perception of value and
competition

Spears & Gregoire
Pricing Methods
 Factor Pricing
 Raw food cost x pricing factor = menu sales price
 Prime Cost
 Raw food cost & direct labor cost of employees
involved in preparation of a food item but not
service.
 Actual Cost
 Actual food cost – actual labor cost + other variable
cost + fixed cost + profit

Spears & Gregoire
Pricing Psychology
 Odd-cent pricing – creating an illusion of a
bargain.
 Price ends in an odd number ($4.75).
 Price ends in a number other than zero ($4.77).
 Price is just below zero ($4.99)
 Pricing by the ounce – customers weigh their
own portions.
 Two-tier – upscale amenities & menus for
patients willing to pay for special items or
service.

Menu Planning Guide for Foodservice Operations

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