Menu
planning plays an important role in any Food outlet whether it is a specialty
restaurant or any theme based restaurant. Everywhere menus are planned well in
advance. There are some factors which effects the Menu planning and if
Restaurants/food catering industries are
really considering these points then they will be able to fulfill the
requirements of customers and able to achieve satisfaction. Nowadays places are
known for their food attractions and unusual preparations of the same old
classical dishes make that area more popular and they are establishing themselves
as a landmark also. Effective menu planning with accurate usage of ingredients’
also helps restaurant to run in economic way that is done by using standard
recipes. All reputed star hotels they have their Standard recipes booklet from
which they prepares the food which gives rough estimation of the ingredients to
be ordered. Different color combinations, usage of different ingredients, and
sequence of the course all these elements need to be considered while planning
the menu. Organic and healthy food ingredients usage in the meal is a new trend
in the world despite having junk food still people does take care of their
health. Food wastage is also one of the major issues raised in the Food catering
industry it can be minimized by using proper menu planning. In this blog lot of
factors are explained with examples which will clear the concept of doing menu
planning.
Seasonal
availability-
Menu should be planned as per the seasonal
availability of fruits and vegetables. It not only reduce the Food cost it
stops you to order overpriced hybrid vegetables from the market .it also
helps you to reduce your food cost and
motivates you to serve fresh to the customers.
Customer’s
choice-
Dish like Dal
Makhni, Paneer butter masala, Chicken tikka are extremely popular among
the people and these are almost fixed in
all the Indian restaurants but sometimes the same old fashion thoughts doesn’t
work in the market .Nowadays palate has been changed people wants to taste some
unusual dishes which attracts them to try out of the box. So it is always
better to do survey and make a list of Choices of food of that particular area
as well as add some fixed dishes which cannot be taken out to balance the menu.
Skilled
staff-
To prepare the food
skilled staff is required based on the types of establishment. So menu should
be prepared in such a manner which can be easily handled by the staff otherwise
the company has to hire more skilled staff which can cost them extra just
because of the unbalanced menu.
Preparation
time-
Time is one of the major constraints in Food service
industry. Less time taking dish, pre-preparation of food reduces the cooking
time. Depends on the types of establishments ( Bristo, Brasserie, Gastrodome) .in
bristo the dish should not take more than 10 minutes because they deal with all
the fried and pre prepared food only
reheating and refrying is done before service. In restaurant menus are
elaborated and there is standard time within 30 minutes food has to be in front
of the Guest. So according to the Establishment Menu should be engineered.
Estimated
selling Price (E.S.P.)
(Multiplication method)
- It has four components
1)
Raw ingredients cost- The cost of individual food ingredients to prepare one
single dish
2)
Labor cost- Manpower involved to prepared that dish
3)
Overhead- Electricity, Gas, Rent
4)
Profit- Profit margin from the dish
Rough
calculation of E.S.P, If Restaurant is preparing one portion Omelet so What
would be the Estimated selling price of that particular dish in restaurant
S.NO
|
INGREDIENTS
|
QUANTITY
|
MARKET
PRICE
|
COST
|
1
|
EGGS
|
3
PCS
|
5
|
15
|
2
|
ONION
|
20
Grm
|
10
|
1
|
3
|
TOMATO
|
20
Grm
|
40
|
1
|
4
|
REFINED
OIL
|
10
ml
|
100
|
1
|
5
|
SALT
|
2
grm
|
20
|
1
|
6
|
BLACK
PEPPER POWDER
|
1
grm
|
500
|
1
|
|
|
|
Total
Estd Price
|
20
|
Now,
the Restaurant is spending 20/- as ingredient cost to prepare one portion of
omelet now here is estimation of % in each segment
Question
will raised
Now
what would be the selling price of an omelet? How we can set the Selling price?
Our
each category has equal contribution in the preparation of product so for the omelet
preparation
We
cannot simply multiply by 3 or 4 times, we have to see the feasibility of the pricing,
so here is rough distribution of cost in each factor while preparing the
omelet
1)
Raw ingredients cost- 20/-
2)
Labor cost- 20/-
3)
Overhead- 20/-
4)
Profit- 20/-
It
means I have given equal percentage to each elements if we are adding all the
components it gives you 80/- (i.e x4)(20x4)
Note
-Food cost percentage of the Bristo
should be below 25%
Food cost percentage of the Restaurant
should be below 30%
Food
cost percentage is true indicator that you’re getting profit from the Food in
the Restaurant.
Actual
food cost is -20/-
Estimated
selling price-20x4=80 (you can multiply by 3, 3.5and 4 to achieve the proper
Food cost percentage)
Food
cost %=Actual food cost/estimated food costx100
Food
cost %=20/80x100=25%
Now
the restaurant will have 25% as Food cost % of an omelet if you will multiply
the ingredient cost by
3.5
Or 3 than this Food cost % will increase to 35 or 40 % based on the Food cost.
In
specialty restaurant it is very difficult to maintain 30% because of expensive
ingredients involved in the preparation and to prepare gourmet style food Chef
has to be very skilled. For e.g.- For sushi
preparation sushi chef is required who actually knows the art of making
sushi.
Sometimes
the specialty restaurant Food cost % reaches up to 45%.
Space
–
One of the important elements which affects the menu
size and its production behavior. For e.g.- A Food Truck who sells food item
very fast and it doesn’t have much space for the preparations and all those
will be very quick in service so that kind of menu will be having any high
priced ingredients, they will not be having much staffing, they will not be
having sitting area to consume their food in that case their Rate of the Food
will be low as compare top any small restaurants.
Type
of Establishment-
Menu engineering in each establishment is done as
per the Theme, Type, specialty and surrounding(climate and local food).if a
restaurant is Chinese than its menu will be having authentic Chinese menus
which contains all the basic ingredient’s which is being used in any Chinese
restaurant in china. If it comes on authentic food than all the authentic
ingredients has to purchase from the original source which may cost extra. In
the same way if an Indian Restaurant is having the entire authentic restaurant
than the restaurant will not comprise with the Ingredients.
Some
of the Specialty restaurant
Stix-
Chinese restaurant (Hyatt Regency, Chennai)
Focaccia-Italian
restaurant (Hyatt Regency, Chennai)
Bukhara-Indian
cuisine specialty restaurant (ITC, Maurya Sheraton, Delhi)
Nature/Purpose
of menu-
Menu
is also designed by the nature of menu and purpose of the menu. Suppose if a
Chef is preparing Menu for the CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities
than they won’t go for any special and expensive menus. They will prepare all
the basic food with the touch of love. Because there is no requirement of
adding unusual Food ingredients which is not familiar among them, basic menu is
served so that they can feel the food with the Love.
Second
In the Cafeteria where Staff use to have their meals their menu is totally
cyclic with less usage of expensive food ingredients ,staff meal is a
privilege which is given by the Company
to the staffing this case all the regular food items will be there in the
cyclic form that is known as Cyclic Menu.
Healthy
Food –
Is
totally up to the people but always there should be options to give them what
to eat. Nowadays people are following keto diet which is very popular among
teenager and health freaks personality in this case the one who involved in
preparing the menu should be having enough knowledge about the keto functions
and diet.
Types
of service-
Table de hote-Food
which is served in the buffet (which doesn’t have much choice and within one
price customer can have whatever is displayed in the counter)
Menu
for the buffet could be large or small based on the guest’s choice for their
nature of events (parties, annual functions, wedding or reception etc.)
Ala carte-where
customer orders from the menu and each dish have individual price and guest can
order any of the dishes and he/she has to pay for food which they have
consumed.
Ala
carte is totally based on the nature of the restaurant (specialty, theme based)
Avoid recipes which has special expensive ingredient-
Some
recipes has expensive ingredients which makes dish more expensive unnecessary
avoiding and replacing those ingredients
helps to cut down the food cost and it also helps to bring down your
food cost under your command . We can use the ingredients which look expensive
but actually they are not. Replacement of the ingredients with the similar
ingredients doesn’t make any difference in taste the only requirement is the
knowledge about the ingredients’ and correct usage of it.
Temperature-
Menu
is also planned as per the climate conditions. In hilly areas the food which is
hot In nature is being consumed and this kind of menu helps them to survive in
tough climates whether it is meat products, lentils and spices the menu looks
very different from others.
Profit-
when
menu is planned in food catering industry it is sure that money is involved in
the procedure and to minimize the food cost the menu has to be well balanced
between raw food ingredients and the selling price .restaurant’s and other food
outlets menu has all the components which makes it reasonable later it helps to
run restaurant efficiently and economically.
