Menu and what they do?

~The Menu~

I always thought that menu was just a simple tool which you can just make without any consideration, but this week my eyes were open the importance of the menu and how it would effect a restaurant or an operation.

there are three categories  that are consider major influence in menu planning:

-organizational (reflect organization purpose and define the mission statement)

-Customer (eating habit,sociocultural influence and demographic)

-operational and managerial

did you know that Menu must also meet the nutritional requirement?

wow..even I was surprised when I first learn about it, we all thought that what ever the cooks wanna cook, they can cook it as long as its delicious. But the truth is..Malaysian restaurant rarely sees this as important as its should, maybe its because we think its a burden and just ignore it ... we need to change..be healthier and more alert about what we eat.

RDA & DRI

Surprised ! 

Recommended daily allowance RDA- what you need to eat daily and how much to eat..must of us doesn't even know what and how much to eat food in a day..so you can consult this with your doctor about this..who knows, maybe it could save your live one day.

Dietary reference intakes DRI- more to the need of specific goup  and individual nutrition .

furthermore, a menu that does not cover cover cost is consider as a menu that cant be sell..therefore, it must have a budget guidelines 

PRODUCTION AND SERVICE CAPABILITIES

-equipment and physical facilities (menu that is possible to produce)

-personnel (know the capabilities or the worker and when buy a more high tech machine)

-availability of food ( be realistic about the food to make)

-style of service (know you customer , how many , and his current status like is he rushing or not)

EXTENT OF SELECTION
-selective menu : menu that include two or more food category
-semi selective menu: one or more food category
-non selective menu: a menu that offer no choice food item
-static menu: daily menu / restaurant menu
-single used menu: use only once / holiday or catered event
-cycle menu: a rotated at definite time intervals
-table dhote menu: complete meal at fixed price
du jour menu: menu of the day

~ we Malaysian are rarely open to all this kind of menu...usually we used static menu to avoid from the burden of changes in term of ingredient usually used..because of that the customer tent to get bored due the same food every single day..hmm..maybe we should try to give the society a little more excitement.

MENU PATTERN~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-AN OUTLINE OF FOOD TO BE INCLUDED IN EACH MEAL
FOOD CHARACTERISTIC AND COMBINATION
-the food must be able to communicate to the appetite of customer..simply by looking at the menu , the customer will thrill with excitement..

MENU WRITING

-MENU MUST ALWAYS BE CHECK FOR ANY ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
-WRITING THE MENU FOR MODIFIED DIETS
-MENU AS DOCUMENT

~THE PRINTED MENU~
MENU DESIGN AND FORMAT
-MUST BE EYES CATHING
-IMPROVE SALES
-CATHING THE HEART AND APPETITE OF THE CUSTOMER
-SIMPLE BUT NICE

DESCRIPTIVE WORDING
-ACCURATE WORD, PICTURE OF THE AVAILABLE FOOD

TRUTH IN LEGISLATION
-MUST BE HONEST AND TRUTH ABOUT WHAT IN THE FOOD AND THE NAME ITSELF MUST BE CORRECT

MENU MARKETING
-THE MENU ITSELF IS A MARKETING TOOLS THAT WILL GENERATE PROFIT THROUGH THE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION..THUS MENU CAN GIVE SERIOUS IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION

SPOKEN MENU
-USUALLY MENU THAT ARE SPOKEN BY FELLOW PERSONNEL WITH CAN SOMETIME GIVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN SELECTION OF FOOD BY THE CUSTOMER

SURVEY/FEED BACK
-THE MENU HAVE TO PERFECT AND THE WAY TO GET A PERFECT MENU IS BY A SURVEY TO SEE WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANT IN THE MENU