Nutrition Essay the Menu

The menu must be developed from the perspective of both management and the consumer. If one were to direct the planning solely toward one or the other, it would fail. If management is only concerned with making as much money as possible, they would have a lot of inexpensive items that are easy and cheap to prepare, and would require as few employees as possible to prepare and serve. They would also charge high prices to ensure high profits.The trouble is that this menu would represent very poor value for the guests, if they had any at all!

On the other hand, to respond only to the demands of the consumer would result in a menu composed of high quality products, requiring a large, expensive and talented preparation and service staff which would be sold at very low prices. Actually, from the guests’ viewpoint, it would be better if you did not charge at all!

Obviously, the menu must bridge these opposing demands. It must interest, entice and satisfy the guests, and it must produce a reasonable profit for the owners. This is not easy. It is, very difficult but it must, and can be done. Many establishments fail simply because they neglect to do so.

Management's Perspective

The organizational goals and objectives must be considered first. An organization whose goal was to maximize revenues with high guest counts paired with a relatively low check average would develop the menu very differently from a company who wanted lower guest turnover and high checks. Every organization should have financial goals, and the menu must satisfy these.

Once the organizational goals are understood, a budget should be put together, detailing exactly how the financial objectives can be met. The menu has an obvious relationship to the desired food cost, but it is also related to the beverage cost (the food menu can influence the wine sales for example), the direct payroll (the employee payroll) and some of the operating expenses. It will also be the critical aspect of meeting the food sales forecast. The bottom line, net income before income taxes, should represent the minimum that the owners will expect to justify their investment. Otherwise, they would be better off doing something else with their funds. The expenses should be a reasonable representation of what costs are necessary to support the projected revenue. It is then the responsibility of operating management to structure the unit so that the cost constraints are met.

The first and most critical step, is the menu. Menu prices have to be based on product costs and anticipated sales mixes. One cannot price menu items independently of each other; each items price, description and placement affects the sales of other products on the menu.

Management must also take into consideration the market availability of products and ingredients as well as the stability of prices. It is senseless