Menu Planning. Menu Planning

Menu Planning

1. Using the following words and word combinations, read and translate the text:

feature [`fi: ʧ ə ] особенность; характерная черта; признак; свойство

profit [`prɒ fɪ t] прибыль

particularly [pə ˈ tɪ kjʊ lə li] особенно, в особенности; очень, чрезвычайно

property [ˈ prɒ pə ti] свойство, качество

contribute (to) [kə nˈ trɪ bju(ː )t] способствовать; содействовать; делать вклад

captive [ˈ kæ ptɪ v] привязной, постоянный

clientele [ˌ kliː ɑ ː nˈ tɛ l] постоянная клиентура

entremets [ˈ ɒ ntrə meɪ ] дополнительные блюда

overheads [ ˈ ə ʊ. və. hedz] накладные расходы

utilities [ juː ˈ tɪ lə tiz] коммунальные услуги

merchandising [ ˈ mɜ ː tʃ ə ndaɪ zɪ ŋ ] торговля, сбыт

elaborate [ ɪ ˈ læ bə rə t ] продуманный, замысловатый, подробный

comply [ kə mˈ plaɪ ] выполнять просьбу, соглашаться

Menu Planning

Usually the term menu refers to the written or printed list of different dishes from which a restaurant customer makes a selection. It may also mean the product of the restaurant, namely, its food. Before a new restaurant opens, the owner decides on its basic character, including such features as its location, size, staff, equipment and cuisine. Further decisions must be made about the menu. Planning the menu is important from two points of view: the owner's profit and the customer's pleasure.

Anyone who plans menus should have some basic knowledge of nutrition and the properties in food that contribute to the health of those who eat it. For institutional food services this is so important that their staffs often include a dietitian to plan correct nutritional values. This is essential in hospitals where many patients are on special diets.

Foods are usually classified into five basic groups according to their nutritional values: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins; the menu planner should have some knowledge of these groups.

In addition to knowledge of these nutrients, the modern menu - planner should be aware of calories. A calorie is a unit of heat that is used to indicate the energy value of food. Today when most people are conscious of the relation between beauty, health and weight many count their calories carefully. The menu planner in a restaurant attracting customers who watch their weight should be careful to provide a number of low-calories dishes. Even gourmet cooking now has chefs who adapt or develop dishes with lower calorie count.

Menus must also include a variety of foods that appeal to customers in different ways. Institutional foodservice establishments with a captive clientele — factory cafeterias, hospitals, school canteens, army camps — make a special effort to vary their menus so as to avoid complaints.

In restaurants trying to attract the general public the daily menu often remains the same for a long period of time but offers a large number of different dishes. Other restaurants may offer different dishes every day.

Food appeal is another factor in menu planning. This includes not only the way the food tastes but the way it looks on the plate, the way it smells, and even its texture. Appeal to the eye is especially important: the shapes and forms, the color combinations even the dishes in which the food is served. The Japanese have raised the eye appeal of food to an art.

The person responsible for menu planning in some restaurants is the chef or chief cook. The term cook usually indicates an assistant to the chef. In small, independently owned restaurants the owner - manager and the chef may work on the menu together. Very large restaurants and institutional foodservices may have a menu department under a dietitian.

The normal procedure is to plan the menu for several days in advance. Some large institutions work out menus for a whole year in advance. It is customary to decide first on the main courses or dishes, known as the entré es, and then plan the rest of the meal around them.

Some features — appetizers, desserts and beverages — may change very little or not at all over a long period of time.

Two systems of pricing dishes on the menu are customary, both are known by French terms — table d'hô te and à la carte. On a table d'hô te menu, the price of the entré e is the price of the complete meal.

On a à la carte menu each dish (appetizer, entree, side dishes such as vegetables and salads and desserts) is priced separately. Restaurants with à la carte menu are ordinarily more expensive than those with table d'hô te menus.

Many people who know the cost of food at local markets believe that restaurants make a large profit; they see only the difference between the prices they pay for their own food and the prices charged by restaurants. What they do not see are the direct and overhead costs of the business. Overhead is usually defined as indirect business costs that cannot be assigned to a particular product or operation. In the foodservice industry overhead includes items such as rent, insurance, taxes (gas and electricity). Direct costs include not only the food itself but wages paid to employees. Direct and indirect costs must be considered in menu planning.

Pleasing the customers is usually described as merchandising — making a product interesting so that customers will buy it. The restaurant's appearance, location and cuisine must be designed to appeal to a particular and available clientele. It is necessary to please the customers so that they will return. The daily menu must appeal to those whom the restaurant wishes to attract. A lunch-time establishment in a shopping centre, for example, concentrates on salads or sandwiches, while a restaurant in a tourist centre may offer the local cuisine.

The printed menu is key factor in restaurant merchandising. When the menu changes daily it is common to use a cover with the name and logo of the restaurant on it. Menus are among the souvenirs that customers frequently take from restaurants. Many people ask for a copy of the menu when they have had a particularly memorable meal and the manager usually complies since he is merchandising at low cost.

2. Answer the following questions:

1. What does the term «menu» mean?

2. How are the decisions about the menu made?

3. Why is planning of the menu important?

4. What should the menu planner know?

5. Why do staffs of institutional food services include dietitians?

6. Why should the modern menu planner be aware of calories?

7. How do restaurants attract customers who watch their weight?

8. Why do foodservice establishments have to vary their menus?

9. What is food appeal and why is it important?

10. Who is generally responsible for menu planning?

11. What is the normal procedure of menu planning?

12. What dishes are usually decided on in the first place?

13. What features may remain on the menu for a long time?

14. What are the customary systems of pricing dishes?

15. Why are restaurants with a la carte menu more expensive?

16. Why do people think that restaurants make a large profit?

17. What is overhead(s)?

18. What do overheads include in the foodservice industry?

19. How are direct costs calculated?

20. Why do food costs vary?

21. What is merchandising? Why is it important?

22. Why is the printed menu a key factor in restaurant merchandising?

23. How do restaurants make their printed menus attractive?

24. What features are indications of an eating establishment?

25. Why is word-of-mouth recommendation a very important means of merchandising?

26. What happens if the food is disappointing for the customer?

27. What other factors affect menu planning?

28. How do customers make a choice?

29. Why do customers ask for a copy of the menu?

3. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. A well-balanced meal includes proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins and water.

2. Variety in a menu can be achieved either by offering a large number of different dishes over a long period of time or by changing the dishes every day.

3. Since all foods have the same properties it is not necessary for a menu planner to have any knowledge of nutrition.

4. After a restaurant opens, no additional decisions about its daily operations need to be made.

5. Restaurants have other costs, both direct and indirect, in addition to the cost of food.

6. A change in the price of a popular dish in a restaurant may meet with customer resistance that results in waste and loss of profits.

7. Word-of-mouth recommendation plays very little part in the success of a restaurant.

8. Merchandising a restaurant includes such factors as appearance, location, cuisine, and a menu that pleases the customers.

9. Many people today watch the number of calories they eat because they have become aware of the relationship between beauty, health and weight.

10. The appeal that food makes to the eye and the nose is not an important consideration in menu planning.