Provide an overview of the context of the menu and discuss how nutritional requirements are met with these captive customers.

MED201 Menu Engineering and Design

a) Evaluate space, resources, and equipment required to effectively implement menus for food service

b) Apply menu analysis and cost control as an effective management tool to determine menu items

c) Analyse a variety of menus to determine customer requirements, current trends, marketing strategies, and nutritional content

d) Plan and design a balanced menu for a current commercial establishment

Effective menu engineering and design is critical to the success of hospitality organisations. Culinary professionals must understand the importance of keeping costs in line to ensure food businesses continue to be viable. This includes being able to analyse menus to determine food and labour cost, and recognise the impact of fixed costs such as rent, utilities, and insurance on the selling price of menu items.

They need to have a wide and varied knowledge of culinary preparation techniques, cookery methods, equipment and resources required to produce balanced profitable menus that align with the target market and customer preferences.

To achieve this, it is essential that they use effective menu engineering tools, and conduct research to familiarise themselves with factors that influence customer choices so that proactive planning, recipe design and customer pricing decisions can be made.

Furthermore, it is essential for culinary professionals to have an understanding of the legislative requirements and principles required when preparing menus for people with special dietary needs for health reasons; including: food production cycle, food allergens and nutritionals and preventative measures used to reduce risk.

Students are required to plan and design balanced menus for multiple commercial establishments, that meet customer preference and dietary needs.

Students will be assessed on their ability to design contemporary and classical menus that are profitable for the business. In addition, students will need to develop tools that can be used to monitor customer feedback so further amendments can be made to the menu if required.

Instructions:

This assessment is broken down in two (2) parts.

Part A (1500 words): Function menus

William Blue Dining is a prestigious venue that caters to wedding functions. A young couple are interested in having their small wedding reception of 30 guests at the venue, and are considering the choice of the following menus:

– Buffet – main meal only, they will set-up a candy table for dessert or

– Table d’hôte – 3 courses, 2 choices under each course

They have requested menus for the above be prepared to assist in their decision-making. They are happy for you to select the menu items; however, have advised that some guests have special dietary needs that need to be catered for, these include:

– Coeliac disease – two guests

– Ovo lacto vegetarians – four guests

You are required to consider the above customer requirements and prepare the following:

– Plan and design a buffet and table d’hote menu consisting of both classical and contemporary dishes. Consider the balance of textures, colour, flavour, cooking methods, temperatures and presentation.

– Using standard recipe cards, cost each of the dishes including quantities required and incorporating yield from preparation of raw ingredients and waste. Determine the food cost for each of the menus and set selling prices that will create desirable profit.

– Create a generic client feedback form that your customers can complete at the end of their function, that can be used to evaluate the success of the chosen menu.

– Create a meeting agenda that will be used to de-brief staff at the end of the function and discuss 2 critical reasons why culinary professionals conduct debriefings.

MED201 Assessment 4 – Menu Project V1.0 July 2017 Page 3 of 5

Part B (400 words): Cyclical menu

– Research a cyclical menu for an institution i.e.: school, hospital, prison or nursing home.

– Create a full week’s cyclical menu for that chosen institution. The menu must be presented in a contemporary menu format.

– Provide an overview of the context of the menu and discuss how nutritional requirements are met with these captive customers.

– Cost one day of your cyclical menu using standard recipe cards ensuring you calculate yield from raw ingredients.