Page 1 of 6
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 14
Effective Menu planning Varies with Event and guest requirements
By – Chef Devashish Pandey
Designation – Asst. Professor, School of Hotel Management and Tourism, Lovely Professional
University.
Abstract
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.
Keywords-effective menu planning, Healthy food, specialty restaurant
Review of literature
To be able to know different functions and components of menu and the one who is doing menu
planning should be aware enough to add or subtract the food ingredients from the recipes. The
effective menu planning should be done by the observation, competition and knowledge. (Ducrot
Pauline and mejeane caroline) homemade meal planning is very crucial for the bodily health and
it is quite healthy.Nowdays hotels are also following the home recipes by using the name
homemade. Menu planning starts from the home where daily different dish is served in the
dining table and cannot denied the facts that they are enriched with all the essential nutrients.to
control over the obesity the homemade food plays vital role it need little dedication while
planning meal and selection of right ingredients for the food as well .
Page 2 of 6
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 15
Introduction
Menu planning is involved in pre preparation stage of any restaurant or any food outlets set up
based on theme and style of restaurant in this crucial stage recipes are developed that we called
as menu engineering in hotels. This is prepared on any occasion based of people choices,
occasion and nature of caterings. (Fruh m Sharon and mulekar s madhuri) frequent family meal
which is being consumed by the adults in the family are likely to have less obesity cases, the
reason is the healthy balanced meal prepared in the home which reduces the risk of any bodily
disease.(kuo Fang kie and li cheng te ) lots of food bloggers and food sites have developed
enormous recipes which has many ingredients inside it, but these recipes are not standardized
and cannot be the final one for the preparation . Always there is a scope of introducing the low
cost ingredients inside it.In this research 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.
Page 3 of 6
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 16
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)
