Chapter 4:The Strategic Valueof Knowledge

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What knowledge will assist you in planning effective Menus?

SWOTUnderstand product flow/logisticUnderstand what customers think

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The Knowledge Needed For Effective Menu Planning

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Internal

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

External

SWOT Analysis

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Strengths

Internal

Positive attributes of your business:What you do well, including your staff, your access to ingredients, and knowledge of the

market .

SWOT Analysis

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Weaknesses

Internal

Negative attributes of your business, what you need to improve, e.g. the size of your business, the consistency of the service delivery, cleanliness, staff turnover, low

productivity.

SWOT Analysis

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Opportunities

External

Those things in the market that you can take advantage of , e.g. increase sales volume,

reduce costs/expenses, or reposition yourself.

SWOT Analysis

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Threats

External

Things that are typically out of your control, e.g. the introduction of new competitors and/or downturn in the economy. Food scandals

The Knowledge Needed For Effective Menu Planning

• Conduct focus group → your market– Group discussion using scripted prompts

administered to a representative sample of local residents

– http://www.uncfsp.org/projects/userfiles/File/FocusGroupBrief.pdf

• You must understand product/flow & logistics of food and beverages

– To that end you must understand equipment capacity, cooking times, holding times, and balancing of staff workloads.

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Customer Data

• Market vs. Individuals• Understanding behaviors of persons • Understand the markets they belong to.• There are generalized sources for obtaining

data• Non-specific 4.1• You can create your own databases by

obtaining information from your existing customers.

• loyalty clubs and/or social media

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4.1

4.2

The Menu Life Cycle

4.3 Customer Database Report

Assessing The Impact Of Competition

• Your competition : competitive set (also referred to as peer set )

• The group of local businesses that represent alternative choices to your business.

• Your objective is to position yourself to obtain the largest % of their dining dollar as possible.

• Once you have identified your competitive set, you must decide whether to provide similar goods and services, or to differentiate your business.

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The Menu Life Cycle

4.5 Competitive Set Comparative Study

Ingredient Availability, Market Prices, Vendors & Distribution Channels

• A menu based on fleeting availability will present challenges, stock outages, price fluctuations, and the potential for customer dissatisfaction.

• Distribution channels…– How delicious is something that has been shipped

from halfway across the globe? (e.g. fish)– Preserved to slow aging and degradation.

• The cost of transporting foods from faraway must be factored into menu prices.

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The Locavore Movement

• Based on ingredients usually sourced within 100 miles of you.

• Often grown and raised or processed without additives, growth hormones, and chemicals.

• The locavore concept acknowledges seasonality.• You can buy Florida hothouse tomatoes year-round,

however nothing will deliver the local flavor as an ingredient harvested in your own region during its typical growing season.

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4.6 Changes in Ingredient Availability

The Locavore Movement

• Make sure your choices are logical.• If you serve only local wines, you limit your

customers to selection of fine wine from around the world.

• Make sure that your customers are looking for items like grass-fed beef. They may be unaccustomed to it.

• The key is: Base your product choices on sound, customer-centered rationale.

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The Trends

It’s important to stay on the pulse of what people

are eating and how their tastes are evolving as a result of global influences

Monitoring and understanding trends is an important part of the

research we do at Campbell’s Culinary & Baking Institute. It’s

our way of anticipating what our retail and foodservice customers

will want as tastes shift and demographics change, so that

we can deliver the next generation of iconic foods andbeverages that people love.

Source :http://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/

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1 Discovery Emerges with a limited but influential group /Cultural hot spots/up market restaurants

2 Introduction Reaches a culinary minded audience/ food magazine/new york times/ specialty grocers & outlets

3 Adoption Gains traction with larger audience /food net work channels/ celebrity chefs / full service chain restaurants TGIF

4 Main stream Accepted in many house holds/ main stream media/todays show/ quick service restaurant

5 Established Reaches mass audience/ grocery retail oullets / packaged food

6 Expanded Reaches global audience / internationally available

Group discussion and sharingAt which stage and how would you introduce new trends

to your Menu? 20

http://www.quickservicecpa.com/dollars-and-sense/entry/mcdonalds-focuses-on-global-trends-in-2013

http://www.restfinance.com/Restaurant-Finance-Across-America/January-2014/Will-McDonalds-Moves-Reverse-Sales-Trends/

http://nrn.com/food-trends/new-pizza-hut-units-feature-pizza-slice

http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2013/06/18/how-one-dead-brand-reanimated-their-business/2/

Read please and provide comments 21

Distribution Channels

Broad line distributors• Carry a broad and deep selection of items• Resist carrying low demand items• Provide their customers with commodity and market

data• Most provide access to their online catalogs and

current price lists

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The Menu Life Cycle

4.7 Performance Food Group Online Catalog Page

Spirits, Beer, and Wine distribution

• Is governed by state alcoholic beverage control regulations.

• In most states, individual vendors hold exclusive distribution rights for particular products (e.g. Budweiser beer or Robert Mondavi wine).

• Spirits are most often purchased from state government stores (“ABC stores”) and warehouses.

– i.e. a control state• Other states allow spirits to be sold by

vendors

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The Power of Information Technology

• Information technology can be applied throughout the research and planning steps of the menu development process.

– Excel, – Access – Specific Foodservice applications (e.g. Tracrite

Software, Micros)

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The Menu Life Cycle

4.10 Digital Recipe Card from an Integrated Foodservice Management Software Suite

The Power of Information Technology

The significant addition in Figure 4-10 is the criteria relating the recipe to the point-of-sale function.

This level of integration enables tracking of perpetual inventory , which allows for advanced inventory control and comparison of theoretical costs (planned) vs. actual costs.

If cost calculations are done for all food & beverage items sold, they are added to produce a total theoretical (planned) cost.

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The Power of Information Technology

How much data integration is dictated by your information needs?

Most software is sold as a core POS (point-of-sale) system.

You can customize with extra software modules.

http://www.micros.com/Solutions/ProductsNZ/RESProductManagement

/http://www.foodsoftware.comhttp://www.eg-software.com/en/

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The Power of Information Technology

• Point-of-Sale• Credit Card Processing• Loyalty Club/Frequent Diner Features• Remote Communications• Labor and Staffing Integration• Banquets and Catering• Cafeteria/University Board Plan Integration• Hotel Room Service Connectivity• Delivery/Call-in• Inventory Control• Menu Analysis• Accounting and Bookkeeping

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