Evaluation of the menu
In the hospitality industry, it is important to note that clients are attracted by what they see. The reason why some hotels are fancy and decorated is for the purpose of appealing to the customers and making them seek the services of the hotel bearing in mind that the services provided are as attractive as the outside appearance of the hotel. It is for that reason that any given hotel or restaurant should make sure that the features are attractive thus having a positive effect on the number of customers interested in seeking the services of the hotel or the restaurant. A menu in any given restaurant serves a significant purpose. It is for this reason that a restaurant should not rush to draft a menu without strategizing on how to make it attractive and presentable before the eyes of the customers. The menu of Café Piatto will be evaluated so as to find out if the people who drafted it considered the right criteria and made sure that the menu would be appealing to the clients.
Eye gaze motion
When it comes to eye gazing motion, the menu did not meet the requirements. For the clients to gaze on a menu, it must have features that are extraordinary; features that the clients are not used to seeing. On the other hand, the color of the writings and the pictures must be stunning when it comes to attracting the attention of the customer (Sonnenschein, K; Barker, M; Hibbins, M 2017). As far as that is concerned, the menu did not have a reason to attract such kind of attention from the customers.
Font size and style
The fonts of some of the words used were small, and that might give some clients a hard time to read. In the process of drafting a menu, the restaurant ought to have considered that there are customers who might have sight problems (Hyun, S, & Han, H 2017). With that in mind, it would be wise to make sure that the fonts are medium in size or large so that it can be easy for every person to read comfortably.
Primary and recency
When it comes to primary and recency, the menu was able to meet half of the requirements. In Recency, the menu had pictures of dishes, and that is a modern strategy in drafting a menu that is attractive and appealing to the customers (Kwon, J, & Wen, H 2017).
Color and brightness
When it comes to the words, the colors were not well mixed. This is because the menu was written in black fonts. Black and white colors on a menu work well when the fonts are larger. When it came to pictures of dishes, some of the pictures were bright; however, some were not because they were partly white and placed on white paper.
Spacing and grouping were well done. Different meals and served in various time were set differently (Gross, M; Benkendorff, P; Mair, J; Whitelaw, P 2017). At the same time, there were spaces between the lines that had the descriptions of meals.
Factors affecting menu planning
Menu types and suitability
The type of menu at Café Piatto was a cycle menu. The menu was suitable for the kind of environment that the restaurant was located. The menu was used by all clients at any given time.
Factors affecting menu planning
Customer satisfaction
The restaurant must make sure that everything that will be put on the menu must meet the needs of the customers. This does not come without the restaurant also making sure that the food prepared meets the needs of the customers. A menu that does not satisfy the customers pushes the customers away thus affecting business.
Sociocultural factors
The culture of a given population has an effect on the food that the population consumes. Therefore, it is important for the restaurant to know what it is that the people from the community do not consume. Such does not only help the restaurant to plan its menu, but it also helps the restaurant to know the type of food to prepare for its customers.
Food habits and preferences
There are some customers who love fries, some meat, and some vegetables. It is important for the restaurant to know the type of food that the customers prefer eating (Bardi 2010). At the same time, it is important to know the eating habits so as to know what type of food to serve at any given time.
A restaurant needs to know the value that the customers give to nutritional meals. Such helps the restaurant in making sure that the menu is drafted in line with the nutritional needs of the customers.
Aesthetic factors
There are clients who value taste and beauty. When it comes to preparing the menus in such environs, the restaurant must make sure that the menu is appealing (Hyun, S, & Han, H 2017). Such can be made possible by the restaurant being color sensitive and beauty oriented.
Sustainability
The type of a menu that customers find today should be the type of menu that customers find tomorrow. Lowering standards may lead to losing customers. The restaurant must make sure that the type of menu printed is sustainable so as to avoid losing clients (Cook, R; Tuma, L; Janes, P 2017).
Government regulations
Each and every nation is led by a government. The laws set by the government must be considered when planning a menu; no law should be broken (Weir, B; Decosta, P; Dale, N 2017).
Managerial decisions
The decisions of the management have an effect on the planning of the menu. Therefore, they ought to be considered in the process of planning the menu (Barron, P; Ali-Knight, J 2017).
Summary of findings
The menu of Café Piatto was not as appealing as it ought to be. Considering that the restaurant is at the heart of the town, it is important for the management to consider having a better menu. Some of the areas were well focused on whereas some were not (Sonnenschein, K; Barker, M; Hibbins, M 2017).
- Use of large fonts
The fonts used were too small such that it would be difficult for a person with a sight problem to read comfortably. The restaurant must make sure that font size is changed from small to large (Sonnenschein, K; Barker, M; Hibbins, M 2017).
- Change of background color
Summary of findings
The background theme color was white. Black fonts and white background are old fashioned. The restaurant should come up with a more attractive background theme color to make the menu more attractive.
- Use of colored fonts
Many restaurants that want to attract a wide variety of customers used interesting and colored fonts (Bardi 2010). Colored fonts are attractive when it comes to reading; unlike black fonts which can be boring at times. They do so because a menu should not only have a list of meals provided but also attract the customers and make it easy for them to know more about what they want.
- Mixing of colors
Restaurants and hotels offer different types of meals. The same colors used on appetizers should not be the same colors used on the main dishes. Such helps in differentiation and making it easy for the customer to find the type of product he or she wants (Marais, M; Plessis, E; Saayman, M 2012). For example, if the meat page was written in brown and fruit juices in green that would give the customer an easy time.
- Blending of dishes colors, background theme color, and font colors.
In the menu, I realized that some of the meals did not look presentable. This is because they were copy-pasted on a white paper whereas they were on white plates. The crushing of the colors tampered with the appearances of the dishes. Therefore, if the restaurant could make sure that colors do not stand in the way of dishes images and fonts, then the menu could be more presentable.
References
Bardi, J 2010, Hotel Front Office Management, 5th Ed. Retrieved from https://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP001784.html
Barron, P; Ali-Knight, J 2017, ‘Aspirations and progression of event management graduates: A study of career development’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, pp. 29-38.
Cook, R; Tuma, L; Janes, P 2017, ‘The impact of experiential/hands-on international experiences on hospitality, event, and tourism students’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, pp. 22-28.
Decosta, P, & Dale, N 2017, ‘Editorial – Perspectives to implementing threshold learning outcomes in tourism, hospitality and events education’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, pp. Page 1-3.
Gross, M; Benkendorff, P; Mair, J; Whitelaw, P 2017, Hospitality higher education quality: Establishing standards in Australia, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Hyun, S, & Han, H 2017, ‘Impact of hotel-restaurant image and quality of physical-environment, service, and food on satisfaction and intention’, International Journal of Hospitality Management, pp. 82-92.
‘Impact of hotel-restaurant image and quality of physical-environment, service, and food on satisfaction and intention’ 2017, International Journal of Hospitality Management, pp. 82-92.
Kwon, J, & Wen, H 2017, ‘International Journal of Hospitality Management’, Restaurant servers’ risk perceptions and risk communication-related behaviors when serving customers with food allergies in the U.S., pp. 11-20.
Marais, M; Plessis, E; Saayman, M 2012, A Review on Critical Issues Factors in Tourism, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Sonnenschein, K; Barker, M; Hibbins, M 2017, ‘Chinese international students’ perceptions of and reflections on graduate attributes needed in entry-level positions in the Chinese hotel industry’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, pp. 36-49.
Weir, B; Decosta, P; Dale, N 2017, Semantics of learning outcomes for a tourism degree across institutions, industry and governing bodies, Elsevier , Amsterdam.
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