Unit 6. Preparing the Menu (A) Flash on English for Cooking, Catering and Reception

 

Flash on English for Cooking, Catering and Reception Unit 6. Preparing the Menu (A)

 

9 What do you know about preparing a menu? Write T (true) or F (false). A menu …… 1 only provides a list of food and prices. 2 is often a customer's first introduction to a restaurant. 3 does not usually give prices for all the items served in a restaurant. 4 is an important marketing tool for a restaurant. 5 is not something that sticks in the minds of customers. 6 can express the style and personality of a restaurant. 7 can make customers want to come to the restaurant. 8 can establish what kind of customers come to a restaurant.   10 Read the first paragraph and check your answers. 1 ____ A good restaurant menu provides much more than just a list of food with prices. The menu is often a customer's first introduction to a food outlet and is therefore an important marketing tool for it. A menu can express the style and personality of a restaurant; establish what kind of clientele it will attract depending on cost and the type of menu on offer; and make the restaurant stick in the minds of new customers so they want to come back. 2 ____ Before deciding on a menu you need to do some market research of the local competitors by looking at their menus, their websites and seeing what marketing strategies they use. Wider research into regional, national or global trends in people's eating and drinking habits can also be useful. For example, are there more vegetarians today than there were a few years ago and should you consider this in your menu? Do people prefer eating locally sourced fresh organic produce and how can your menu reflect and promote this? After your initial research, it is important to fully understand the location as 80% of your potential customers will probably be people who live or work within ten minutes of your restaurant. What can you offer them on your menu that other restaurants in the area do not? 3 ____ Your menu should also be easy for customers to read and understand visually. Good layout helps here. A small plain text menu can create a sophisticated and elegant image, whereas a bright, bold menu full of pictures might emphasise a particular tourist location or a fun side to the restaurant. Organise information in columns and make sure print is large and clear enough to read. Do not create a menu that is too big to handle, ensure your menu is seasonal and up-to-date and provide clear information about surcharges such as service, cover or bread and accompaniments, like vegetables. The cost of a meal should not be a surprise to the diners, so ask yourself if you would be happy to pay that price, for that meal, in that restaurant, in that location, at that time of day or year. If the answer is yes, then it is probably a good menu! 4 ____ The organisation of items on a menu tends to determine the way in which customers choose from it. So if you sequence courses like starters, main courses, side orders, desserts or beverages, that is probably how your customer will order. However, you can guide customers in other ways too by placing your signature dishes on a separate page under the title 'House Specials' or 'Chefs Specials' or by creating interesting names, which invite curiosity. All dishes should have short, simple but attractive and accurate descriptions of ingredients so your guests will want to eat them.   3 Read the text and match a title with each paragraph. a Checking the menu is accessible to customers b Helping customers order c The importance of doing your research d The job of a menu   4 Look at this menu and label each part with the words in the box. beverages desserts main courses side orders starters

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