Restaurant and Menu Development - Essay Example

? Tourism Report Assessment Restaurant report and menu development. Restaurant meal as “an experience”. The events in a restaurant should satisfy both the biological and psychological needs of the customer. Restaurant experiences should begin from the time of entry by the customer, the meal time and the exit of the client. Factors such as reception of the customer, service delivery and the quality of food play a big role in the building the restaurant experience .Customer relations also play a role in Creating ambience in the restaurant .Good customer client interaction is important in creating a nice experience at the restaurant. Staff at the restaurant should address customers politely avoiding stereotypes along race or class. The FAMM model The Five Aspects Meal Model refers factors that play an important role in the restaurant to make the meal experience an entire process. These factors include the room, the meeting, the product, the management control system and the atmosphere. The meeting Service and service quality is considered as a ‘meeting’ depending on the way that the customer is treated. To understand the value of the meeting, a restaurant staff needs to have knowledge of social psychology and rules of etiquette. Higher education is vital for service staff to exhibit mature social interaction in the restaurant. Service staffs make the major contact between a client and the restaurant. A waiter should to explain to the client what is in the menu and the preparation time of meals in a friendly manner. Arrogant waiters can make the whole dining experience very boring to the client. Waiters should also understand that customers might elevate their own social status in a restaurant. A customer can pretend to be successful and rich. (Kivela, 1994, pp 24).Waiters should be able to assist customers who are less experienced in hotel dining. A waiter who is more helpful than arrogant to an ignorant client will help the restaurant obtain a good reputation.(Finkelstein,1989, pp 34). The room Many meals are consumed in a room. The person offering meals in a commercial setting should improve the eating environment to meet the client’s needs in the best way. Decoration of the room should take into consideration aspects such as style, history of the room, and the design of the room. The created eating environment in a restaurant setting is called a ‘service scape’ (Bitner, 1992, pp102). Modification of the context of a room can influence our taste of wine (Hersleth et al., 2003, pp54). The beliefs and past experiences of a client while consuming food in the same environment changes depending on the context of the eating. Meals need to be in agreement with the overall style of the restaurant (Bowen &Morris, 1995, pp56).Restaurant interiors should also be in agreement with the type of food offered. The product The product component is made of the foods and beverages served in a restaurant including their combination. Waiters in a restaurant are able to use their theoretical and practical knowledge of food and drink to suggest on choice of wine and food. The main purpose of having immense knowledge of food and beverages by the customer is to be able to satisfy the client’s need for the perfect combination of food and beverages. A study by (Nygren, 2004, pp98) has shown that sometimes food and wine combinations fit together but occasionally they do not .The visual effect of the product also has an effect on the restaurant experience of the customer. A study by (Warde and Martens,2000pp210) shows that visual effect played a vital role in creating success for the restaurant. In some extreme cases, the appearance of the dish was an indicator of whether the restaurant had succeeded. The taste of the food should meet the expectation of the client.( Fine, 1992,pp104).Consumers of readymade food for example expect their food to taste good .Sensory characteristics of food is vital in any restaurant. The management control system. Leadership and economic issues are under the management control system. There are specific rules and regulations governing the handling of food, sales of wine and spirits as well as staff behavior in a restaurant. Proper service delivery from waiters and chefs require extensive knowledge in labor law, statistics, work organization, management and leadership. The academic education of departmental heads in a restaurant enables them to combine scientific knowledge with practical knowledge. The management control system governs other aspects like room, meeting and product. A delay in the bill for example, can cause irritation among customers. An ordinary client might blame the waiter for that delayed bill. It is the duty of the restaurant management to ensure excellent services are offered to the clients so that the no department is blamed for the wrong reason. Price and quality have an effect on customer satisfaction (Iglesias& Guillen, 2004 pp230). Restaurants that offer high quality foods and drinks will accord the customers the satisfaction that they require. Atmosphere The atmosphere refers to the entirety of a restaurant experience. It is the overall interaction among the other four components of FAMM. The atmosphere has two components namely senses and environment. Senses are the inner frames attached to the product. The environment is the outer frame of the food which represents the room. An ideal restaurant atmosphere should appeal to the five senses and create harmony among them. Plan and critique menu A Menu is a presentation of beverages, drinks and food that are on offer in a restaurant. Menus can either be a la carte or table d’hotel. In a la carte menu, clients are able to choose food from the listed options. In table d’hotel menu, clients choose foods pre-established by the restaurant administration. Menus have the names of foods and their respective prices. An example of a menu is shown below: Starters Cheese lavida $5.65 Guagamole $8.95 Fiesta combo $10.25 Chorizo $9.55 No meat combination Avocado shake $15.00 Avocado taco $22.15 Cheese Quesadilla $17.15 Salads Chicken Cesar $9.85 Lettuce $14.25 There are factors to consider while designing menus .Variety is the most important factor .A restaurant with more diverse food to offer is more likely to satisfy customer needs. Prices of food in a restaurant should also be affordable to the society and clients in that area. Menus should also take into consideration visual disability of some clients and offer their menus in Braille. Plan food production and food and beverage service in a restaurant Production in a restaurant is essential for it allows for provision of special recipes. An important factor to consider during production is forecasting .The chef should know the items to be used in production, the production schedule and the amount of food needed by clients. Solving management problems related to restaurant operations Management problems in a restaurant arise from the lack of specific rules and regulations. A restaurant should put in place specific guidelines that define the work of specific job of each of the departments in the restaurant. There are steps that can be put in place to avoid conflict and inefficiency in restaurant operations. The main method of reducing management problems is by employing human resource management principles in the restaurant (Samuels & Media, 2013, pp54).Proper staffing can also help in the reduction of management problems in a restaurant. Every staff member should know the specific task that the restaurant demands of them .Compliance should also be observed by the top management. The restaurant should comply with federal laws to avoid lawsuits that might cost a lot of money and also lead to loss of time .Regular training of staff is also vital in reducing management problems. Assessment 2 Importance and role of events in society Events play an important role in the society. The benefits of events are evident in the socio economic and political aspects of human existence. Socially, events bring together people of diverse backgrounds together. Events such as the Fifa world cup is able to bring people all over the world together .Humans are also able to learn new culture and religion through events. An employee is more likely to interact freely with employer after team parties. Economically, events are a source of revenue. People pay to go to events such as the Olympic Games .Participants also get money and improve their economic conditions .Political rallies also help to improve the democratic space in various countries (CMC, 2013, pp56). The freedom of association and worship is exercised during religious functions and political campaigns. The needs of the various stakeholders in an event There are many stakeholders in an event. The needs of stakeholders will be specific to each stake holder. An event can have an event organizer, the director, the information technology manager, exhibitors and visitor’s .It is vital to meet the physiological and psychological needs of these stakeholders. Visitors in an event need to be made comfortable. The event organizers need to put in place measures to ensure that visitors are not harassed. Security should also be provided to visitors to avoid loss of property or lives. In a sporting event, the organizers can provide ambulances to help during emergencies. It is important to avail toilet equipment for visitors in an event. Exhibitors in an event should display their products in open places where they can be accessed easily. Management plan for an event Management plan of an event involves creation of the motif for the event. Issues such as location coordination of the whole event are considered in the management of an event .Planning of an event begins from the point of selection of date, selection of venue and acquisition of relevant permits for the event (Wagen & Carlos, 2005, pp45). Management plan of an event involve many other processes. Development of event goals and selection of the event date are the key steps in the management plan. Creation of a team that will work to ensure the success of the event is also important. The next step is to choose an event theme that is specific to that particular event .Creation of a master plan that highlights all the aspects of an event is also considered. Later, the planner should identify sponsors. A publicity mechanism should later be put in place. The event organizer should also create the budget for the event .At the end of the event, and evaluation is carried out to assess the level of success of the event. Control systems for event management Economic and legal affairs of an event cannot be assumed. The rules and regulations involved in the handling of food and drinks like alcohol must be obeyed by restaurants during events. Events run more efficiently when planners observe the control systems (Reveliotis, 2005, pp78).A good control system should link the different departments of the event to create harmony. There should be strict adherence to the rules of the restaurant. A control system should address the pre season, the event and the post event period. Staging and event logistics Staging of an event involves the management of an event in one venue. Event organizers should consider convenience while staging an event. Ease of movement of people and goods to the event venue is important .The use of staging and logistics is vital in a small or single venue event (Allen, 2005, pp76). Event planners must not keep all the components in an event separated in a tidy manner the logistics do not allow for such an arrangement .The main concept of logistics is to ensure that all the venues departments in an event are in harmony. Evaluation plan for an event An event planner should evaluate the event for superior results. The level of success of an event is measured through an evaluation plan. Evaluation of an event gives room for improvements of event quality in future. An event planner can also take down notes of comments made by attendants at the event. An event planner can also use event evaluation forms to get feedback from event audience (CU, 2013, pp65). A generic evaluation form can be used for an event but there is room to formulate an original evaluation form. In designing the evaluation form, the planner should consider positive aspects of the event. References Allen B, 2005 Festival and Special Event Management, Logistics.3rd Ed. Retrieved from July 16, 2013. Bitner, M-J, 1992.Service scapes: the impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees .Journal of marketing. Bowen JT, Morris AJ 1995.Menu design: can menus sell. International journal of contemporary Hospitality Management. Change Management Consultant (CMC). 2013. Needs of stakeholders defined for achieving successful organizational change. 'Know how to change management models and more. Retrieved July 16, 2013 Chapman University (CU). 2013 Wrap Up and Evaluation - Event Planning Guide | Chapman University. Chapman University | A Top Private University in California. Retrieved July 16, 2013 Fine, GA 1992.The culture of production:aesthetic choices and constraints in culinary work,American Journal of Sociology. Finkelstein, J 1989.Dining out: Sociology of modern manners. Polity: Cambridge. Hersleth et al.2003.Effect of contextual factors on liking wine-use of robust design methodology. Iglesias MP, Guillen MJY 2004.Percieved quality and price: their impact on satisfaction of restaurant customers. Kivela, J.1994.Menu planning .Hospitality Press: Melbourne. Nygren, IT 2004 .Sensory evaluation and consumer preference of wine and food combinations .Influences of tasting techniques. Doctoral Thesis, Orebro University. Reveliotis, S. A. 2005. Real-time management of resource allocation systems a discrete event systems approach. New York: Springer. Wagen, L., & Carlos, B. R. 2005. Event management: for tourism, cultural, business, and sporting events. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Warde A, Martens 2000. Eating out: Social Differentiation, Consumption and pleasure.Cambridge Press:New York. Read More