I am currently working on drafting a new menu for a business relaunch that I am working with and whilst I was just getting on with it I realised that I was, in fact, juggling a huge number of variables that need to be made to work so much so that I thought I’d take a break from my aching head and list some of them there.
They are in no particular order because the reality is that they are all equally important and need to be considered simultaneously (hence the headache!)
Skill level in the kitchen.
For the venue that I am currently working with they have not yet employed a Chef. When they do the menu will be tweaked and altered to consider the interests, and specialties of the person we recruit but nonetheless we need to consider now the skill level we will likely be appointing.
Obviously, this is dictated in some part by the salary and remuneration that is offered but, as I wrote about recently there is a skills shortage in hospitality and even with a great package, great employers are still struggling to recruit to these skilled positions.
Cheffing is not just about cooking food; the skills are not just how to use a knife well or how to cook a perfect steak. It is about managing a production line it is about managing the kitchen, it is about understanding the financials, it is about managing stock and wastage, it is about organisation, it is about negotiating with suppliers and it is about building a strong team. There is a lot of skill and an immense ability to multitask even before you start a busy ‘service’ with potentially 100’s of meals served per hour.
The skills required vary depending on the type of venue and the type of food which can range from a small tea shop making sandwiches to order or a huge hotel kitchen with a bar, restaurant, banqueting, and room service, or a country pub serving vast numbers in a 2 hour period on a weekend or a fine dining restaurant where the intricate detail and precision are key.
These are all different skills needed in varying degrees. So the menu that I am designing needs to understand the skill level of the Chef and ensure that the menu is achievable.
Kitchen layout and design
Kitchens come in all shapes and sizes. My first kitchen felt like not much more than a corridor; a small, cramped space where only 2 people could pass. It worked well and even went on to be awarded ‘Midlands Restaurant of the Year’ but the menu was designed to work in that space.
How the fridges get used, what equipment is available, how many fryers there are, the flow lines, and the service, the position of storage, the age of the equipment.
These days there have been huge advances in the technology in a kitchen, partially because of the shortage of skill technology has got so much more sophisticated so the equipment used determines cook times and capacity.
Brand and feel of the business
The menu must reflect the business, sounds obvious but it not always easy to achieve.
In any business all decisions need to ‘rhyme’ it needs to be that the menu is familiar and expected by the customer, it needs to make sense to fit with the drinks selection and the décor, the crockery and glassware even the staff uniforms.
Everything needs to go together.
Target customers
Everything can only go together if you have a great understanding of your target customers.
If you know who they are, what they love, what they hate, where they go, what they spend money on, and you understand them on an emotional level then this is easy (ha!!).
This is the trick to getting every decision right in your business and why businesses should always be changing and evolving, not just because your customers change, society is always changing, but also because your understanding of these customers changes.
Your business grows with your understanding of your customers.
At this stage, the first draft of a menu for a business that is relaunching, these target customers are just in animation form and so they are a guess based on experience, but the menu (and the whole business) still needs to reflect their hopes and desires and know exactly what they will want to eat at any time of the day, and exactly how much they would be prepared to pay for it.
Selling price
The price needs to ensure that the business makes good money, the simplest way to do this is to understand the purchase costs and then add the desired profit. But the reality is that of course, it is not that simple.
In this case, where the menu is being led by the target customers and the business brand, there is already a window of the acceptable price that the customers will pay. But the additional considerations are the signalling that the price makes on a menu to the customers, about quality, about value, about the business. You can go out and buy steak ad chips for £13 and steak and chips for £35. The price alone will tell you a lot about the venue that you are eating in.
Price is never straightforward.
The maths involved not only needs to consider the ‘gross profit’ but should also consider the price of storing the ingredients and certainly the labour costs of preparing, cooking, and cleaning up.
The other consideration is volume, how much of that item or indeed of food in general, do you expect to sell. High volume venues can afford to lower the price due to economies of scale, high volume means more efficiencies are possible whereas low volume venues lose efficiency and therefore need to charge higher.
Storage
In the same way that the kitchen design will determine what is possible storage also makes a huge difference. If you have the ability to store prepared food then you have an opportunity to have a wider menu. If there is little freezer space or limited fridge space then more items need to be made to order.
There is also the storage of the presentation crockery etc. Where is everything kept and how easy it is to access determines so much about how that dish can be presented.
Cook times
Every item on the menu needs to be served to the customer at the same time. After all the other considerations that need to be made, each item much be able to be simultaneously cooked and served. Every item on the menu needs to be checked against every other to check that there are efficiencies of serving
Wastage
Obviously, this needs to be minimised. Are there items on the menu that use the same ingredients? this helps with storage also.
Kitchen capacity (maximise)
If you are operating a small or awkwardly shaped kitchen then how many chefs can be in there at any one time? how is the equipment laid out? what can be done at any one time?
These considerations challenge the capacity of the kitchen.
How many dishes can be served in an hour? The menu needs to consider this and find the most efficient use of the space and chose items that maximise the output of the kitchen
Trends and fashions
The menu needs to consider changing trends, fashion, and eating habits. The menu doesn’t need to have any items on it for fashion reasons but it should consider what is just a fad and what has become an expectation?
These days food is expected to be ‘Instagrammable’ another thing to add to the list!
Balance
Once you finally come up with a list of menu items that satisfy all of this then does the menu as a whole hang together and balance, does it make sense?
With all this to consider it is no wonder that many venues stick to ‘classic’ dishes, there is a reason why so many venues have similar menus. The trick, therefore, is in how that fits into the business and becomes signature to that venue.
I am nearly completed my draft of this menu, my brain is exploding but I have considered everything and I have a menu that suits the business, the target customers, is accessible to a variety of skill levels, suits the kitchen design and capacity, and has the ability to make the business a healthy profit.
But there will be tweaks and there will be changes and as with all independent hospitality businesses that is best practice.
