MENU

Definition
The menu is the primary selling tool of any estab-lishment that offers food and beverage for sale.
For the customer it identifi es the items that are available, shows prices and any other charges
and together with other external features may characterize the style of food service offered. From
the establishments per-spective the menu should meet the objectives of the marketing policy, the
catering policy and the fi nancial policy. The marketing policy should guide the catering policy
so that the products on offer and the style of operation best meet the needs of the target market.
The catering policy is concerned with the size and style of menu to be offered together with an
appropriate style of service and this will impact on space requirements, level and type of
equipment purchased, and the level of skill and number of staff required. The fi nancial policy
aims to achieve revenue and profi tability to budget through pricing, cost control and volume.

The word “menu” comes from “Menute” which means small note. At first there would be small
sized papers on the table filled with the names of the food so the customers can look up to the
foods they can order. As the time goes by, placing small sized papers on the table doesn’t look
like an efficient way to show the list of foods to the customer, so people start to think it would be
better to place the paper on a bigger surface. They placed the bigger paper on tables, doors, or in
front of the restaurant. Later on, this paper called “menu” which means list of food.

By looking at the menu, customers can see what the restaurant offers and the foods that can be
ordered. Menu is a way for restaurant to communicate with customers, a successful restaurant
can provide foods the customers wanted. Restaurant is a business that managed in commercial
way to get certain profit.

Every food on the menu contains the prices, also details about the food so customers can get
informations about the food before they order. They can also count the money they going to
spend on the food as they wish. From this explanation menu can also means list of foods
provided by the restaurant to the customers with exact price.

Type Of Menu
Although there are many types of eating establishments offer-ing many types of meal
experiences, there are basically only two types of food menus: thetable d ’ hôte; and the à la
carte. From these two types of menus there are in practice many adaptations of each.
a) Table d’hôte
Table d ’ hôte means food from the hosts ’ table and may be identi-fi ed by:
1. Being a restricted menu.
2. Offering a small number of courses, usually three or four.
3. A limited choice within each course.
4 . A fi xed selling price.
 5. All the dishes being ready at a set time. This type of menu usually contains the popular
type dishes and is easier to control, the set price being fi xed for whatever the cus-tomer
chooses, or being set depending on the main dish chosen and occasionally may offer and
additional item at a supplemen-tary price. It is common practice in many restaurants for a
table d ’ hôte menu to be offered to a customer together with an à la carte menu. Table d ’
hôte menus can be offered for breakfast, lunch and dinners. Their many adaptations are
used for:
1 . Banquets : A banquet menu is a fi xed menu at a set price offer-ing usually no
choice whatsoever to the customers, unless the client informs the caterer in advance that
certain guests require, say, a vegetarian or kosher type meal, and is available to all guests
at a predetermined time.
2 . Buffets: Buffet type meals vary considerably depending on the occasion, and
the price paid, from the simple fi nger buffet, where all items prepared are proportioned
to a small size soThe menu: Food and beverage••147that the customer may consume it
without the use of any cut-lery, to the exotic fork buffets where hot and cold food is
avail-able and where many large dishes will be carved and portioned for the individual
guest. Buffets are frequently prepared for such occasions as wedding receptions, press
receptions, pre-sentations and conferences. Buffets can be classifi ed as a form of table d
’ hôte menu as they offer a restricted menu, a limited choice of only what is on the buffet;
a predetermined set price and all the dishes are available at a set time.
3 . Coffee houses : A coffee house menu is a more recent form of table d ’ hôte
menu that is commonly used today in hotels and restaurants. This type of menu is
characterized by:
(a) Being a set menu offered often for twelve to eighteen hours of the day.
(b) Being reasonably priced, with often each dish or section of the menu
individually priced.
(c) Offering a range and choice of items that are suitable for snacks, light meals,
lunch or dinner.
(d) Offering a limited range of foods that are either already cooked, are of the
convenience type food category and require little preparation time, or are simple
and quick to cook, for example omelet ’ s, hamburgers, etc.
(e) A simplifi ed form of service being offered, for example plate service, counter
service, etc. – In some establishments the coffee shop menu may be replaced for
two to three hours with a special breakfast menu offering a restricted choice when
there is a need to serve a very large number of people in the shortest pos sible
time.
4 . Cyclical menus : These are a series of table d ’ hôte menus, for example for
three weeks, which are repeated again and again for a set period of, for example, four
months. These are often used in hospitals and industrial catering as an aid to estab-lishing
a pattern of customer demand for a menu item and as a result assist in purchasing,
preparation of items and staffi ng requirements.
b) À la carte
À la carte means a free choice from the card or menu and is iden-tifi ed by:
 1. Being usually a larger menu than a table d ’ hôte menu and offering a greater choice.
2. Listing under the course headings all of the dishes that may be prepared by the
establishment.
3. All dishes being prepared to order.
4. Each dish being separately priced.
5. Usually being more expensive than a table d ’ hôte menu.
6. Often containing the exotic and high cost seasonal foods. Part of an à la carte menu
may contain a plat du jour or ‘ spe-ciality of the house ’ section. This consists usually of
one or two main dishes, separately priced, which are already prepared and change daily.
À la carte menus are, because of their size and the unknown demand of each item, more
diffi cult to control than the typical table d ’ hôte menus. A special promotion menu is a
form of à la carte menu which is at times offered to the guest in addition to the à la carte
menu. This type of menu is concerned with the selling of a par-ticular part of a menu to
increase the interest for the customer, to increase the average spending by the customer
and in turn to increase the turnover and profi t for the caterer. Promotions may be made
by specially printing attractive menus for such items as:
1. Shellfish, when an increased variety of shellfi sh and special dishes would be made
available.
2. Soft fruits, when various types of berry fruits such as straw-berries, raspberries,
loganberries, etc. would be featured in special dishes.
3. The game season, when pheasant, grouse, etc. would be fea-tured in pâtés, soups and
special main course dishes.
4. Dishes cooked or prepared at the table, for example crêpes Suzette, steak Diane, etc.
5. Dishes that utilize seasonal produce many of which are included in the items above.

Menu Function

Information:

It satisfies a guest’s need for information about what food is available, how it is cooked
and presented, and at what price.

Order:

It presents the dishes in a logical order, usually listing the menu items under course
headings, thereby making comprehension of the menu easy.

Choice:

It determines the freedom of choice that a guest may have.

Image:

Menu helps present the overall image and style of the restaurant.

Sales:
It is a means of promoting sales by appropriately describing the dishes which appeal to
the guest.

In order for the menu to perform all these functions successfully, it must be informative,
accurate, understandable, and well designed. A restaurant manager must ensure that the
items mentioned on the menu are available at all times and as per description since it is
frustrating for a guest to make a decision only to be told that the dish is not available or to
receive a dish that is not as stated.

Different meal occasions

Breakfast
Breakfast menus in the UK tend to be either Continental or Full English Breakfast (or
equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). There may be an à la carte menu to
choose from or a table d’hôte menu. Service ranges from counter (e.g. in a small café),
self-service counter (e.g. in an industrial restaurant), selection from a chilled and/or hot
buffet (e.g. conference hotel) and full table service (e.g. in a good-quality hotel). Fish
dishes may be included on an English breakfast menu. The most common dish is kippers,
or haddock and poached eggs, while smoked salmon and scrambled eggs is a popular
modern choice.

Lunch and dinner menus

Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea is a particularly British occasion. It may be a nochoice item on a larger
menu. An establishment that specialises in afternoon tea may offer a wide choice from an
à la carte menu, e.g. sandwiches, cakes, hot buttered tea cakes, pancakes, pastries,
gateaux and ice creams. There may also be a range of different types of tea.
 DAFTAR PUSTAKA

https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Hospitality/Food%20and%20Beverage%20M
anagement%20(2008)/Chapter%205%20-%20The%20menu%20-
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Dogshun, Graham. 2012. Cookery For The Hospitality Industry. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press

Ninemeier, D Jack. 1995. Food and Beverage Controls. USA. Amer Hotel & Motel Assn

FoodandBeverageServiceCandidateHandbook-samplechapter.pdf