Café Betterfield - Optimising The Food Menu

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CAFÉ BETTERFIELD: OPTIMISING THE FOOD MENU
It was a Monday morning in July 2017, and Mandy Lim started her usual routine by browsing through
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some performance reports of a café at her desk. Lim had been hired as the manager of Café Betterfield
(CBF) by John Chow in June 2017, just shortly after receiving her bachelor’s degree in operations
management. Chow, the owner of CBF, was a food gourmet and a passionate entrepreneur. CBF
offered a wide spread of food options, and this was a big draw for many of its regular customers.
That being the case, Chow was frequently puzzled by the lacklustre and irregular profitability of the
cafe. “What is going wrong with the café?”, he often wondered. For her first assignment, Lim had to
undergo a trial by fire. She was tasked to investigate and seek quick, executable solutions to the
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current situation.
Café Betterfield: Overview
In 2016, there were 7,679 Food and Beverage (F&B) establishments in Singapore, which were
comprised of the following categories: restaurants (35.3%), fast food outlets (6.2%), food caterers
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(5.9%) and others (52.6%). The total operating receipts of the F&B establishments summed up to
S$9.02 (US$6.55) 1 million. 2 There was an increasing demand for F&B services, which was
observable by a 50% increase in operating receipts from 2006. 3
Café Betterfield was started in 2014 when Chow decided to enter the F&B industry. The café
functioned with a bistro-like concept and mainly targeted young professionals (refer to Exhibit 1 for
the layout of the café). It served up to 150 customers and specialised in Western cuisine along with
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fusion dishes blended with Asian flavours. Coffee was a staple offering and desserts such as cakes
and ice-cream were also available. In the mornings, a special breakfast menu was served. In the
afternoons and evenings, the menu featured heavier meals. In early 2017, CBF formed a partnership
with Sensuri Coffee, an Indonesia-based supplier of various coffee beans. The latter supplied a
combination of niche quality beans, and good quality espresso machines that gave CBF the credibility
needed to charge a premium for its coffee. While Chow’s focus was primarily on the kitchen,
Sensuri’s owners often provided input and advice on how to improve overall service, and influenced
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the preparation procedure and style of coffee served.
1
1 USD = 1.3774 SGD as at July 1, 2017.
2
Singstat, “Singapore Food and Beverage Service Industry 2016”, (2017, Nov.), Retrieved from Department of Statistics Singapore:
https://www.singstat.gov.sg/modules/infographics/food-and-beverage
3
Ibid.
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This case was written by Professor Marcus Ang Teck Meng and Arthur Hu Ruey Heng at the Singapore Management
University. The case was prepared solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either
effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying
information to protect confidentiality.
Copyright © 2018, Singapore Management University Version: 2018-01-10
This document is authorized for educator review use only by Dr. Mohd Imran Khan, Lovely Professional University until Jan 2021. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright.
Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860
SMU-18-0023 Café Betterfield: Optimising the Food Menu
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Target Market & Food Offerings
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Given the café’s strategic location directly next to several major financial office buildings, customers
were segmented based on geographical location. Business people and lawyers around the district,
especially during weekday peak periods, formed CBF’s primary target segment. CBF had a large
floor space and seating capacity. The café was also equipped with large tables and comfortable chairs
which facilitated businessmen and lawyers’ discussions over meals and provided a convenient venue
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for quick coffee chats near their offices.
As a professionally-trained chef, Chow updated CBF’s menu frequently to excite his guests. Chow
believed that this strategy would encourage repeat customer visits, which was necessary for the
sustainability of the business. However, understanding the implications posed by an over-bloated
menu, such as inventory overload and consumer dissonance from excessive choice, Chow regularly
culled menu items to make room for new innovations. Each time, he would redesign the menu, often
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highlighting new additions through professionally-taken pictures placed in pockets of free space on
the menus. Overall, CBF’s service concept was to deliver an efficient food outlet that served
premium-grade food. The mainstay line-up even featured premium grade steaks as a highlight,
something uncommon among eateries in the area.
Operations
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Because office workers tend to have short lunch breaks, service had to be delivered promptly. CBF’s
operational strategy was focused on enabling its human resource department to create a fast and
efficient crew. The café added a wireless service call system to alert servers who would take orders
from the 26 tables either by pen and paper or memory. A single point-of-sale (POS) machine
collected orders, which would then be routed to a printer in the kitchen to facilitate payment. These
implementations effectively increased CBF’s efficiency and service levels.
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The profitability of CBF hinged on its performance during the two-hour lunch period (12:00pm to
2pm). This was typical for the F&B industry. Optimising the efficiency of the process in this period
became a priority. There were at least six staff members available to attend to customers between
11am and 3pm. Beyond that, Chow’s main concern was to ensure high customer satisfaction by
maintaining a sufficiently large staff force. This would enable the staff to handle any variability in
customer arrivals, thus creating a buffer should there be a demand surge in the café. He also told his
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staff to personalise service for tables of guests, and hence preferred that customers were served by
the same waiter throughout the dining journey. This meant that each table would be seated, have
orders taken and keyed in, have their food delivered, and be billed by the same waiter.
Customers typically followed a routine procedure when they entered the café (refer to Exhibit 2 for
the typical sequence of events). Lim observed that customers spent a long time viewing the menu.
She was thus tasked to look at shortening the time customers spent on the menu. While conversing
with Chow over his unique approach to menu design one day, Lim stumbled upon a potential issue.
Based on Chow’s gourmet experience, Chow experimented with different types of food to create new
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recipes. He kept or removed menu items based solely on his gut feeling and sales performance of
individual dishes. Cost was a nonfactor and alternative ways to deal with low-performing items were
rarely considered. “Surely, there must be a better way to go about this”, Lim thought to herself. With
that in mind, she began her investigation by collecting relevant data, hopeful of identifying a useful
trend.
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Problem Identification
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Lim set out to analyse the problem. As a starting point, she collected past demand data from Chow’s
POS machines. Immediately, she noticed that only six months of data was available for all dishes in
the current menu set. The data on several food items were incomplete. This was likely due to Chow’s
frequent menu changes.
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Next, she spoke with Chow and his chefs to ascertain the quantity of various ingredients used for the
different dishes on offer. To have a better understanding of CBF’s performance, Lim first estimated
the cost of ingredients for each menu item. Lim spoke to the suppliers and reviewed past order
invoices to approximate the cost of ingredients per assigned serving quantity. Since Chow ordered
his food ingredients from various suppliers, it took Lim some time to consolidate the data.
Nevertheless, she felt that the data was sufficiently reliable for an initial analysis (refer to Exhibits
3, 4 & 5 for the collected data).
Finding the Best Recommendation
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With the data in hand, Lim proceeded to brainstorm and research possible methods for analysis.
Coming across the Kasavana & Smith Matrix approach, Lim immediately recognised its relevance
in improving the spread of food items to customers. What recommendations could Lim make to
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increase the profitability of the café?
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EXHIBIT 1: CAFÉ LAYOUT
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Source: Information provided by company
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EXHIBIT 2: SUMMARY OF CUSTOMER ACTION
Activity Details
1. Arrival Customer arrived at front door
2. Waited to be seated Staff guided customer to seats
3. Time spent on menu Customer viewed the menu before selecting the food item
4. Wait for service (order) Customer waited for staff to arrive. Staff recorded the food requests from customers
5. Time before order enters system Staff sent the orders through POS machine
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6. Waiting time for food The kitchen prepared the food and the staff served the food to customers
7. Time spent eating Customer consumed the food
8. Wait for service (bill) The server received the payment and processed it through the POS

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EXHIBIT 3: PAST DEMAND DATA
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Category Item Quantity sold in month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Entrees Cheese curry fries 24 19 36 25 23 16
Entrees The ultimate Italian black truffle fries 175 133 158 146 144 170
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Mains Pan-seared Atlantic salmon 41 52 68 45 40 49
Pasta Mentaiko superior Japanese scallops 64 80 89 45 57 54
Pasta Singaporean chilli crab 7 13 20 11 3 11
Pasta Tiger prawn aglio olio 55 51 50 31 31 39
Rissotto Italian truffle mushroom 51 45 60 30 31 55
Rissotto Garlic tiger prawn 26 34 30 15 17 11
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Entrees Roasted duck fat potatoes 43 79 71 46 43 35
Mains Classical duck confit 52 57 81 57 57 65
Mains Shellfish truffled mac & cheese 19 42 41 29 33 29
Pasta Cheesy crab pasta 14 26 40 33 9 22
Steak Premium black angus beef 11 7 7 8 12 9
Steak Prime wagyu sirloin 7 7 3 8 7 5
Pasta Beef cream pasta 34 30 41 25 31 22
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EXHIBIT 4: MENU ITEMS – INGREDIENT QUANTITIES & SELLING PRICE
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Menu Item & Ingredients Qty (g) Price (SGD) Price (USD)
Cheese curry fries $12.00 $8.96
Fries 450
Curry mayo 40
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Curry spice 40
The ultimate Italian black truffle fries $10.00 $7.46
Fries 450
Truffle oil mix 30
Grana Padano 10
Pan-seared Atlantic salmon $21.00 $15.67
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Salmon 160
Cherry tomatoes 40
Spinach 15
Mentaiko superior Japanese scallop pasta $25.00 $18.66
Pasta 130
Scallop & mentaiko 100
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Garlic & butter 10
Spinach 15
Singaporean chilli crab pasta $25.00 $18.66
Pasta 130
Crab 100
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Cherry tomatoes 40
Garlic & butter 10
Spinach 15
Tiger prawn aglio olio pasta $20.00 $14.93
Pasta 130
Prawn 100
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Garlic & butter 10

Spinach 15
Italian truffle mushroom $21.00 $15.67
Abrio 130
Garlic & butter 10
Spinach 15
Mushroom 100
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Truffle oil mix 30

Grana Padano 20
Garlic tiger prawn risotto $20.00 $14.93
Abrio 130
Prawn 100
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Garlic & butter 10
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Spinach 15
Grana Padano 20
Roasted duck fat potatoes $16.00 $11.94

Duck leg 22.5
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Potatoes 80
Truffle oil mix 45
Mozzarella 20
Classical duck confit $19.00 $14.18
Duck leg 90
Cherry tomatoes 40
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Spinach 10
Shellfish truffled mac & cheese $24.00 $17.91
Pasta 130
Prawn 150
Cherry tomatoes 80
Garlic & butter 10
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Mozzarella 20
Grana Padano 10
Cheesy crab pasta $26.00 $19.40
Pasta 130
Crab 100
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Cherry tomatoes 40
Mozzarella 20
Premium black angus beef $35.00 $26.12
Black angus fillet 250
Mixed condiments 5
Prime wagyu sirloin $45.00 $33.58
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Prime wagyu sirloin 300

Mixed condiments 5
Beef cream pasta $26.00 $19.40
Pasta 130
Black angus fillet 50
Garlic & butter 10
Mozzarella 10
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Grana Padano 10
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EXHIBIT 5: INGREDIENT COST BY SERVING
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Serving Cost per Cost per
Ingredients
size (g) serving (SGD) serving (USD)
Abrio 130 0.31 0.23
Fries 150 0.42 0.31
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Pasta 130 0.15 0.11
Duck Leg 90 2.80 2.09
Potatoes 80 0.90 0.67
Crab 100 3.90 2.91
Black Angus Fillet 250 18.00 13.43
Prime Wagyu Sirloin 300 24.00 17.91
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Mixed Condiments 5 3.00 2.24
Prawn 50 0.75 0.56
Salmon 160 3.84 2.87
Scallops & Mentaiko 100 1.88 1.40
Cherry Tomato 40 0.30 0.22
Garlic & Butter 10 0.21 0.16
Spinach 10 0.10 0.07
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Mushroom 200 2.25 1.68
Truffle oil mix 30 1.45 1.08
Curry Mayo 40 0.24 0.18
Curry Spice 40 0.30 0.22
Mozzarella 10 0.25 0.19
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Grana Padano 10 0.20 0.15

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Café Betterfield: Overview

the preparation procedure and style of coffee served.

Copyright © 2018, Singapore Management University Version: 2018-01-10

Finding the Best Recommendation

EXHIBIT 2: SUMMARY OF CUSTOMER ACTION

Source: Information provided by company

Garlic & butter 10

Truffle oil mix 30

Roasted duck fat potatoes $16.00 $11.94

Prime wagyu sirloin 300

Source: Information provided by company

Grana Padano 10 0.20 0.15

Source: Information provided by company

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