The Menu

- A menu is a list of prepared foods from which customers/ consumers make their choices.
- It should satisfy the needs and requirements of customers/ consumers.

Rules about the Format of Menu

The printed menu is a form of merchandising and an important marketing tool. A menu card must be designed
and worded to appeal to the client and to influence him to select items that the foodservice wants to sell.

The following rules on menu design and format will helpful:

1. Capitalized all the words except the articles, prepositions, and descriptive information.
2. Arrange the menu items in the order in which they are to be eaten in a meal
3. Group foods with a course together. For better comprehension, utilize space and print size differentiation between
main items of a course. This would contribute to symmetry and form.
4. Provide the main dish the most prominent place (usually at the left). Accompaniments to the main dish the most
are placed directly in a box in the menu card. Menus of the day may be clipped on the menu card to call attention
and increase sales.
5. Use accurate descriptions and develop key words for identification of items:
 Make use of adjectives denoting temperature such as chilled, iced, steaming, sizzling and others.
 Include descriptions of texture, color, place or origin of the food.
 Describe the form or shape such as whole, quartered, or diced.
 Indicate the method of preparation such as baked, broiled, grilled, boiled, sautéed and others.
6. List specialties, sandwiches and other items in separate groups on the menu. Group the course not by price. Such
item as butter, cream, sugar or salad dressing are not usually written on menus unless they are particularly
interesting or different. The first dish in the list has the same degree of popularity as the other dishes. Place at the
top of the list items you want to sell the most.
7. Design menu card so that it is in harmony with the motif of the place, the décor, ambiance and the atmosphere of
the location.
8. Indicate the name and the address of the organization, the day and hours of service and other information that
may impress and invite the customer for a “repeat business”
9. Edit to void misspelled words, incorrect prices, and incomplete listing.
10. Remember that the menu should be easy to read, quickly to grasp and clear as to prices.

Menu Patterns
- The arrangement of food items and courses included in a meal that usually guide the customers in partaking of
the food.
- Two types of menu pattern:
Set Menu Pattern – pertains to combination of food courses which vary in range from appetizers to desserts
and are priced as one.
Selective Menu Pattern – refers to food items which are priced separately and in which customers are
given more choices and freedom to combine foods by themselves depending on
their taste and budget
Kinds of Menu
- Cycle Menus are planned for a specific period of time that is rotated according to a pattern. It is a good practice
to base a cycle menu on ten day or two week repeat.
- Set Menus are fixed menus used for all customer
- Selective Menus offer choices for each course
- A la Carte Menu features food items that are priced individually to enable the guest to select his meal and be
charged in proportion to the value of the items selected
- Table’d hote Menu offers complete meal for a single price; although it may offer some choices, all items sell at
the same price.

The following kinds of menus are variations of the above:

Limited Menus – include entrée selections between 6 and 12 items.
Extensive Menus – offer a wide variety of selections of various dishes often times used by Chinese restaurants.
Festive Menus – are set menus for weddings, birthday celebrations and christening.
Commercial Menus – are pre-arranged with no choices at a fixed price usually designed for clubs and
associations.

Menu Evaluation
- Is a list of questions according to categories such as menu profitability, presentation of wording, menu
comprehension, physical effort, menu mechanics, menu item selection and menu item presentation.