THE GOOD OLE DAYS CAFÉ

By Izzy Birdsall & Alivia Oney

 
 
 

 
Concept, Idea, Location, & Service Model:
The concept of Good Ole Days Café is to utilize the emotional aspect of food by cultivating an
aura of nostalgia with the idea of sending customers back in time to the simplicity of childhood
through a signature “upgraded” kids’ menu. The upgraded items will include healthy, adult style
versions of signature childhood foods.

While certain kids’ menu items have stood the test of time and been prevalent in various
decades, menu items will include signature dishes from both the 20th and 21st century. The
interior of the café will reflect a diner style, including mementos ranging from 60s to the early
2000s. The menu will reflect a typical kid’s menu – bright and colorful with pictures and games.

The location of Good Ole Days Café will be in Easton Town Center, a hub of individuals from
all different age groups.

The food will be served quick-service style. Menus will be placed in menu-holders at the back of
the line and customers will place and pay for their order with the cashier once they get to the
front. The customers will then be given a buzzer and directed to the dining room where they may
choose where they will sit. Once their food is ready, a food runner will bring their meal to them.

Digital Menu:
 Goals, Objectives, Organization Priorities, Brand:
Goal 1: Menu design will reflect a typical children’s menu.

Objectives:

i. Menu will include spirited clip art, games, bright colors, and lively fonts to reflect the
playful, simplicity of childhood.

ii. Menu will be easy to read.

iii. Pens will be offered to customers in place of crayons to reflect the true spirit of a
children’s menu.

Goal 2: Menu will be inclusive to a large demographic.

Objectives:

i. Recipes will be applicable to all age groups as the menu will include decade-defining
meals ranging from the 1960s to the early 2000s.

Goal 3: Menu will include healthy, “upgraded” options of nostalgic, childhood foods
Objectives:

i.   Recipes will use whole, nutrient dense, and organic ingredients

ii.  Menu items will include recipes that contain healthy carbs, fats, and proteins

iii. Healthy version of favorite childhood desserts will be offered

Organization priorities:

i. Illicit nostalgic feelings in collaboration with customer satisfaction

ii. Create a lighthearted, playful atmosphere

iii. Family-friendly environment

Brand: Upgraded, healthy versions of iconic childhood meals.

Environmental Trends, Competitive Market Analysis, and Customer Insights:

When creating a new restaurant, or any business, it is important to consider the
competition in the area, what they are doing well and what is working for them, what is still
lacking in the area, and what is trending in the industry.  After doing some research of the Easton
Town Center area, we found several quick service restaurants that have similar meal types or
similar concepts to our restaurant, The Good Ole Days Cafe.  Our cafe concept is to create an
aura of nostalgia by bringing back classic kids’ meals with healthy adult twists and place our
quick service restaurant in the heart of Easton Town Center.  While Easton does hold some very
high-end restaurants, most of the quick service dining options are mid-level pricing similar to
Panera Bread, Chipotle, BIBIBOP, and others, so we decided to stay around those price ranges in
order to attract business from the start.  The data show that most customers at Easton Town
Center are middle aged customers but that they also often bring their families for a fun day of
shopping and other activities.  Since there are also several colleges in the surrounding area, many
young adults also spend ample time at the town center.  This means that the demographics
include all different age groups, so a concept with meals that would appeal to everyone would
attract the most business.  Current trends in the industry that have been adopted by many of our
potential competitors include health-forward options, simple menus, delivery options, and
special accommodations like vegan or gluten-free.  We have worked to incorporate each of these
into our concept to have the most success and traction with our starting business.  While our
concept includes these tried-and-true trends, we also have put a new concept that is not in the
area with the upgraded kids’ meals that should attract customers and put a fun and exciting twist
on meals that we all know and love.  

Another important consideration is what potential customers state they would desire with
a new quick service restaurant.  After talking to people of several age-groups we noticed that a
lot of the desires lined up with those restaurant trends that we found in our research.  Many
people referenced the quality of ingredients from Panera Bread and how that was the high-
quality food they value but a few stated that it was a little too pricey for their liking.  We took
that into account and made our entrees similar pricing due to our high-quality options but will
include higher portion sizes to accommodate the pricing to the customer.  Delivery services was
another consideration that many of our potential customers brought up as they stated they have
been relying on those services more and more, especially within the last couple of years.  After
talking to the people who would be visiting and enjoying the experience from The Good Ole
Days Cafe, we are confident that we have created a concept that has necessary elements that
customers know and love but with an exciting twist that will cause people to wonder and stop in!

Menu: (visual design posted above)

A.)

i. Customer: large demographic ranging from children to middle-aged adults, health

appeal specifically targeted towards millennials and younger

ii. Service model: quick service style - menus will be placed in menu-holders at the back
of the line and customers will place and pay for their order with the cashier once they get
to the front. customers will then be given a buzzer and directed to the dining room where
they may choose where they will sit. Once their food is ready, a food runner will bring
their meal to them.

iii. Trends: recipes will include healthy, organic foods including plant-based meals, dairy
replacements, and superfoods

B.) Structure/Pattern: Restaurant style (same options each day)

C.) Course Selections: Plates, Desserts, Drinks

Plates:
  Spaghettio’s (anellini noodles, chickpeas, house made sauce)
 Hamburger Helper Bowl (grass-fed ground beef, whole wheat elbow macaroni, zucchini,
onion, garlic, tomato paste, bone broth, organic cheddar cheese)
 Pasta Salad (whole wheat bow tie pasta, cherry tomatoes, pepperoni, red onion, bell
pepper, mozzarella choose, grated parmesan, olives, and house made vinaigrette)
 Lunchable (California turkey club wrap with organic turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce,
tomato, paired with fresh fruit and organic corn tortilla chips)
 Pizza Rolls (*veggie packed pizza rolls wrapped in whole wheat dough, marinara sauce,
and organic mozzarella cheese) *zucchini, spinach, mushroom

Desserts:

 Vegan Cosmic Brownie

 Dirt Cup

Drinks:

 Fountain drink
 Capri Sun Iced Tea
 HI-C Kombucha
 Water

Capacity Review:
A.) Mockup of Kitchen Design
 B.) Flow of Food & Soiled Dishes Traffic

Purple: Soiled dishes are picked up by runners where they are then discarded into dirty dishware
bins to begin the ware washing process.
C.) Customer Flow

1.) Customers will enter through the right side of the building. Once inside, they will be able
to pick up a menu from the menu-holders located along the shelved wall. Once they have
decided what they would like, they will order with the cashier at the register. They will
receive a cup for their drink and a buzzer for food runners to identify their table. They
will then be directed to the drink section and dining area.
2.) The customer will then choose their drink and pick a table to sit.
3.) The food will be brought to the customer’s table by a food runner in exchange for the
buzzer.
 4.) The customer will exit the same door they entered.
D.) Employee Workflow

Blue: Cashier.
 Takes orders and manages money at front of house
Purple: Cooks & Chefs
 Prepares, cooks, and assembles food
Green: Dishwashers
 Washes, rinses, and sanitizes dirty dishes
 Puts dishes away
Pink: Food runners
  Delivers food to customers
 Takes dirty plates and places them in dirty dishes bins
Standardized Recipe Flow:
Recipe 1: Pasta Salad
 Receiving/ Storage: Items will be received in the receiving area towards back of
restaurant. Dry pasta will be received from food distributer, vegetables will be received
from local farm. Packages will be evaluated to ensure they are not damaged, torn, or
leaking. Dry pasta will be stored in dry food storage area, vegetables will be stored in
cooler at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.
 Food Processing/Staging: Vegetables will be rinsed and chopped. House made dressing
will be made.
 Cooking: Pasta will be cooked by placing it in a pot of boiling water (212 degrees
Fahrenheit).
 Assembly: Pasta will be drained and placed into separate bowl. Spices, vegetables, and
house made dressing will be mixed in using large mixing spoon.
 Service: Food runners will deliver pasta salad to customer.
 Ware washing: Customers will leave soiled dishes at table to be picked up by food
runners. Soiled dishes will be dropped off in dirty dish bin where dishwashers will wash,
rinse, sanitize, dry, and store dishes.
Recipe 2: Hamburger Helper
 Receiving/Storage: Items will be received in receiving area towards back of restaurant.
Packages will be evaluated to ensure they are not damaged, torn, or leaking. Organic,
grass-fed ground beef will be received frozen and from local farmers. Beef will be stored
in freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Vegetables will also be received from local farm and
stored in cooler at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Whole wheat elbow macaroni, bone
broth, tomato paste, and organic cheddar cheese will be received from food distributer.
Whole wheat elbow macaroni and bone broth will be placed in dry storage area, while
organic cheddar cheese will be placed in cooler at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.
 Food Processing/Staging: Beef will be thawed through refrigeration overnight.
Vegetables will be rinsed and chopped.
 Cooking: Pasta will be cooked by placing it in a pot of boiling water (212 degrees
Fahrenheit). Beef will be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit in stainless steel pan with
bone broth added in as need. Vegetables will be sauteed in separate pan.
 Assembly: Pasta will be drained and added to a separate bowl. Beef and bone broth
mixture will be added. Vegetables will be added. Spices will be added. Cheese will top
off and melt onto hot dish. All ingredients will be mixed using large mixing spoon.
 Service: Food runners will deliver pasta salad to customer.
 Ware washing: Customers will leave soiled dishes at table to be picked up by food
runners. Soiled dishes will be dropped off in dirty dish bin where dishwashers will wash,
rinse, sanitize, dry, and store dishes.
Capability Review:
Equipment 1: Blender
Because our menu features different flavors of milkshakes, we will need a blender to
create the milkshakes. We will choose a large capacity blender, such as a Vitamix to
make desserts in large quantities. It is a countertop machine, so it will be placed in the
prep area, near the frozen food items to decrease transfer time. Once the milkshakes are
made, they will be placed on the assembly table for food runners to deliver to customers.
By choosing the Vitamin XL, we will be able to blend up to 24 8-ounce servings at a
time. It also includes 4.2 peak-output horsepower motor and a 1.5-gallon container with a
low-profile, removable plug lid. It has many features including speed control and
pulsations which is cost-effective.
Equipment 2: Speed Oven
Our menu features items that must be baked such as vegan cosmic brownie and pizza
rolls that will require a high-speed oven to efficiently bake. To do this, we will use a
speed-cook oven which will be placed in the central cooking area.
We will choose the SPEED. Pro by Unox. This oven is a hybrid of a convection oven and
a speed baking oven, allowing features of both to be combined in a single piece of
equipment, saving time, space, and money. It has 384 bake programs and 384 speed
programs.
Employee Skill Level:
 Employees will need basic knife skills to chop and dice vegetables
 Employees will need intermediate cooking skills to make pasta dishes, cook beef to
proper temperature, and craft wraps
 Employees will need intermediate baking skills to bake dough and brownies
 Employees will need basic recipe competency skills to craft house made sauces and
dressings
 Employees will need basic math skills to identify ingredient conversion factors and adjust
as needed
Special Technologies: Mobile ordering for both pick-up and delivery services (Grubhub,
Doordash, UberEats)
We will partner with pick-up and delivery services such as Grubhub Doordash, and UberEats to
enhance the accessibility and convenience of our menu. This will allow customers to order from
the comfort of their own home via their mobile device, a very appealing trend that will decrease
the time and travel burden of the customer and increase our sales and revenue. Customers may
also receive points each time they order via one of these apps and once a certain number of
points have been collected, they may receive a free entrée. This will increase the incentive to
order online which strengthens our partnership with these services.
Self-Reflection:
What skills were the most valuable to this assignment?
The skills that were most valuable to this assignment included collaboration, creativity, and
visual design. This assignment required collaboration in working with a partner to ensure all
parts of the assignment were met and organized in a proficient manner. It was crucial to
communicate with one another in terms of delegating tasks and offering constructive criticism.
This assignment also required a lot of creativity. Because we were assigned to create a restaurant
and menu from scratch, we had to do a lot of brain storming. We drafted many different ideas
and were able to take concepts from each to create an innovative, unique concept. Along with
this, we had to utilize visual design skills to create organized blueprints of our kitchen and
artistically describe the flow of food, employee, customers, and soiled traffic.

What was the most challenging part of the assignment to master? How could you overcome

this challenge in future work?

The most challenging part of this assignment to master was creating the kitchen design. This was
difficult because we did not know where to start. We resorted back to our courses and the notes
we took on the quick food service restaurant that we visited and were able to draft up the basic
interior of the restaurant and a mock-up of the kitchen. Once the layout was drawn, we used the
recipes from the menu we had created to determine what equipment we needed. Once that was
determined, we were able to successfully create the kitchen according to the equipment needed
and flow of food guidelines. In the future, we could overcome this challenge by taking more field
trips to different restaurants to give us a better idea of the similarities/differences of a variety of
quick-service restaurants.

What still challenges us or what makes sense now?

Something that challenged us in the beginning was crafting the standardized recipe flow. We did
not realize that we needed to address the flow of each ingredient, not just the meal itself.
However, once we broke down the standardized recipes into individual ingredients, we were able
to accurately address the flow of food to create a cohesive meal.

What are you most proud of in this assignment?

We are most proud of the concept of this assignment. We truly took to heart the emotional aspect
of food and found the intersection between emotional health and physical health to create a
nostalgic, healthy menu featuring upgraded versions of iconic childhood meals. Neither of us had
ever heard of a concept like this before, so we were very proud of the uniqueness of our idea.
Additionally, as future health professionals, it was very important to us to ensure that the recipes
were crafted with whole foods and nutritious ingredients. We believe we executed this well.

Resources
Observation of Food Productions Service & Process: Roots Natural Kitchen located at 10 E 15th
Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201, reviewed the flow of food, customer flow, and employee
workflow processes.
Equipment (Blender):
https://fesmag.com/products/catalog/prep-equipment/blenders/19760-large-capacity-blender
Equipment (Speed-Cook Oven):
https://fesmag.com/products/catalog/cooking-equipment/ovens/20031-speed-cook-oven
https://appliance-rescue-service.com/blog/speed-oven-bust-or-best