CLM 301 – PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

LABORATORY - I

TYPES OF MENUS
MENU PRICING STYLES
Menu Pricing Styles
Objective
Describe the menu pricing approaches of à la carte, semi à la carte, table
d’hôte, and prix fixe menus.
Menu Pricing Styles
• While a single menu item’s price does not normally impact the selection of
menu headings, how the entire menu is priced does influence the category
headings appropriate for that menu.
• Menus typically fall into one of four pricing types:
• à la carte
• semi à la carte
• table d’hôte
• prix fixe
Menu Pricing Styles
A la carte menus
• On an à la carte menu, each menu item is priced separately and nothing is
bundled together.
• For example, at an à la carte steakhouse, a guest who orders a grilled
porterhouse steak receives only the steak and nothing else. Any vegetable
or starch accompaniments must be ordered separately for an additional
cost.
• Some foodservice operations provide à la carte pricing for some or all of
their menu items in addition to another pricing approach; this is
particularly common on breakfast menus and in fast food establishments.
• A la carte menus allow for the most extensive set of menu headings and
should include at least one heading for any side dishes/accompaniments
available (vegetables, starches, etc.).
Menu Pricing Styles
Principles Influences on Context
Customer demand is affected by a greater understanding of:
• The relationship between health and eating
• Dietary requirements (these can be both medical and lifestyle choices)
• Cultural and religious influences
• Ethical influences
Vegetarianism / Veganism
• Seasonality and locally sourced foods
Principles of Menu Item Selection
The Objective

• Creating a menu of food options that incorporates balance and variety

while satisfying management concerns for work flow and product
utilization.
The menu must
• make sense with the business concept,
• appeal to the target market,
• and take into account any nutritional or dietary concerns as well as the
menu’s anticipated pricing style.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Names and Number of Menu Headings
The menu planner considers the names and number of menu headings to
include on the menu.
Pros
• Greater numbers of headings can increase the number of courses that
people order.
For example:
A menu that lumps all first courses (such as soups, salads, cold
appetizers) into a single heading suggests that only one course should
be selected prior to the entrée.
While a menu that separates those courses may encourage some
customers to order multiple courses before the entrée.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Names and Number of Menu Headings
Larger numbers of menu headings are not always a good thing, however.
Although some operations include only a couple of options per heading, most
à la carte restaurants offer five or more menu items per heading.
Cons
• With more to read, diners in a restaurant with an extensive menu require
more time to peruse the menu before placing their orders.
• The extra reading time may lead to a longer dining experience overall, thus
lowering the rate at which tables are turned over to new customers.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Names and Number of Menu Headings
Cons (cont.)
Extensive menus cost more than limited menus not only in fewer table turns
but also
• in the amount of money tied up in inventory
• the amount of space needed for inventory
• and the cost of printing menus with multiple pages

Exception: If the restaurant’s dining room is large and the broader menu
attracts a significantly larger market, these extra costs may be justified.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Variety and Balance
• Two of the most important considerations for selecting menu items are
balance and variety.
• The menu should offer a wide range of options (variety) without focusing
too heavily on any one product, cooking technique, or other variable
(balance).
Exception: A business with a narrowly focused concept—a pizza place, a
fried-chicken joint, a seafood restaurant, a sandwich shop, etc.—must be true
to its brand. In these examples, variety and balance are incorporated within
the limits of the business.
For example:
A burger establishment can approach variety and balance by offering
a range of burger patties and toppings; that the menu is skewed heavily
or exclusively to burgers illustrates fidelity to the business concept rather
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Variety and Balance

The variables for which variety and balance are most relevant are as follows:

• Ingredient and Flavor

• Cooking Technique
• Color, Shape, and Size
• Composition and Plate Presentation
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Ingredient and Flavor

• A menu should not rely too heavily on any single ingredient unless such
uniformity is key to the business’s concept.

• Thus, for instance, an entrée category might offer a lamb option, but not
all of the entrée choices should include lamb.

• In fact, repetition of any main ingredient (protein, starch, vegetable, or

sauce) is generally not a sound approach to menu planning.

• Imagine that a customer is repulsed by parsnips. If every entrée included

parsnips, then that customer would have difficulty finding a dish to enjoy.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Ingredient and Flavor

• The concept of flavor operates similarly.

• If every dish on a menu is somewhat sweet, spicy, sour or salty, then a

person who dislikes sweetness will not enjoy the dining experience.

• Similarly, menu planners may classify dishes as heavy or light, simple or

complex, fresh or caramelized.

• If a menu relies too heavily on one flavor profile, it will appeal to a smaller
audience than a menu with greater balance and variety will.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Ingredient and Flavor

Exception to the rule of variety in ingredients:

• A menu planner should consider product utilization when creating menu

items.

• Product utilization: Incorporating the byproducts of a single ingredient into

more than one dish, helps to keep a business’s operating costs and menu
prices low.

• To support the principles of variety and balance, the same ingredient may
be used in a dish under a separate heading, during different meal periods,
or in a very different form.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Ingredient and Flavor

Examples of appropriate product utilization:

• A chef might serve prime rib at dinner and utilize the leftovers in a
sandwich at lunch.

• The potato “scraps” generated from making Parisian potatoes may be

turned into mashed potatoes for another dish.

• While the nice cuts of cod may be seared for an entrée, the irregular end
pieces may be added to a seafood stew.

When a chef can convert ingredient byproducts into something edible rather
than throwing those items into the trash, he saves both the business and the
customer money.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Cooking Technique

A quality menu typically varies the cooking techniques used within a single
menu heading.

• Moist-heat cooking techniques (steaming, simmering, poaching…)

Delicate flavors and lower-fat dishes

• Dry-heat cooking techniques (grilling, broiling, roasting, sautéing…)

Low-fat dishes (except frying) with more assertive, caramelized flavors

Frying: creates heavier, richer dishes

• Combination methods (braising and stewing)

Richness and tenderness

Principles of Menu Item Selection
Cooking Technique

• As some guests prefer certain cooking techniques, a wider range of

cooking techniques helps the menu to appeal to a broader audience.

• Variety and balance apply to the components within a dish as well.

For example: A dish that includes steamed, grilled, fried, and braised
components is far more interesting than a dish in which all of the
ingredients are fried.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Cooking Technique

• Cooking technique impacts not only customer satisfaction but also kitchen
work flow.
• A menu planner is limited to the equipment present (or purchasable) in the
kitchen.
For example: Grilling is not an option if the kitchen does not contain a
grill, and the menu planner must take this into account. There is no point in
including a menu item for which the kitchen lacks the proper cooking
equipment.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Cooking Technique

• Creating balance among cooking techniques on a menu keeps a single line

cook from becoming overloaded with orders.
For example: If a heading with six menu items has four dishes coming
from the sauté station, then the sauté cook will be extremely busy
while the other stations remain idle.
• A menu planner that divides the dishes evenly across the various kitchen
workstations creates better balance and work flow within the kitchen.
• If separate components of a single dish come from different stations, the
menu planner must consider whether the cooks can efficiently execute the
dish given the kitchen layout and work flow.
Principles of Menu
Item Selection
Temperature and Texture
• The mouth feel of a dish is as important to the
dining experience as its flavor is.
• Menu items with a single texture are less
interesting to eat than ones with multiple
textures.
• Soft, chewy, crunchy, and crisp components
make for an exciting salad or dessert, while a
one-dimensional plate of salmon terrine,
mashed potato, and butternut squash custard
create a uniform mouth feel of mush.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Temperature and Texture

• Variety in texture and temperature apply equally across menu items and
headings.
• Offering an ice cream sandwich, a room temperature cake, and a warm
peach cobbler aids the guest who is sensitive to certain temperature
zones.
• Similarly, a selection of appetizers that are all crisp and crunchy will
frustrate a diner who has trouble chewing, while an entrée category
saturated with soft, stewed dishes will come across as boring.
• Incorporating variation in cooking technique and ingredients helps to
provide variety in texture.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Color, Shape and Size
• Repetition of colors, shapes, or sizes across
several dishes is less of an issue than it is
within a single plate.
• A dish of all off-white components, such as
poached chicken with cauliflower and rice,
is unattractive and less appetizing than a
dish with a variety of colors.
 Color, Shape and Size
• Ingredient shapes and sizes operate similarly. It is far more
interesting to eat a creation with different knife cuts than it
is to eat a dish where everything is the same shape and
Principles of size.
Menu Item • Not only do different shapes and sizes provide different
sensations within the mouth, but the visual impact is far
Selection more impressive.
• Since guests eat with their eyes before they consume with
their mouths, providing variety and balance in color, shape,
and size creates a more enjoyable dining experience for the
customer.
Principles of Menu Item Selection
Composition and Plate Presentation
• Composition and plate presentation represent the final
variables for which variety and balance enhance the
guest’s dining experience.
• A dish that is impossibly tall may seem spectacular to the
guest, but it is less impressive if every dish is plated that
way.
• Having some dishes presented in cast iron skillets, some
on colored, rectangular china, and some on traditional
round white plates lends interest to the dining experience
as guests peer across the table at what others have
ordered.
Principles of
Menu Item
Selection
Composition and Plate Presentation

• Tableside preparations are exciting,

but when every dish is assembled
tableside, the service becomes
tiresome.
 Composition and Plate Presentation

• The best approach to plating is to offer variety in presentation

Principles of and plate composition.

Menu Item • Some plates may be tall and static; others may have a low, circular
flow. Some may be composed with each element in its place
Selection while others may be simply ladled into a large bowl.
• The greater the variety, the more interesting the menu is for the
guest.
Menu Planning | Chefmanship Academy: https://youtu.be/SdBclBCiYX8?si=D_3-rUVcbb9j6KSv
The Secret Ingredients of Great Hospitality | Will Guidara | TED: https://youtu.be/bwcyXcOpWVs?si=-Z34nefLlKsU5oc4