Introduction – Menu
Menu is the presentation of food items and beverages that are offered in a restaurant. The menu offers selection of food items available, prepared by influence of culture and location. The pop up cultural event is not only an eye opener for the international students but also a promotional aspect for various fields. The cultural diversity is an excellent platform for the entire stakeholder to broaden their market segment.
During the event, 3-4 restaurants will be operating. Each restaurant offers unique and innovative cultural; influence through the set menus. They will serve sub continental dishes Arabian Mexican and Malaysian to enable all visitors to enjoy different cuisines from the diverse cultures. The menu will be a set menu with a five-course meal with two choices per course. Apart from the restaurant there will be other services ion the event.
The restaurant should come out outstanding since it attracts a higher capacity of customer in terms of social meetings and interactions. It also takes an enormous percentage in sales and marketing the whole exhibition. Most of the targeted customers enjoy sitting down in a restaurant chatting and passing time. They have developed a habit where made eating is a social activity.
Philosophy of the menu
This menu will offer an opportunity for the visitor to take a small cuisine tour to different continents and countries. The recipes traverse different across various cultures and offer a variety of dishes. It also caters for both vegetarians and those fond of meat dishes. According to Jones and Mifli, (2001), the menu gives the visitor the priority to wash down the meal with either a fresh juice or wine.
Once in a while the meal will be accompanied by an aperitif served after dinner. The menu is a standard set for both lunch and dinner during the pop up retail event. The menu is also straightforward and easy to prepare. The international students will have an opportunity to taste and eat the meal for only $45.
The ingredients are easy to obtain and available in the market. The menu is a cyclic menu hence the establishment keeps it exciting by having assorted snacks and drinks accompanying the dishes. According to Shani and DiPietro (2007), by having a meal from the menu one is bound to be in an event of his or her own. The person who will be trying out a new dish in the restaurant stand a chance to ask the chef the preparation of the meals served, where the recipe originated from and will have an opportunity to be given the recipe.
The customers will be in a learning experience in terms of the diverse cuisines in the restaurant. In line with the celebrations of culture that will be going on in the other pop up retails, the students will have a chance to taste the historic recipe that we used by the specific communities. The menu concept, menu development, meal selection, and merchandising is well established and serves as a key selling tool for the restaurant.
The restaurant will also offer light lunch package the restaurant offers French fries with sandwich topped up with either salad. Mexican Pizza is also available for visitors. Other snacks available include; samosa, sausages, kebab, and French toast. The set menu suits customers wishing to have plated service in the restaurant. In line with the theme, many young students enjoy venturing into new fields and culture.
This menu will be the best platform to attract many youth from Australia and beyond to taste the diverse cuisine. The main course prepared is Lamb and Sausage Mixed Grill with Molasses-glazed Nectarines Ingredients for making Lamb and Sausage Mixed Grill with Molasses-glazed Nectarines.
Ingredients
- chopped garlic
- fresh rosemary leaves or dried rosemary
- sausages
- lamb rib chops
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- baby spinach well rinsed and drained
- Molasses-glazed Nectarines
The ingredients will yield 8 portions. For mass production, increase the quantity to suit the number of expected customers. With the much hype about the pop up exhibition, the number of expected visitors will be much higher. The menu prepared by these restaurant targets customers of ages between 21 and 35. According to Jones, & Mifli, (2001), this age bracket like having light meals and lots of snacks at different times of the day.
Since most of the visitors are going to be students, the production of light meals and snacks will be more than the set menu just to cover the demand. Since the restaurants will be on site for a small period the meals served will be an event in itself. In order to maintain the quality standard of the menu, the chef is to ensure the food is prepared in the correct prescribed standard for all dishes. This will give confidence to the customer for the value of their money. The costing of the ingredients will be as shown below.
Costs
- Lamb rib chops costs 13.99/lb for eight portions = $111.92
- Olive oil goes for $7.48 for 750ml
- Rosemary leaves cost $23.8 for 100g
- Garlic costs $4.00 for 500g
- Pepper goes for $2.58 for 250g
- Cooking salt costs $2.38 for 500g
- Sausage costs $15.30 for 1kg
- Baby spinach price at the supermarket is $27.45 for 800g
The ingredients will be adjusted to suit the mass production of the dishes so as to satisfy the demand.
Food costing:
Shani and DiPietro, (2007) give account on using the recipe method; the prices of the ingredients of the standardized recipe added up and divided by the number of portion it yields.
$15.3 + $2.38 + $2.58 + $4 + $23.8 +$7.48 + $111.92 = $167.46
$167.46 / 8 = $ 20.93 – this is the price for Sausage Mixed Grill with Molasses-glazed Nectarines.
With only 3000 sq feet space available for each restaurant, the staff present in both food and beverage service and production will be moderate in order to have enough space for customers and staff to navigate easily in the restaurant.
The restrictive nature of kitchen space limits the establishment to prepare basic menus that can save the preparation and cooking period of the food items (Pop up retail n.d.). The budget also is quite fair. It does not overload the production capacity of the restaurant. Staff working in the restaurant is effective too so as to have swift operation in both food production and service areas.
The complementary dishes will give an opportunity for the establishment to make quick sales so as to make a fast profit. The marketing strategy is quite clear. In order to meet the set objectives, marketing strategy is mandatory for the restaurants. More than 60% of individuals prefer taking commercially prepared meals at least once a week. These statistics favors the restaurant.
Most of the marketing would be as a result, that the food is prepared on site hence most people will be attracted to have a bite. With the light lunch package, the restaurant introduces a program dubbed lunch-to-go which gives the restaurant an upper hand to provide cheap and fast service. The operational period from 11am is highly significant since it gives the restaurant an opportunity to serve brunch. The target market has developed a habit of grazing whereby they eat a small amount of food through out the day.
The restaurant will be operating till 10pm which will enable customers to pop in the restaurant at different times of the day to have a bite of the snacks or the main meal (Primedia business magazines and media 2005). According to Bates (2009), the physical outlook in itself will be a smart marketer to invite customers’ in. the decorations in the food court will be a potential strategy to attract clients into the restaurant.
The location of the exhibition also favors the self marketing of the pop up retail. Many universities and colleges are at the vicinity of the retail centre. This will be an easy invitation of the students in these universities to visit the food court. In line with the theme of the exhibition decorations around the food court will give the flavor of different cultures and customers.
Another strategy of attracting more customers is to sell freshly prepared food items and have little recipe modification. This will assist to improve food cost. The success of marketing pop up retails is by word of mouth (Primedia business magazines and media 2005). This is the most effective way to ensure the restaurant markets itself and turn up will be tremendous. Involving the media is also a brilliant idea since it will drum up the campaign to attract customers.
This strategy will encompass activities such as; printing adverts, creating electronic adverts, seeking sponsorships and carrying out massive-brand campaigns. The restaurants will automatically be advertised since the pop up retail exhibition has taken the initiative to do all media publicity (Pop up retail n.d.). All that is left is for the restaurant to put up a sales promotion which will attract the students.
The best sales promotion for the restaurant is to offer discount in the prices of meals. As for the adverts the best way to attract the youth is by rolling an electronic advert on social networks. One can also post the day’s menu and snacks available on the social networks so as to inform the students meals served on this restaurant.
The cultural theme is a crucial subject matter for many youth. In the article ‘A fleeting glimpse’, (n.d.) the author gives account of how this pop up retail exhibition will be an upstanding plat form for the majority of the youth to have a learning experience about cultural diversity. It will also be beneficial to the organizers to take accolades for providing a perfect opportunity for many youth to get in touch with their culture. With the marketing strategy in place, the event bounds to be a success.
In utilizing the minimum space for the restaurant, message sent to property builders is to show how to utilize space adequately. The event organizers should ensure that all the participants in the exhibitions and the volunteers gain and benefit massively from the event. This will in turn motivate them to make this event a success.
References
A fleeting glimpse n.d., [online], Available from: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/experiences?src_site=eventmagazine .
Bates, A (2009) ‘Pop up perps’, Design week 03 September, p. 14-15, Centuar Communications database.
Jones, P, & Mifli, M (2001) ‘Menu development and analysis in UK restaurant chains’, Tourism & Hospitality Research, 3, 1, p. 61, Hospitality & Tourism Complete,
Pop up retail n.d., [online], Available from: https://trendwatching.com/trends/POPUP_RETAIL.htm .
Primedia business magazines and media (2005) ‘Buzz gets louder’, Primedia business magazines and media n.d., p. 13.
Shani, A, & DiPietro, R (2007) ‘Vegetarians: A typology for foodservice menu development’, FIU Hospitality Review, 25, 2, pp. 66-73, Hospitality & Tourism Complete.