The text menu of Talking about Hotel Menu Design determines the hotel catering service facilities, the variety and quantity of food raw materials, the cooking skills of dishes and the characteristics of restaurant service. It is an important foundation and link of catering business activities. Menu is also the most important marketing medium for hotel catering service. It is not only a sign of the restaurant's quality level and operating characteristics, but also closely related to the needs of customers, and it is an important basis for hotel restaurant staff to promote dishes.
Because menus play an important role in the management of restaurants, we should pay special attention to the functions of menus. We should not be careless when designing and making menus, but carefully design and make a beautifully designed, scientific and reasonable menu. Let's talk about the basic methods and skills of menu design. -Menu classification
In social catering, the general menu classification is relatively simple, generally the main menu and wine list. In star-rated hotels, the menus used are usually divided into the following categories:
1, breakfast menu
2. Dinner menu (including lunch and dinner menu)
3. Banquet menu (including Chinese food and western food)
4. Group menu
5. Self-help menu
6. Flavor menu
7. Room service menu
8. Snack menu
9. Pool Teahouse Menu
10, special menu (such as children's menu, diet food menu) Second, the design principles of the menu
Besides designing the hotel menu according to the market demand and target market, we should also pay attention to the following points:
1, considering the cost rate and profitability of the dishes, analyze the possible sales volume of the dishes and their influence on other dishes on the same menu;
2, considering the nutritional components of dishes and the quantitative ratio between dishes, pay attention to the scientific nature of diet;
3. Consider whether the proportion coordination between dishes is conducive to the utilization and division of kitchen facilities, equipment and manpower;
4. Considering the supply of raw materials for vegetable food, analyzing the seasonal characteristics of vegetable food, and selecting suitable vegetables according to the relationship between market supply and demand, transportation and storage conditions;
5. Consider the diversity of menus and drinks, which is consistent with the operating characteristics of hotels and restaurants;
6. Consider the market competitiveness of the same or similar dishes from the aspects of price and service mode;
7. Consider menu binding, text, menu programming and other factors. , which is beneficial to the sales of dishes and drinks and becomes the propaganda media of hotels and restaurants. Third, the factors that affect the menu.
1, season
Due to the change of weather, people like to eat some vegetables in hot weather, but they are not used to eating in cold weather, and vice versa. We should take seasonal food into account when making menus. Seasonal dishes are generally rich in quality and reasonable in price, and should be included in the menu. Special dishes such as crabs, Dragon Boat Festival zongzi, etc. A certain festival or time of the year should be taken into account.
2. Chef's skills
When preparing the menu, the chef's skills should be taken into account. Although many excellent chefs are trained to cook all kinds of dishes, they are at a loss when cooking advanced foreign dishes. On the other hand, well-trained and superb chefs should be given the opportunity to show their skills.
3. The size and equipment of the kitchen
When preparing the menu, consider the size and equipment of the kitchen, such as stove, steam stove, gas stove, etc. When the kitchen equipment is in short supply, a good cook will also cook the required dishes. Even so, menu makers should check the durability of cooking equipment to avoid overloading some equipment. Such as steamer, frying pan, frying pan, etc.
4. Waiter's skills
The skill of the waiter should be taken into account when making the menu. If the waiter has a high level, it can ensure that the dishes are displayed correctly to the guests. And neatly and beautifully transferred to the guest's plate.
5. Food pricing
When preparing food for the menu, it is obvious to consider the standards of each guest. Similarly, making a more expensive dish should be consistent with the cost paid by the guests.
6, guest type (customer demand oriented)
Restaurants should be customer-oriented, and customers must know what dishes they like and what grades they eat. Because meeting customers' needs is the foundation of restaurant management, menu design must also reflect customers' needs, such as popular dishes or flavor dishes, Sichuan cuisine or Cantonese cuisine. Menu design is completely different because of the different needs of customers; Different customer needs have completely different requirements for menu design. When making a menu, it should meet the needs of consumers. Especially banquets. Such as business meetings, birthday weddings, celebration banquets, etc.
7. Inventory
When making a menu, we should consider the seasonality of the food, which is usually rich and of high quality. Check whether there is a large amount of inventory in the warehouse before ordering to avoid waste. Four, menu design should pay attention to:
1, the requirements are obvious.
Restaurants should first decide what kind of menu to provide according to their own business policy. Menu design should try to choose dishes that can reflect the characteristics of our store and list them on the menu (or menu) for promotion. Even in popular restaurants, there are often several specialties and housekeeping dishes. Because without a few stable and well-known housekeeping dishes, it is difficult to attract old and new customers. Therefore, when designing the menu, you must highlight your characteristics, and your "signature dishes" and "fist products" should be placed in a prominent position in the menu and introduced separately. Only by reflecting its own characteristics can we leave a deep impression on customers.
2. Focus on innovative products
Change is the root of everything in the world, and following the rules will only lead to failure. With the continuous development of society, customers' tastes and catering conditions are also changing, so the menu should be innovated. It is best to change it once every quarter or half a year. If the menu is not changed for a long time, it will be unattractive and lose customers. If the menu is not changed for a long time, it will affect the normal supply of dishes, because some raw materials are affected by seasons. After the off-season, there will be dishes on the menu, but there is actually no supply, which will affect the reputation of the restaurant; Not changing the menu for a long time is not conducive to the improvement of the chef's cooking skills. Besides seasonal factors, we should also pay attention to the changes of customers' eating habits, such as nutrition, health and bodybuilding.
3. Maintain environmental harmony
The menu is not only a propaganda tool of the restaurant, but also a work of art, so the style, size, color, font, paper and layout of the menu need to be coordinated with the level and atmosphere of the restaurant, and should be adapted to the display, layout, tableware and clothing of the service staff of the restaurant. Popular restaurants don't need beautifully decorated menus, but beautiful and generous menus help to increase the sales of dishes.
4. Consider profitability.
The ultimate goal of restaurant management is to make money, so when designing the menu, we should not only consider the sales of dishes, but also consider their profitability. If the price of food is too high, customers may not accept it; If the price of vegetables is too low, it will affect gross profit and may even cause losses. Therefore, when designing the menu, we should appropriately reduce the gross profit of high-cost dishes, increase the gross profit of low-cost dishes, and ensure that the overall gross profit margin can be achieved.
5, finally do what you can.
Only by designing the menu according to your own ability can you ensure its best effect. Therefore, the menu designer should be clear about the production capacity of the restaurant and have excellent production and service skills to ensure the quality of the selected dishes to achieve the expected results. This requires that when planning dishes, the technical level of kitchen producers should be fully considered, and at the same time, special equipment should be equipped to produce many dishes.
In addition, based on the above aspects, the restaurant must test whether the new menu is put into use immediately or synchronized with the old menu for a period of time, and then put it into use after analysis and improvement.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) menu design and production program
When making and designing menus, we should do it step by step and in an orderly way. The specific procedure mainly includes four steps:
1. Prepare the required reference materials.
This information includes:
All kinds of old menus, including the menus used in our restaurant's history and present.
Standard recipe file.
Inventory information and seasonal menu, best-selling menu, etc.
The price of each dish or similar information.
All kinds of cooking technology books, general dictionaries, menu dictionaries.
Menu, food and drink list.
Past sales materials.
2, the implementation of standard recipes
The standard menu refers to the instruction card about the cooking method and principle of a dish, which lists the names, quantities, operation methods, quantity of each serving, plate loading tools and other necessary information of various main ingredients, auxiliary materials and seasonings needed in the cooking process of a dish. Using standard recipes is not only conducive to planning the cost of dishes, but also conducive to achieving the goal of product quality standardization.
3. Preliminary design idea
At the beginning of conception, it is best to choose a blank form and fill in dishes, drinks, drinks, etc. That is, it may be provided to customers, and then the menu content is determined after comprehensive consideration of various factors.
4. Decorative design of the menu
When decorating the menu, you can call relevant advertisements, artists, experienced chefs and relevant managers to discuss the cover design, style selection and text description of the menu together.
But no matter which step, designers should put customers' needs first, give priority to their consumption motives and psychological factors, and then do every step on this basis.
Six, menu design and production skills
When designing and making menus, the following skills should be used reasonably:
1, menu making materials
Good materials for making menus can not only reflect the appearance quality of menus, but also leave a good first impression on customers. Therefore, when selecting materials for the menu, we should not only consider the type and specifications of the restaurant, but also consider the production cost, and reasonably choose the production materials according to the purpose of the menu. Generally speaking, for long-term reusable menus, heavy coated paper that is durable and not easy to be contaminated with oil should be selected; Pagination menus often consist of a thick and wear-resistant cover and a loose-leaf core with poor paper quality. Disposable menu generally does not consider its wear and dirt resistance, but it does not mean that it can be shoddy. Although many high-standard banquet menus are only used once, they still require excellent materials and beautiful design to fully reflect the banquet service standards and restaurant grades.
2, menu cover and back cover design
The front cover and back cover of the menu are the "facade" of the menu, and how its design affects the overall effect of the menu, so we should pay attention to the following four requirements when designing the back cover and back cover:
The cover of the menu represents the image of the restaurant. Therefore, the menu must reflect the characteristics of restaurant management, restaurant style and restaurant grade.
The color of the menu cover should be coordinated with the color of the restaurant's internal environment, so that the color of the restaurant's internal environment is more harmonious, so that when customers order food in the restaurant, the menu can be used as the decoration of the restaurant.
The name of the restaurant must be designed on the cover of the menu, and it must be distinctive. The strokes should be simple, easy to read and remember. On the one hand, it can increase the visibility of the restaurant, on the other hand, it can establish the image of the restaurant.
The back cover of the menu should be printed with the restaurant's address, telephone number, business hours and other business information. In this way, we can take this opportunity to promote sales to our customers.
3, the text design of the menu
As a bridge between restaurants and customers, menu information is mainly transmitted to customers through words, so the design of words is very important. Generally speaking, a good menu text introduction should be described in detail to promote sales, rather than just listing the names and prices of dishes. If the menu is compared to a magazine advertisement, its writing time and energy are no less than designing a wonderful advertising word. The design of the text part of the menu mainly includes three aspects: the name of the dish, descriptive introduction and restaurant word-of-mouth publicity (including quality service and cooking technology).
In addition, the selection of menu text font is also very important. The names of dishes on the menu are generally written in italics, arranged in Arabic numerals, numbered and marked with prices. The font should be printed correctly so that customers can see it clearly under the lighting of the restaurant.
Unless otherwise specified, avoid using foreign languages to represent dishes in menus. Even the use of foreign languages should be standardized according to the spelling of standard dictionaries, conform to grammar and prevent mistakes. Of course, the title of the menu and the description of the dishes can be distinguished by different fonts.
4. Illustration and color application of the menu
In order to enhance the artistry and attractiveness of the menu, some illustrations are often used on the cover and inside pages. When using patterns, we must pay attention to the color must be coordinated with the overall environment of the restaurant.
The common illustrations in the menu mainly include: patterns of dishes, places of interest in China, the appearance of restaurants, famous dishes in our restaurants, and pictures of important people dining in restaurants. In addition, geometric patterns and abstract patterns are often used as illustrations, but these patterns should correspond to business characteristics.
In addition, the use of color is also very important. Pleasant colors can make the menu more attractive, better introduce key dishes, and also reflect the style and mood of a restaurant. Color can reflect people's psychology in different ways, reflecting different suggestive characteristics, so we must pay attention to the nature of the restaurant and the types of customers when choosing colors.
5. Specification and length of the menu
The specifications of the menu should be coordinated with the catering content, the type and area of the restaurant, the size of the dining table and the seating space, so that customers can hold it comfortably and look at it conveniently. Therefore, the format and selection of the menu should be careful. According to the survey data, the ideal format is 23cm*30cm. The operator determined the basic structure and content of the menu, and after listing the dishes, he chose several folio sizes suitable for comparison and arranged different types for comparison. There should be a certain gap in length, usually the area of words should not exceed 50% of the total length.
6, menu photos and graphics
In order to increase the marketing function of the menu, many restaurants will print pictures of special dishes on the menu, which can add color to the menu and increase its aesthetic feeling, thus speeding up the order of customers. However, when using photos or pictures, we must pay attention to the shooting and printing quality of photos or pictures, otherwise the expected effect will not be achieved. In addition, the color photos on many menus are still in the wrong position, that is, the color photos, dish names, prices and text descriptions are not listed together. The easiest way to solve this problem is to frame it with a black box or highlight it with colored facets.
Seven, the menu design and production of common problems
Although most restaurant operators or managers have spent a lot of time and energy designing menus, there are still many restaurants whose menus are not satisfactory, resulting in such problems and having a great impact on the management of restaurants. Common problems mainly include:
1, improper selection of production materials
In order to save costs, some restaurants use various book products, including folders and lecture folders, and also use letters and mail books and photo albums as menus instead of specially designed menus. This kind of menu not only can't decorate the restaurant environment, but also set off the restaurant atmosphere. On the contrary, it is out of place with the restaurant style and looks nondescript.
2. Improper specifications and binding
Many small restaurants' menu texts are made of 16K plain paper, which is undoubtedly too small, which leads to too compact arrangement of menu names and other contents, and it is difficult to distinguish priorities. Some menus are even as big as exercise books, but there are dozens of pages, which is tantamount to a small magazine. Menu paper is mostly thin, with poor printing quality, no illustrations and no color. Due to poor preservation and use, it is extremely simple and dirty.
3. Improper font selection
Many menus are mimeographed, and even printed ones are 1 type. Sitting in the dim light of the restaurant, it will be very difficult to read the 3 mm menu, and the handwriting in the mimeograph is easy to blur. At the same time, most menu fonts are single, ignoring the use of different sizes and fonts to highlight and publicize important dishes.
4. Change the menu at will
Changing the menu at will is one of the most common shortcomings in menu use. The methods of alteration mainly include: directly altering dishes, prices and other information with pens and ballpoint pens; Or cover it with computer printing paper and tape. The biggest change on the menu is the price. All these make the menu look serious and unsightly, causing great resentment from customers.
In addition to the above-mentioned common problems, many small and medium-sized restaurants sometimes have some problems, such as simple text introduction, menu inconsistent with dishes, artificial omission or careless omission of some information and so on. All these have brought a moderate impact on the operation of restaurants, so managers or operators of restaurants must pay attention to checking for leaks and filling vacancies to avoid the above problems and make the menu design and production perfect.