LESSON 2

THE MEAL / DRINK EXPERIENCE

BY – HEMANT JALUTHRIA
HEMANT JALUTHRIA
INTRODUCTION

The menu is the centerpiece of any eating establishment. It is not just a

list of food items for sale, but the reason behind the establishment
existence. . Menu planning, therefore, may be considered to be one of
the most critical activities of food service operations. It defines the
décor, service style, costume and required cooking skills.

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MEAL / DRINK EXPERIENCE
The meal experience may be defined as a series of events both tangible
and intangible that a customer experiences when eating out.
Tangible- which can be feel by touching, seeing like restaurant tables, chairs etc.
Intangible- which can be only sensed/felt like restaurant atmosphere etc.

It is difficult to define exactly where a meal / drink experience actually

starts and ends, although it is usually assumed that the main part of the
experience begins when a customer enters a restaurant and ends when
he leaves the restaurant.

The series of events and experiences customers undergo when eating

out may be divided into those tangible aspects of the product, that is
the food and drink, and those intangible aspects such as service,
atmosphere, mood, etc.
So , it is necessary for the tangible and intangible components of the
restaurant to combine together and to be seen by the customer as one
total product
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FOOD AND DRINK
The type of food and drink that people choose depends on a number of
factors which are of particular concern to customers. They include-

The choice of food and drink available, whether the menu is limited
or extensive, whether the operation revolves around one particular
product, for example, coffee shops and wine bars.

The quality of the product offered.

The quantity of the product offered, that is, the portion sizes. For
example, does the restaurant offer children’s meals or smaller portions
for children?

The consistency standard of the product: customers returning to the

restaurant and repeating their of an item would expect the product to
be the same as they had eaten or drunk before.
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The range of tastes, textures, aromas and colours offered by a food
dish, or the taste, colour and aroma offered by a drink.

That the food and drink are served at the correct temperatures, for
example, that the iced coffee is sufficiently chilled, or that hot food is
hot when it reaches the customer.

That the presentation of the food and drink enhances the product
offered. This is particularly important at all levels of catering.

That the price and perceived value for money are both in line with
customer’s pre meal experience anticipations.

That the quality of the total meal experience matches or even

enhances the expectations of the guests.

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VARIETY IN MENU CHOICE
The type of menu offered by an establishment and the variety of menu
choice should also enhance the total meal experience.
For A LOWER LEVEL MARKET
First, price of the food. If a customer is paying Rs. 270/- for a three
course meal the range of menu items that can be made available within
the cost limits of such an operation is obviously more limited than in
operations where the customer’s average spending power is higher.
Second, the amount of time taken to consume meals at this level of the
market may vary between half an hour to one hour, but will rarely
exceed this. Proportionately, little of this time is spent studying the
menu choice.
Third, it may be suggested that customers frequenting this lower level
of the market may be uncomfortable, if presented with a very large
menu selection and may therefore prefer a more limited, but still varied
menu choice

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contd….
The menu choice offered by a restaurant is therefore dependent on a
number of interrelated factors,
price the customer is willing to pay
the amount of time available for the meal experience
, the level of the market in which the restaurant is situated and
consequently the types of customer likely to frequent OR regular to
that type of operation

Further considerations affecting the choice of menu from the caterer’s

point of view would be-
the production and service facilities available
skills of the staff
the availability of commodities and the potential of the menu

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LEVEL OF SERVICE
The higher the cost of the meal to the customer, the more service the
customer expects to receive. the cost of the meal to customers
increases so will the amount of service they receive.
It is necessary for a restaurant to identify the level of service.
if a restaurant has a very formal type of food and beverage service,
usually associated with high class operations, the other aspects of the
restaurant service should be equally formal – the speed, efficiency and
dress of staff, the degree of personalization and courtesy the
customers receives, and so on.
It is important for a restaurant operation to consider not only the
service of the food and beverage for which the staffs are usually
adequately trained, but also to remember the indirect service aspect of
the operation, which are all part of the customer’s meal experience

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PRICE AND VALUE FOR MONEY
The concept of value for money will vary from one sector of the market
to another and, indeed, from one customer to another. In the majority
of the cases,
however, customers will frequent a restaurant not only because of its
food and service, but also because they feel the price they are paying
represents value for money.
At the popular end of the market, inclusive price meals are often
offered.
In some establishments include a service charge in the price of their
meals, others show it separately.

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INTERIOR DESIGN
The overall interior designs of a restaurant are one of the first physical aspects
of a catering operation that a customer will come into contact with.
This first impression of the restaurant is very important. Potential customers
passing by may like the look of the establishment and decide to come and eat
there, customers who have actually planned to eat in the restaurant and like
what they see when they enter, will feel pleased with their choice of
restaurant.
The interior design of a restaurant is composed of many different aspects-
• the size and shape of the room
• the furniture and fittings
• the colour scheme
• lighting
• air conditioning, etc.
•The interior design of a catering facility needs to be carefully considered at
the initial planning stage and if necessary professional advice sought in order
to avoid costly corrective measures later. The life cycle of the operation also
needs to be taken into account as this will significantly affect the financial
investment in this aspect of the catering operation.
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ATMOSPHERE AND MOOD
The atmosphere or mood of a restaurant is a difficult aspect of an
operation to define, but is often described as an intangible feel inside a
restaurant.
The atmosphere of a restaurant is affected by many different aspects
of the operation. They include-
•include the décor and interior design of the restaurant,
•the table and seating arrangements,
•the service accompaniments,
•the dress and attitude of the staff,
•the tempo of service,
•the age,
•dress and sex of other customer,
•the sound levels in the restaurant,
•the temperature of the restaurant,
•bars and cloakrooms and the overall cleanliness of the environment
and the professionalism of the staff.
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contd….
CONTD……..

for example, In a high class restaurant, it is expected that linen napkin

would be provided, if paper ones have been provided customers may
feel cheated when they consider the price they are paying for the meal.

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EXPECTATION AND IDENTIFICATION
A single customer or group of customers arriving at a restaurant for a
meal bring with them a series of expectations regarding that
restaurant, the type of service they will receive, the price they will pay,
the expected atmosphere and mood of the restaurant, etc.
The customer expectation may be varied and numerous, ranging from
the restaurant which the customer frequents because they want to be
seen there and participate in its social atmosphere, to the small quiet
restaurant where the customer may go because of its intimate and
personal nature.
If customers sense disharmony, however, between their expectation of
the restaurant and the actual product they find, for example, it is too
intimate for the occasion, they may not enter the restaurant but
choose another. If disharmony is not realized until customers are
seated at the table, it is unlikely that they will leave but will have a
hurried and uncomfortable meal.

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LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY
Services which are not appropriately located may not be performed at
all.
For example, a city restaurant may rely(depend) heavily on a number of
large local companies for the majority of its lunchtime trade, if several
of these companies leave the area the restaurant’s demand would be
significantly affected.
A road side restaurant’s trade would also be affected by the expansions
or relocation of a major nearby road and consequently an increase or
decrease in the volume of traffic and hence customers.
The accessibility to a catering operation is another important factor.
Customer arriving by car will expect adequate car parking facilities. If
customers have to travel by public transport, the operation should be
well served by buses, trains, or taxis.

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FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE EMPLOYEES
The number of staff serving in a restaurant is closely related to the
prices charged by the establishment and the level of service that it
offers. In self service operations very few service staff are required.
In the luxury restaurants offering full alacarte service, the ratio may be
as high as one member of staff to eight customers. In some
establishments the ratio of staff to customers being as low as one
member of staff to twenty to forty customers.
Not only does the number of staff in a restaurant contribute to the
meal experience, but also their attitude to customers and the tempo of
their service.
In a luxury restaurant the tempo of the staff is considerably slower and more
relaxed because of the higher ratio of service staff to customers. It should be
noted that the attitude of the staff is almost totally influenced by the
management attitude and the environmental climate in which the staffs are
working. The uniforms of the service staff should be appropriate for the level
of the catering operation, and again this physical aspect of the restaurant
must be seen to be part of the establishment’s totality.
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Staff employed by a restaurant operation should complement the meal
experience of the customers, and they are able to do this in a variety of
ways, their social skills, their age and sex, their uniform, the tempo of
their service, and so on.

CONCLUSION
The type of meal experience offered by a food service facility must,
therefore, be tailored around the requirements and expectations of the
customer. The production of the right product, the meal experience
begins with the basic marketing questions of who are our customers
and what do they want? By seeking to answer these questions,
caterers are able to determine their position in the market and to offer
the right product at the right price for the identified market segments.

It is also important to remember that a customer’s meal experience

varies according to a number of factors and that the same customer’s
requirements may vary from one meal experience
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to another.
 ASSIGNMENT
VISIT TO A NEARBY RESTAURANT AND WRITE DOWN YOUR
EXPECTATIONS BEFORE ENTERING AND YOUR EXPERIENCE
AFTER YOUR VISIT.
YOU CAN TAKE ANY PREVIOUS VISIT FOR THIS PURPOSE.

EXPECTATIONS EXPERIENCE

LAST DATE FOR SUBMISIION – 8th SEPTEMBER,2010

HEMANT JALUTHRIA