Info About Menu Writing

[jclara1]

hello all,
am looking for info and advice on writing static menus. am having trouble weeding through the search option for posts on this topic so am wondering if any of you have links or advice. i might be taking my 1st exec chef job(country club) soon and will want to make some changes to the current menus. have my own ideas on what to keep and what to add and change etc... but am searching for advice and info on the topic. thanks so much i advance.

[chfbdawg]

What do the members like? be careful about changing CC menus till you find that out. Run your current menus for a while then subtract the items that dont sale. Then add your own cuisine slowly.

[miahoyhoy]

Could you please elaborate on writing static menus ?

And maybe give an example of something on the menu you like and maybe something that you want to change and what to?

Then mayhaps we could assist you better.
Ciao,
Jon

[UncleBenny]

I totally agree with chfbdawg. I worked in the private Golf and Country club industry a good part of my career and one thing you have to learn quickly is keep the members happy. This sometimes means leaving things on a menu that really shouldn't be on a great menu. My suggestion would be leave the menu for a while and get the members use to your style of cooking by doing whatever you are planning on putting on a menu as a dinner special a few time and let then know that this is what I'm substituting the "salmon" with. The worst thing you can do is go into a new and presumably somewhat sucessfull place and flip the menu upside down.

[Chefde]

If you're brand new at the club then you have no idea what the members like.

Get out in the dining rooms and introduce yourself to them.

Chances are they won't be shy about the short comings of the last chef.

When you get a feel for what they're looking for set up a tasting with the House Committee or a panel of regular diners.

This will give you an opportunity to impress them as well as get to know them.

I always spend the evening in the room explaining each dish they sample (we always serve smaller portions) so they don't keel over after dinner.

No joke; one our members died of a heart attack after attending one of our tastings!!!!!

The key is communication with the members, this is their home away from home!


Chefde

[RedBeansNRice]

No joke; one our members died of a heart attack after attending one of our tastings!!!!!

I have to ask...shouldn't you be keeping this secret?

[Chefde]

Well considering that this is such an anonymous way to comunicate; I don't feel that it's an issue.

I think that it's an interesting piece of information that doesn't have any bearing on the quality of our food.

The man had a heart condition (that I was unaware of) and ate too much.

He went home that evening and while putting out his garbage, experienced a major heart attack.

[Cspicychef]

First do a sales analysis to determine what items aren't seeling. Canvas your customers including your sales staff, servers, to find out what products they would like to see on the menu and start to run those as specials to determine sales potential and production procedures, then take one item off and replace it with another. I do this 2 to 4 times a year depending on the volume of my restaraunts.

[BeeCee]

First this is all very good advice! But what if your CEO is pushy and expects you too change the menu for each dining room in the club by next week? I need to know some top sellers (if anyone has ideas) this is my first exec job at a club and wonder if he isn't being unreasonable?

[timthechef]

Sounds like he is a little unreasonable but get used to that. Owners and Managers tend to be unreasonable especially when they have never spent much time in a kitchen.

Sounds like the members must be pretty unhappy with the fare, since you don't have much time I would make up some pretty basic menus for each dinning room and heavily populate them with specials until you get a feeling for what the members like, then come up with more permanent menus.

Concentrate on the quality of the food produced. No matter what's on the menu you can't lose with high quality scratch made food.

[cookrick]

Phewww- I'm a bit in the same boat. Coming from a high end dining background and going to an ALF I want desparately to change the menu, but the more I talk to residents the more I realize this is going to be a very slow transition.
Take your time, gauge tastes, keep what works and gently nudge in your cuisine. The others have given you excellent advice. Excelsior!

[Randy]

If the last chef was perfect you wouldn't be there, regardless, it puzzles me that painting another chef's picture may work for some. Let them know who you are through your menu from day 1.

Do your thing.

On the other hand, if you were hired with the understanding you'd continue status quo...next time you'll learn.

[Bubba Shlub]

What's an ALF?

[Silverfox]

What's an ALF?

My guess? Assisted Living Facility