In the restaurant, the menu is the list of foods and drinks offered to customers. A menu may be ÃÆ' la carte - which guests use to select from the list of options - or table d'hÃÆ'Â'te, in which case the pre-defined program sequence is presented.
Video Menu
History
The menu, as a fast food list, has been found since the Song Dynasty in China. In larger populated cities at that time, traders found a way to serve busy customers who had little time or energy to prepare food at night. Variations of Chinese cuisine from different regions led to catering providers to create lists or menus for their customers.
The word "menu", like many cooking terms, is French. This is basically derived from the Latin "minutus", something made small; in French, it applies to a detailed list or rÃÆ' Â © sumÃÆ' Â © in any form. Original menu offering consumer choice prepared on a small blackboard, in French carte ; so the food chosen from the tariff bill is described as "ÃÆ' la carte", "according to the council."
The menu first appeared in China during the second half of the 18th century or The Romantic Age. Prior to this time, the dining company or table d'hÃÆ'Â'te presents the dish chosen by the chef or owner. Customers eat what the house serves that day, such as at a dinner or buffet and meals are served from the common table. The establishment of a restaurant and restaurant menu allows customers to choose from a list of invisible dishes, which are produced to order according to customer choice. Company table d'hÃÆ'Â'te fixes fixed prices to its customers; menu allows customers to spend as much or as little as the money they choose.
Maps Menu
At the beginning of the 20th century, some restaurants rely on "menu specialists" to design and print their menus. Before the advent of digital printing, this particular printing company printed a colorful menu on offset presses. The full-color offset economy makes it impractical for short press printing. The solution is to print a "shell menu" with everything except price. The prices will be printed at a cheaper price just for the black press. In a certain order, the printer may produce 600 shell menus, then finish and laminate 150 menus at a price. When the restaurant needs to re-order, the printer will add the price and laminate some of the remaining shells.
With the advent of digital pressure, it became practical in the 1990s to print full color menus at affordable prices in a short period of time, sometimes at least 25 menus. Due to the size limit of the sheets, the larger laminate menu is not practical for a one-location re-independent to produce a lane press at least 300 menus, but some restaurants may want to put fewer menus into the service. Some menu printers continue to use the shell. The disadvantage to the restaurant is that it can not update anything but the price without creating a new shell.
During the economic crisis of the 1970s, many restaurants found that they had to pay for having to reprint the menu because inflation caused the price to increase. Economists note the cost of this transaction, and it has become part of economic theory, under the term "menu cost." As a general economic phenomenon, "menu costs" can be experienced by businesses outside the restaurant; For example, during periods of inflation, any company that prints a catalog or product price list should reprint these items with new price figures.
To avoid having to reprint menus throughout the year as prices change, some restaurants start displaying their menus on the blackboard, with menu items and prices written in chalk. In this way, the restaurant can easily modify the price without having to spend the cost of reprinting the paper menu. The same tactics continued to be used in the 2000s with certain items sensitive to supply changes, fuel costs, and so forth: the use of the term "market price" or "Ask the server" instead of pricing. This allows the restaurant to modify the prices of lobsters, fresh fish and other foods that experience rapid cost changes.
The latest trend in the menu is the appearance of a handheld tablet that holds the menu and guests can browse it and see photos of the dish.
Writing style
The main categories in the typical menu in the US are "appetizers," "side orders and a la carte," "entrÃÆ' Â © es," "desserts" and "drinks." Side and a la carte may include items such as soups, salads, and dips. There may be a special age-restricted section for "seniors" or for children, serving smaller portions at lower prices. Each of these parts can be pulled out as a separate menu, such as dessert and/or drinks, or a wine list. The children's menu can also be presented as a pedestal with games and puzzles to help keep the kids entertained.
The menu can provide other helpful information to visitors. Some menus describe the philosophy of a chef's food or restaurant owner, a chef's resume, or a restaurant mission statement. Menus often present restaurant policies regarding ID checks for alcohol, lost items, or gratuities for larger parties. In the United States, local health departments often ask restaurants to include health warnings about raw, poultry, egg, and raw or undercooked raw meat.
Puffery
As an ad form, the prose found on the print menu is known for its level of concern. Menus often emphasize the process used to prepare food, draw attention to exotic ingredients, and add French or other foreign expression to make dishes look sophisticated and exotic. The higher menus often add adjectives to dishes such as "glazed," "sautÃÆ' Â © ed," "boiled," and so on. "Menu languages, with hyphens, quotes, and random bursts of foreign words, serve less to describe food than manage your expectations"; restaurants often "popping up in unfamiliar words (80 percent of them French) such as" fungus spring mushrooms, "" sick rabbits, "" orang-jaggery gastrique. "
Part of the menu prose function is to impress customers with the idea that dishes served in restaurants require exotic skills, equipment, and ingredients so that visitors can not prepare the same food at home. In some cases, ordinary food is made to sound more appealing by replacing everyday terms with their French equivalents. For example, instead of stating that a piece of pork has a sprinkling of apple sauce, the upscale restaurant menu might state "pork tenderloin avec compÃÆ'Â'te de Pommes ." Although " avec compÃÆ'Â'te de Pommes " is directly translated as "with apple sauce," it sounds more exotic - and more worthy of the raised price. The menu can use the culinary term concassÃÆ' Â © to describe roughly chopped vegetables, coulis to describe vegetable or fruit puree, or au jus , to describe meat which is served with a natural sauce from drip pan.
Type
Paper
The menu varies in length and detail depending on the type of restaurant. The simplest hand-held menus are printed on a sheet of paper, even though menus with multiple pages or "views" are common. In some cafeteria-style restaurants and chain restaurants, a single menu page can be duplicated as a discardable placemat. To protect the menu from spills and wear, it may be protected by a vinyl sealed vinyl sealant, laminating or menu cover. Restaurants weigh their positions on the market (eg, fancy meals, fast food, informal) in determining which menu style to use.
While some restaurants can use a single menu as the only way to communicate information about menu items to customers, in other cases, the menu comes with an additional menu, such as:
- The appetizer menu (nachos, chips and salsa, vegetables and sauces, etc.)
- Wine list
- Liquor and mixed drinks menu
- Beer list
- The dessert menu (which may also include a list of tea and coffee options)
Some restaurants only use text on their menu. In other cases, the restaurant includes illustrations and photos, one dish or cultural element associated with a restaurant. The last example is in the case where the Lebanese kebab restaurant decorates the menu with photos of the mountains and the coast of Lebanon. In particular with additional menu types, menus can be provided in an alternative format, as this menu (other than the wine list) tends to be shorter than the food menu. For example, an appetizer menu or a dessert menu can be displayed in folding tent tents, hard plastic tables, flipchart wooden tables "standing tables", or even, in the case of pizza restaurants with limited wine selections, wine list affixed to empty bottles.
Take-out eateries often leave paper menus in the lobby and nearby doors as advertisements. The first to do so is probably the Szechuan Imperial Empire of New York City, founded in 1976. The chain and other restaurant's aggressive menu distribution on the Upper West Side of Manhattan caused the "Menu War" in the 1990s, including the invasion of Empire Szechuan by "Menu Vigilantes" revocation of cafe permits, some lawsuits, and physical attacks on the menu distributors.
Menu board
Some restaurants - usually fast food restaurants and stylish cafeterias - provide their menus in large posters or high-format display boards on the wall or on the service desk. In this way, all customers can see all the options, and the restaurant does not have to provide a printed menu. This large format menu can also be set up outside (see next section). The simplest simple formatted menu board has a menu printed or painted on a large flatboard. Bigger expensive formatted board boards include boards that have metal housing, transparent surfaces, and backlights (which facilitate low-light menu reading) and boards that have a removable number for pricing. This allows the restaurant to change prices without having to have the boards reprinted or repainted.
Some restaurants like cafes and small restaurants use a large whiteboard to display the entire menu. The advantages of using a whiteboard are menu items and prices can be changed; The disadvantage is that chalk may be difficult to read in low light or glare, and the restaurant should have staff members who have interesting and clear handwriting.
The high-tech successor for the whiteboard menu is a sign of "write-on wipe-off" illumination, using LED technology. Text appears in bright colors with a black background.
Outdoor
Some restaurants provide a copy of their menu outside the restaurant. Fast-food restaurants that have drive-through or walk-up windows will often place the entire menu on a board, flashing sign, or posters outside so customers can choose their food choices. Upscale restaurants can also provide copies of their menus outside the restaurant, with menu pages placed in lighted glass etching cases; In this way, potential customers can see if the menu choices fit their wishes. In addition, some middle and high-end restaurants can provide a partial indication of their "special" menu list-on the whiteboard displayed outside the restaurant. Whiteboard will usually provide a list of seasonal items or dishes that are special chef skills that are only available for a few days.
Digital display
With the invention of LCD and Plasma screens, some menus have moved from static print models to dynamically changing models. Using flat LCD screens and computer servers, menus can be digitally displayed allowing moving images, animation effects and the ability to edit details and pricing.
For fast-food restaurants, the benefit is the ability to update prices and menu items as often as necessary, across chains. The digital menu board also allows restaurant owners to control the day division of their menu, converting from the breakfast menu in the morning. Some platforms support capabilities that allow local operators to control their own prices while design aesthetics are controlled by corporate entities. Various software and hardware developments have been created for the specific purpose of managing digital menu board systems. The digital menu screen can also alternate between displaying the full menu and displaying video ads to promote specific dishes or menu items.
Websites featuring online restaurant menus have been on the Internet for nearly a decade. However, in recent years, more and more restaurants outside of major metropolitan areas are able to display their menus online as a result of this trend.
Some online restaurant-and-restaurant food ordering sites have included menus on their website, but due to limitations of which restaurants can handle online orders, many restaurants can not be viewed on the Internet apart from the address list. Many companies come up with the idea of ​​posting online menus simultaneously, and it is difficult to ascertain who is first. Online menu and food ordering has been available online since at least 1997. Since 1997, hundreds of online restaurant menu websites have appeared on the Internet. Some sites are city-specific, some list by region, state or province.
Another phenomenon is the so-called "secret menu" in which some well known fast food restaurants have unofficial and un-advertised choices that customers learn by word of mouth. Fast-food restaurants often prepare variations on items that are already available, but to keep things on the menu will create chaos. The famous Chipotle Mexican Grill has a simple five item menu, but some may not know that they offer quesadillas and a single taco, although nothing on the menu board.
In-N-Out Burger has a very simple menu of burgers, fries, sodas, and shakes, but has various types of "secret" preparations, most notably the "Animal Style" burgers and fries. This can also happen in upscale restaurants, who may be willing to prepare certain items not listed on the menu (for example, dishes that have long been a favorite of regular customers). Sometimes restaurants may mention the food that is often ordered by regular customers after them, whether for comfort or prestige.
See also
- Menu Engineering
Literature
- Jim Heimann (ed.): Menu Design in America: 1850-1985 , English/German/French. Taschen, KÃÆ'¶ln, Germany 2011. ISBNÃ, 978-3-8365-2662-3
References
External links
- OpenMenu.org - The first standard for restaurant menu
- Digital Menu Board, New Zealand
- The University of Nevada, Las Vegas Digital Collection; Menu: The Art of Dining
- Washington University Library - Menu Collection
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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