Toma de decisiones: adaptaciones curriculares

Keeping the menu fresh in the eyes of returning and prospective customers is a great challenge for restaurant operators. Various menu-planning formats offer a number of ways to achieve this, including cycle entrée menus built into standard menu formats, daily specials that rotate on a five- to seven-day schedule, and a fixed-price menu supported by à la carte and semi à la carte items.

An exciting variation in menu planning that is underused or overlooked is the seasonal menu. Seasonal menu offerings are often placed in the middle of the regular menu as a response to the “What’s new?” query. Creating a complete sea-sonal menu requires that every course, from appetizer to cheese plate, features menu items whose primary ingredient is seasonal. This does not preclude those items from appearing at another time of the year. On the contrary, a potato leek pancake with sour cream and red caviar served in November can reappear in April featuring spring onions, fresh mushrooms, and watercress.

From an organizational perspective, seasonal menu items are planned for on a 12-month basis, subject to cost and availability. The kitchen’s menu repertory

. Figure 5.13 ,

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE FOR A DINNER FOR 1,000

NUMBER OF PREPARATION HOLDING PREPARATION

MENU ITEM PORTIONS STATION AREA TIME

Oysters, herb butter 1,000 Line: broiler Banquet box At service

Mushroom soup 1,000 Range top Banquet kitchen Day before or frozen, reheat prior to service Green bean salad 1,000 Prep kitchen Walk-in box Salad: day before

Setup: afternoon

Fillet of sole 1,000 Banquet oven Banquet box At service

Champagne sherbet 1,000 Prep kitchen Pantry freezer Two days before Rolled beef 1,000 Banquet kitchen Walk-in box/ Day before,

banquet oven reheat for service Red cabbage 1,000 Canned/banquet Banquet range At service

kitchen

German potato 1,000 Banquet Walk-in box/front Two days before,

salad kitchen line ovens reheat for service

Black bread 1,000 Vendor/pantry area Pantry area Day of delivery Black forest cake 1,000 Vendor/pantry area Tray racks Day of delivery

Portion sliced Tray up: afternoon

includes the recipes and costs of all of the seasonal menu items, making them available for use throughout the year.

Seasonal menus can be developed from different directions. One direction selects seasonal vegetables and features them throughout the menu while main-taining standard and signature main dishes. A winter seasonal menu might focus on one of the groups of menu items shown in Figure 5.14.

A second direction features seasonal fixed-price menus or a cycle menu that rotates specialty courses around an established core of seasonal entrées. This for-mat allows for a menu of signature and standard main dishes to be supple-mented by seasonal menu tastes and presentations. Figure 5.15 is a suggested winter season menu.

Keeping the menu timed appropriately in a rotating seasonal menu includes anticipating the desire of restaurant customers for the taste and smell of the next season. A good guideline for a season is three months, beginning in the middle of a month. An appropriate time to introduce the winter menu is the middle of November, before Thanksgiving; this menu is then continued until the middle of February. Introduce the spring menu on Valentine’s Day, building toward the spring religious holidays. By mid-May, it’s time to bring summer onto the menu.

In mid-August, when restaurant customers are ready for something heavier; offer them an early fall selection of late summer and harvest foods.

Of course, seasonal menu selections have the added variety of region and cuisine preference. The Internet and global access to product makes this aspect of menu planning even more challenging. Customer needs also control the scope of seasonal menu planning that can be included in a restaurant menu. Seasonal menu plans offer an effective way to create interest for new and returning

Seasonal Menus

129

. Figure 5.14 , SEASONAL MENU PLAN I

(Courtesy of American Culinary Federation, Inc. © 2001)

POTATO CRANBERRY PUMPKIN

appetizer potato-leek pancake with cranberry-stuffed peach pumpkin mousse red caviar and sour cream

soup hot potato chowder with cream of chicken with roasted pumpkin soup red bell peppers cranberries and onions

entrée golden-roasted potato-onion wild mushroom and baked pumpkin stuffed soufflé with three cheeses cranberry risotto with cheese veal sausage and sage bread baked potato rolls cranberry-pecan muffins walnut-pumpkin bread dessert chocolate-potato cake cranberry-orange nut crisp pumpkin sorbet

with crème anglaise

customers alike and give staff the opportunity to freshen their kitchen and serv-ice skills. The menus in Figure 5.16 and Figure 5.17 are seasonal catering menus for the fall featuring regional specialties.

. Figure 5.15 ,

SEASONAL MENU PLAN, TWO-MENU REPERTORY

(Courtesy of American Culinary Federation, Inc. © 2001)

appetizer • Duck terrine with foie gras ravioli

• Roasted sweet potato salad with ginger and citrus

• Mushrooms stuffed with oysters

soup • Turnip, sorrel, and potato soup • Red beet and white bean soup

• Carrot, leek, and chestnut soup • Fish chowder with common crackers entrée • Roast leg of venison • Fricassée of rabbit

• Saddle of moose • Chicken and apple sausage links

• Roasted sea bass

vegetable • Yellow turnip purée • Rutabaga mashed with sour cream and nutmeg

• Glazed grilled root vegetables • Purple wax beans

• Brussels sprouts with caraway purée • Baby maroon carrots

bread • Walnut bread • Potato-onion-dill bread

• Apple-apricot-nut bread • Cranberry loaf dessert • Stewed dried fruits • Cranberry sorbet

• Maple Bavarian cream • Apple-raisin-nut strudel with hot custard

• Baked fig pudding

. Figure 5.16 , SEASONAL CATERING MENU, FALL

(Courtesy of American Culinary Federation, Inc. © 2001)

SOUP

Cream of Pumpkin Garnished with Cranberry Coulis MAIN COURSE

Julienne Zuchinni and Winter Squash with Haricot Vert Pecan Crusted Sweet Potatoes

DESSERT Pumpkin Pecan Torte

Seasonal