Divided by departments, united by a Menu card…the story of every hotel.

Well is it? What if I say that the menu card is like an old wise man? How many times have you walked into a restaurant and ended up ordering something that you never thought existed until the menu card bestowed it’s wisdom? Let’s figure out, shall we?

What comes to your mind if I tell you to imagine a menu card? A printed card with food prices right? Well, it’s a lot more than what it appears to be. Let’s list down the departments of a hotel and see how each one of them needs the much needed old man’s advice…

1. Kitchen: How is a chef supposed to know what needs to be cooked without a menu card? Apart from this, the menu also helps the chef to plan out manpower requirements in individual kitchens, the equipment and ingredients required for the preparation of food.
2. Food and beverage service: Without the menu card, will it be possible for a service personnel to lay the required cutlery and crockery for service? The menu card also assists the waiter to take the correct order, pick and serve the correct dishes from kitchen.
3. Front Office: Whenever there’s any food festival or any related events going on in a hotel, a board menu is the first thing you see in the hotel lobby, isn’t it?
4. Housekeeping: If you are thinking about the In-Room-Dining menu, let me remind you about the pillow menu and minibar menu as well.
5. Banquet sales: For any social gathering, a well designed menu card is a must. Not only does it create and promote a good image of the hotel, it also contributes in the way, guests judge the quality of the food being served.
6. Purchase: All the indenting for production is done based on the dishes on a menu card. Looks like the purchase department owes a lot to him:)

The menu is a powerful advertising tool. It can influence what guests order and their expectations. In some cases, it can even convince that it has what you desire even if up until now you never knew what it was that you’d been looking for. So, the next time you visit a hotel or a restaurant, listen to what the menu is trying to tell you! All that glitters isn’t gold, but an old man’s advice sure is.