Retail Theme Meal:

Chinese New Year

Rachel Chan

Retail Theme Meal

Product, Program or Service Plan
I.

Describe product, program or service

The program/service designed for Mercy Hospital of
Philadelphia was a retail theme meal. The theme meal was
implemented on February 12th. When deciding the theme of
this event involved many criterions such as the time of the
year, costs of food items, raw cost of each portion, etc.
Sodexo is a catering management company that manages the
food service department and cafeteria of Mercy Hospital of
Philadelphia. Sodexo hires a foodservice director and two
retail managers to manage the department and the rest of the
kitchen staff are employees of the hospital.
When deciding on the theme of this project, I took into
consideration that it is February and the holidays that fall into
this month. This year Chinese New Year falls on February 10th
and from talking to the director of Food Service and to the
production manager, I learned that the cafeteria patrons take
a liking on Asian food. Therefore I chose Chinese New Year as
my theme, and this theme also represents my culture and
where I am from.

II.

Target market
The target market of this theme meal were hospital
employees, interns/students, outpatients, and visitors.
Patients of the hospital would not be considered in the target
market because they are not allowed to be in the cafeteria or
purchase foods in the cafeteria. Another type of customers
that would be included in our target market are seniors who
are 60 or above and who live in this neighborhood. They can
purchase a meal card from the Food Service Department and
purchase a meal combo of one entre, dessert, and a fountain
drink for $4.

III.

Promotion
A. Advertising
Advertising for this theme meal includes a
promotional message in the e-newsletter that is e-mailed
to every employee every Monday. I wrote a short
description of the theme meal to promote for the meal and
sent it to Erik, who was one of the Sodexo retail managers
at the time. The advertisement is as follow. Please join us
for a special themed lunch as we celebrate Chinese New
2

Year on February 12th, 2013. We are putting a twist on

traditional Chinese recipes for this special event. Lets
welcome the Year of Snake together and enjoy delicious
meals prepared by our talented chefs!
B. Merchandising
I picked out recipes for my themed meal based on
my research and my cultural background. The daily menus
consist of two entrees, one action station entre (an entre
which is prepared and/or assembled on the spot by a
cook), a starch, a vegetable, a soup, and a dessert. The
two entrees that I picked were Chinese Spareribs and
Vegetable Fried Rice. The action station entre was the
Asian Chicken Wrap. The starch was the Vegetable Chow
Fun and the vegetable was Asian-style Vegetables. The
soup was the Asian Vegetable soup. The dessert for this
theme meal was chocolate-banana wonton, and this is the
only recipe that was not from the Sodexo recipe database.
Below is a chart of all the meal items I picked and I listed
the employee price and visitor price next to the items.
Prices of the Theme Meal menu items were the same
prices of menu items on a regular day.
When I discussed with the Food Service Director
about decorating the serving area and/or dining room, he
told me we were not allowed to decorate. He explained
there are rules and regulations in the hospital that do not
allow decorations in the hospital. For example nothing can
be hung on the walls or from the ceiling because they are
considered as fire hazards. I also discussed this with the
retail manager who is responsible for the cafeteria and he
suggested that I could decorate but I had to keep them
simple and minimal. Then I planned it out and chose simple
decorations that I could place on the counters in the
serving area. I also came up with an idea to put table tents
on the dining tables. The table tents served as decorations
and they provided background information on Chinese New
Year for customers who did not know much about this
Asian festival. Table 1 below shows the prices (both
employee and visitor) for the menu items on the day of the
theme meal.

Appetizer
Egg Roll
Soup
Asian
Vegetable
Soup
Entrees
Chinese
Spareribs
Vegetable
Fried Rice
Starch &
Vegetable
Vegetable
Chow Fun
Asian-Style
Vegetable
Action
Station
Asian
Chicken
Lettuce
Wrap
Dessert
ChocolateBanana
Wontons
Table 1. Employee and

Price
(Employe
e)
$1

Price
(Visitor)

$1.10

$1.30

$4.15

$4.90

$3.85

$4.55

$0.85

$1

$0.85

$1

$3.85

$4.55

$.50

$.50

$1.25

visitor prices for all menu items.

IV.

Staffing needs
This project will involve the regular food service staff. The
breakfast cook comes in at 4 am will be in charge of the soup
and the entrees. The Action Station cook is responsible to
prepare or cook the ingredients needed for the action station
entre. A cook who comes in at 8 am is in charge of the starch
and vegetables. The cold prep station takes the pizzas from the
freezer in the morning and the delivers the toppings for the
special pizza up to the cafeteria before lunch starts. The retail
manager is responsible for cooking them in the oven and
replenish if more are needed. Lunch starts every day at 11:30 am
to 2 pm. One P.M. grille cook is responsible for frying the egg rolls
for appetizer. I will need one cook at the Action Station, one
cook at the grill, one server at the steaming tables, one worker at
the deli station, and two workers at check out registers. I would
be the one responsible for preparing desserts.
V.

Equipment and supplies

a. Equipment
This project involved a variety of equipments and
supplies. For the Chinese spareribs, equipments needed
include a refrigerator, a freezer, an oven, steam table,
racks, roasting pans, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a
brush, and steam table pans. For the Asian-Style
Vegetables, a refrigerator, a wok or flat top grill, a spatula,
cutting boards, knives, measuring cups, measuring spoons,
and steam table pans were required. For the Asian
Vegetable Soup, a noodle bowl vegetable blend and an
Asian herb blend were needed. This required a knife and a
cutting board. As for the Asian Vegetable Soup, we needed
a refrigerator, a large soup kettle, a spatula, and a soup
ladle. The Asian Chicken Wrap needed a refrigerator, oven,
sheet pans, knives, cutting boards, measuring cups,
measuring spoons, whisk, and saut pan. As for the
vegetable chow fun, a refrigerator, pots, knives, cutting
boards, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a spatula and
steam table pans were needed. For the Vegetable Fried
Rice, a refrigerator, perforated pans, steamer, pots, saut
pan, a spatula, measuring cups, measuring spoons, cutting
boards, knives, and steam table pans. For the plain white
rice that is used in the Vegetable Fried Rice, a pot, a pot
cover, oven, and measuring cups were needed. No special
equipments were required for this themed meal. For the
chocolate-banana wontons, two bowls, a cutting board, a
5

paring knife, a measuring cup and measuring spoons were

needed.
b. Supplies
Supplies for this project include all ingredients needed for
the theme meal. Each week Rob, the first cook, gathers a list
of grocery items for the menu of the following week. He hands
this list to the procurement manager, who is in charge of
ordering all groceries and supplies except produce. Janet, the
procurement manager ordered all ingredients needed on
Wednesday, the week before the theme meal.
Janet made some special orders for fortune cookies and
chocolate chips. The fortune cookies were used as
decorations. Janet bought two cases, with one case costing
$13.67. Therefore we spent $27.34 in total on fortune cookies.
Other special items that had to be bought from other stores
include the wonton wrappers needed for the chocolatebanana wonton. I bought them from a Chinese supermarket in
Chinatown. There were approximately 84 wonton wrappers in
each pack for $1.58. I bought three packs of wonton
wrappers, so they cost a total of $4.74.
Rob was in charge of purchasing the bananas, and he
bought 40lb of bananas for $20.86. I used only about 5
bananas. 1lb of bananas equals to about $0.52 and about 3
bananas. 5 bananas would equal to about 1.6lb, which means
I used about $.02 worth of bananas per wonton. For the
Hershey semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 case costs about
$26.97. There are 12 bags of chocolate chips in 1 case and I
used about 1 bag, therefore I used about $.05 worth of
chocolate chips per wonton.
When deciding how much to spend on decorations for the
theme meal, I asked the Food Service director about budgets
for decorations. We decided we would spend about $50 on
decorations. I purchased some extra decorations specifically
for this theme meal, however I took them for personal use and
therefore I did not include them in my spending. These
included a Chinese toy lion, red envelopes (normally with
cash) that are given to children during Chinese New Year, a
dragon decoration, firecracker decorations, CD album of
Chinese New Year music, some chocolate gold ingots and
chocolate gold coins. Another decoration item I had for the
theme meal are table tents. I was able to receive help in
6

designing and printing the table tents on my own; therefore I

did not include this in my spending as well. All of the
decorations mentioned above were meant to attract
customers and provide them a feel of Chinese New Year.
I went to the dollar store to purchase red tablecloths for
this theme meal. When I first requested to place red
tablecloths on the dining tables in the caf, I was told that I
am not allowed to do so because there were confusions
between those tablecloths and the red waste bags for AIDS
patients. The janitors were not willing to clean up and touch
the red tablecloths. However since this is for a special themed
meal, I received the permission to place red tablecloths on the
tables in the dining area. Each tablecloth costs about $1.50
and with $3 for tax, the total came to $40.50. The total
spending for this theme meal was about $46 (total of wonton
wrappers and red table cloths).
VI.

Budget
There was no budget assigned for this theme meal
because it was considered a normal weekday lunch. Special
items such as the fortune cookies were ordered along with
other groceries through Sysco.

VII.

Preparation and presentation

The theme meal was scheduled to be on February 12th and
I decided to come in the day before to make sure everything
was in place and we were not missing any grocery items. On
Monday the 11th it was the day when Sysco delivered
groceries that the procurement manager ordered last week. I
also brought in the decorations on Monday. As for the surveys,
I made 50 copies of them on the Friday before my theme
meal.
On Monday I also brought in the wonton wrappers to test
the dessert recipe because I wanted to see how long they
could hold for. If the wontons were not able to hold for the
entire time the cafeteria operates for lunch, customers who
come in right before we close may purchase wontons that are
soggy and not of great quality.
I was also curious to see if the chocolate-banana wonton
would be better when they were fried or baked. The baked
wonton turned out to hold better than the fried wontons and
7

tasted better as well. There was a problem when we tried to

fry the wontons. They were very light in weight and were
floating on the surface and since we did not have a frying
basket with lid, the wontons ended up sitting on the surface of
the oil and were not cooked thoroughly. Therefore in the end
we chose to stick with baking the wontons. Other than the
wontons, the cooks also marinated and cooked the ribs on
Monday.
On February 12th, I came in around 7:15 am and brought
some more decorations (tangerines and a pomelo that
resemble good luck in Chinese New Year) and the table tents. I
started helping the cooks with soups. There was a minor
problem with the Asian Vegetable Soup because the recipe
called for cilantro but they were missing on Tuesday. The
cooks said it was ordered and it was still sitting on the shelf in
the fridge on Monday. We decided to just leave it out.
I was caught up with other prep work and did not end up
starting the wontons until 9:45 am. I felt that I should have
planned better and started preparing the wontons earlier
because I was only able to finish two pans of wontons
(approximately 48 wontons) and I had to go upstairs to
decorate the dining room and the serving area at 10:30 am. I
thought I would be able to come back downstairs before lunch
starts (11:30 am) but I was not able to. I decorated the dining
tables with the red tablecloths and placed table tents on all of
them. Then I decorated the serving area with miscellaneous
decorations.
Lastly when lunch started I stood near a register that is
outside of the serving area to give out surveys. When
customers completed the survey, I gave them a ticket for a
free medium beverage. It served as an incentive to get people
to fill out surveys for me, however when I was asking
customers to help me with the surveys, some would say they
do not drink soda. I think in the future we could try to use
other incentives to get customers to fill out surveys such as
free meal tickets. I stood around for about an hour and a half,
and I would walk around the serving area just to check on if
everything was going ok. At the end of lunch, I received 43
surveys back from the customers. Some staff took the surveys
with them upstairs and never returned them. After lunch was
over, I went around, cleaned up the tables and took the
tablecloths off. I also took down all decorations and made sure

I restored the place to what it looked like before I put up the

decorations.
VIII.

Results
a. Objective-measurable

Units sold
In total we sold 31 units of Chinese Spareribs. The
Vegetable Chow Fun (starch) and the Asian-style Vegetable
(vegetable) were counted as the same item when customers
checked out at the registers. We sold 54 of starch/vegetable in
total. For the Vegetable Fried Rice, we sold 17 portions of that.
We sold 51 portions of Spring Rolls in total. As for the
chocolate-banana wontons, we sold approximately 25 portions
because only one register was ringing the item correctly. The
other register was ringing the wontons as fried chicken in the
system. The retail manager estimated and helped me to come
up with this number for the wontons. For the Asian Vegetable
Soup, we sold about 32 8-oz portions. Lastly we sold 34
portions of the Asian Chicken Lettuce Wrap. Table 3 lists and
compares the units sold of menu items on the day before and
the menu items on the day of the theme meal. Numbers in
red represents the higher number when comparing the day
before the theme meal and the day of the theme meal.

Item

Units sold
on the day
before
(2/11/13)
4

Item

Units sold
at theme
meal
(2/12/13)

Egg Rolls

51

Asian Chicken
Lettuce Wraps

34

Chinese
Spareribs
Vegetable Fried
Rice
Vegetable Chow
Fun and AsianStyle Vegetables

31

57 (8 oz
portions)

Asian Vegetable
Soup

32 (8 oz
portions)

Chocolate
Banana Wontons

25

Grill Special
(Jalapeno
Poppers)
Action Station
48
(Cajun Shrimp
Salad)
Entre (Asian
19
Pepper Steak)
Vegetable Pasta 10
Starch and
Vegetable (Rice
and Collard
Greens)
Soups (Chicken
Rice and Cream
of Broccoli)
Dessert
(Cobbler)

39

Table
3.

17
54

Comparison of units sold on the day before and theme meal day.

Revenue or profit

I multiplied the number of menu items we sold and price

per portion to determine the sales of each item (Table 4 and
6). Cost per portion is defined as the money it costs us to
create the meal item per portion. Price per portion is defined
as the price we sold the menu items for per portion. To
determine the profit per portion (Table 5 and 7), we
subtracted cost from price per portion. Then to find out the
profit for the meal we multiplied profit by the number of menu
items sold (Table 5 and 7). Numbers in red represents the
higher number when comparing the day before the theme
meal and the day of the theme meal.

10

Item

# Sold

Cost per
portion

Price per
portion

Sales

Grill Special
(Jalapeno Poppers)

$1.07

$3.60

$14.40

Action Station
(Cajun Shrimp
Salad)

48

$2.22

$4.01

$192.48

Entre (Asian
Pepper Steak)

19

$1.91

$3.63

$68.97

Vegetable Pasta

10

$.55

$3.60

$36.00

Starch and
Vegetable (Rice
and Collard
Greens)

39

Rice $.04
Collard
greens
$.16

$.80

$31.2

Soups (Chicken
Rice and Cream of
Broccoli)

57 (8 oz
portions
)- (115)

Cream of
Broccoli
$.30
Chicken
Rice $.35

$.75

$42.75

Dessert (Cobbler)

$.30

$1.34

$12.06

Total
Table 4. Sales on February 11, 2013.
Item
Grill Special (Jalapeno
Poppers)
Action Station (Cajun
Shrimp Salad)
Entre (Asian Pepper
Steak)
Vegetable Pasta
Starch and Vegetable
(Rice and Collard
Greens)
Soups (Chicken Rice
and Cream of
Broccoli)
Dessert (Cobbler)

$397.86

Profit per portion

$2.53

Profit
$10.12

$1.79

$85.92

$1.72

$32.68

$3.05
Rice $.76
Collard Greens $.64

$30.50
Rice
$14.82
Collard Greens
$12.48
Cream of Broccoli $.45 Cream of
Chicken Rice $.40
Broccoli $12.82
Chicken Rice
$11.40
$1.04
$9.36

11

Total
$220.10
Table 5. Profit based on food cost alone for February 11,
2013.

Item

# Sold

Cost per
portion

Price per
portion

Sales

Egg Rolls

51

$.50

$.98

$49.98

Asian Chicken
Lettuce Wraps

34

$1.41

$3.66

$124.44

Chinese Spareribs

31

$.82

$4.44

$137.64

Vegetable Fried
Rice

17

$.34 per
8 ounces
$.28 per
4 ounces

$3.60

$61.20

Vegetable Chow
Fun and Asianstyle Vegetables

54

Veg
Chow
Fun $.54
per 3
ounce
noodles
Asian
Style Veg
$.67

$.79

$42.66

Asian Vegetable
Soup

32 (8 oz
portions
) (64)

$.48

$.74

$23.68

Chocolate-Banana
Wontons

25

$.09

$.47

$11.75

Total
$451.35
Table 6. Sales on February 12, 2013 (Theme Meal Day).
Item
Egg Rolls
Asian Chicken Lettuce
Wraps
Chinese Spareribs
Vegetable Fried Rice

Profit per portion

$.48
$2.25

Total Profit
$24.48
$76.5

$3.62
$3.26 per 8 ounces

$112.22
$55.42

12

Vegetable Chow Fun

and Asian-style
Vegetables
Asian Vegetable Soup
Chocolate-Banana
Wontons
Total
Table 7. Profit based on food
February 12, 2013.

Veg Chow Fun $.25

Asian-Style Veg $.12

$6.75
$3.24

$.26
$.38

$8.32
$9.5

$296.43
cost alone for Theme Meal

a. Number of patrons
Customer count for the Theme Meal was 383.
Comparing to lunch on Monday, which was 342, it
was slightly higher. There are factors that may have
affected the customer count for February 12th such as
a new staff orientation that was taking place on that
day. The dining room was more packed than usual as
well because the physicians dining lounge were
going under construction. Customer count for the
entire day of February 12th was 712 while it was 691
on Monday. The customer count for the entire day
was one of the highest numbers in 6 months.
b. Subjective
a. Customer feedback
I gave out 50 surveys and received 43 back.
Some customers were hospital staff such as residents
or nurses. Customer feedbacks for this theme meal
were generally positive. When asked what other
theme meals they would like to see offered, some of
the following were suggested: Mexican/Hispanic,
holiday celebrations, vegetarian, Italian, Jamaican,
Indian, Cajun/Creole, Greek, Caribbean/Island, Luau,
Spanish, BBQ, Thai, soul food, etc. Of those themes,
Mexican, Soul Food and Italian were the most
popular. Six customers suggested Mexican, five wrote
soul food as their choice or one of their choices,
and four customers suggested Italian. The table in
the appendices shows the number of votes for each
theme meal. Some customers listed several themes
therefore these numbers do not represent all
customers who gave suggestions for theme meals.
13

When asked for other comments, some

customers offered comments that were related to the
theme meal and some offer comments that were
related to the food in general. Some customers
commented that in general the food were dry and
servers should stir the food around more before
serving to customers. One customer wanted more
healthy items and less cheese in entrees. One
customer wanted more selections at the salad bar.
One customer suggested an all for one price, more
spaghetti and meatballs and corn bread. One
commented on the lack of a Chinese food section. A
customer wanted more variety of vegetables. One
suggested more varieties and entrees. A customer
wanted more sauce to be served with his/her food.
Others offered comments about the staff and
the cafeteria. One commented on how employees
were gracious and would go an extra mile for
customers needs. One customer suggested keeping
the cafeteria open past 10 am and offering foods that
do not require a server/cook. This customer also
suggested offering more hot stations and less
chicken. Another customer complimented on the fact
that the entrees have been much better lately.
For comments related to the theme meal, they
were all positive. About four customers commented
on how the decorations were nice and cute. One said
the ribs were very tender. One said great job.
Another commented saying they liked the place. One
customer said Chinese New Year was a great idea.
We tallied the responses of each survey and
analyzed the results into percentages. In terms of
customer satisfaction, overall 30% of customers were
neutral, satisfied and very satisfied with the theme
meal. About 57% left the question blank, and this
could be due to them being confused and thinking it
was just an example. Customers were most satisfied
about the appearance of the food, hot entrees,
temperature of food, and portion sizes. 8% were not
satisfied about the dessert. 81% wanted to see more
theme meals in the cafeteria. I included a table in the

14

appendices that listed the percentages of customer

satisfaction of each item.
IX.

Discussion of results
a. Actual
Financial Aspect
Table 3 compares units of meal items sold on the day
before and on the day of the theme meal. Meal items are all
comparable to each other. In general we sold more units of
comparable meal items on the day of the theme meal than on
the day before. We only sold more units of the action station
entre and the soups on February 11th. For example, we sold
51 portions of egg rolls, which is more than number of units
sold of Jalapeno Poppers on the day before.
In terms of sales, which are determined by multiplying the
number of menu items sold by price per portion, they were
higher on the day of the theme meal. Same as units of items
sold, sales for most menu items were also higher on the
theme meal day except for the Action Station entre and the
soups. The total sale on the day of the theme meal was
$451.35 and the total sale on February 11 was only $397.86.
The total sale on the day of the theme meal was about 13%
higher than the day before and this could mean that theme
meals could bring in higher sales.
Profit is determined by multiplying the number of units sold
by the profit per portion. This number is determined by
calculating the difference between price per portion and cost
per portion. This number is based on food cost alone because
costs on other expenses (labor costs, utilities costs, etc) were
not readily available. Profit was higher on the day of the
theme meal and it was $296.43, comparing to the profit on
February 11, which was only $220.10. The profit on the day of
the theme meal was about 35% higher on the day of the
theme meal and this could imply that the theme meal was
successful in bringing in higher profits.
Lastly, we had a higher customer count for lunch on the
day of the theme meal. The number of patrons was retrieved
from the electronic register system, which records numbers of
patrons for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The customer count
for lunch on the day of the theme meal was 383 and the
customer count on the day before that was 342. This implies
15

that the theme meal was able to attract more customers or

patrons. As the data shows and as mentioned earlier, we did
earn more sales and profits on the day of the theme meal.
Surveys and customer feedback
Many offered suggestions on other theme meals they
would like to see in the cafeteria. This was a great sign
because it means customers liked and enjoyed the theme
meal. It also allowed the customers to participate and tell us
what themes they would enjoy more. The most popular
suggestions were Mexican, Soul Food and Italian. Most
comments were positive and constructive. Customers
mentioned that they enjoyed the decorations and the food.
Most offered suggestions about the cafeteria such as the hot
food should be stirred around more so they do not appear as
dry. Other customers also suggested the lack of healthy food
selections and the lack of variety of entrees and vegetables.
All of the comments were summarized and corresponded to
the Food Service Director so that he is aware of the
customers thoughts and suggestions.
As mentioned before, customers were most satisfied with
the hot entre and appearance of food based on the
percentages of the survey results. They also expressed most
interest in having more theme meals in the future. It seemed
that customers were not as satisfied with the chocolatebanana wonton for the theme meal as it received the highest
percentage of ratings of 1 and 2. According to the surveys,
other things that customers are less satisfied with are portion
sizes, taste of food, quality of food, and temperature of food.
The overall rating for the theme meal received a low
percentage in the satisfied category as well, but that could be
due to customers being confused with the questionnaire and
missing the question.
b. Analysis and evaluation (quantitative, qualitative)
In terms of sales, profit, and units sold, it can be seen
that the theme meal achieved higher numbers on all these
items. This implies that if it is executed well, a theme meal
has a potential in bringing high numbers of sales, profits,
and customer counts. Customers of the cafeteria have
always been happy with the quality of service and food
that the food and nutrition department provides, and
16

therefore the quality of the service and theme meal menu

items were just as great, if not better.
However one thing I was disappointed about was the
dessert. I tested the recipe twice and had all the food
service staff tried them and see if they liked them.
Everyone gave me positive feedback and said they were
great. However on the day of the theme meal the desserts
did not sell as we expected; we had leftovers from the 48
wontons I made. In my opinion there were at least two
things we could have done differently. First, the desserts
were too expensive. If we were to sell them for $.50 or $.75
instead of $1 per wonton, I think more customers will buy
them.
Another factor that may have affected the sales of
the wontons was the location they were placed at. The
wontons were sat on a hot bath, next to the hot entrees
and they were behind a protective glass. The dessert
usually sits in a hotel pan on a stand, which means it sits
taller than the regular hot entrees; many customers tend
to just walk by without noticing it. The glass helps to
protect the food from being contaminated but I feel that it
also prevents customers from buying those items. I believe
the appearance and aroma of a food item will attract and
entice customers and maybe changing how we present the
dessert will increase the sales and profit of this item.
X.

Conclusions/ recommendations
In conclusion the theme meal was a success. Personally I
thought it was successful in attracting customers to the
cafeteria even though I did not see many customers
purchasing the special theme meals. I think in the future the
food service department should consider hosting more theme
meals because this theme meal was successful in attracting
customers and increase sales in general. From the customers
feedback it was evident that they enjoy theme meals and
special celebrations. Even if customers came in and did not
end up purchasing the special entrees or meal items for the
theme meal, it still helped to increase sales because these
customers would end up buying something else from the
cafeteria, be it a sandwich, salad, wrap, yogurt parfait, etc.
For future recommendations I would suggest themes such
as Mexican, soul food, or Italian since customers seem to like
17

these themes the most. I think customers are more likely to

purchase special meal items if it is a theme that most
customers enjoy. I would also recommend preparing ahead,
using your time wisely and making sure to spare time in case
of emergencies. I feel that I should have spared more time to
prepare desserts, although in the end it worked out for me
because I received help from the new Chef.
XI.

References (APA style) Can use personal communications (cite

only in-text), facility and manufacturer websites, Food Service
magazines, professional journals, etc.

Pictures can be included

18

Appendix

Retail
Theme
Meal
Survey.

Mexican
Soul Food
Italian
Thai
Holiday
Indian
Greek
Caribbean

6
5
4
2
2
2
2
2

19

Number of votes for themes suggested by customers. Note not all

suggested themes are listed.

Items

Overall
Hot entre
Vegetable
Starch
Dessert
Portion
Size
Taste of
food
Quality of
food
Appearanc
e of food
Temp of
food
More
themed
meals?

3+4+5
(Neutral+
satisfied+
extremely
satisfied)
30%
83%
75%
77%
63%
79%

1+2 (Not
at all
satisfied+
not
satisfied)
0%
0%
0%
0%
8%
4%

N/A (Not
applicable
)

78%

4%

6%

78%

4%

6%

85%

0%

2%

79%

2%

6%

81%

0%

6%

57%
4%
12%
10%
16%
4%

Customer satisfaction in percentages based on survey results on

theme meal day.

20