Innovative Journal of Business and Management 1: 6 Nov Dec (2012) 97 101.

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INNOVATIVE JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

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FACTORS AFFECTING MENU PLANNING IN HOTELS: A STUDY OF NORTH INDIA

Sandeep Malik*, Sanjeev Kumar
Institute of Hotel & Tourism Management, M.D. University, Rohtak
ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Corresponding Author:
Sandeep Malik
Institute of Hotel & Tourism
Management, M.D. University,
Rohtak

Purpose The research paper intends to assess factors affecting menu

planning in hotels of North India.
Design/methodology/approach The study is empirical in nature. A
questionnaire with the help of available literature and interaction with
hoteliers was structured for this study. The study was undertaken at
selected hotels (102) situated in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh
states of North India. Factor analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings The results illustrate that financial condition, theme of
restaurant, guests spending power and age group, and costs i.e. labor and
food costs are given top priority by the respondents while planning menu.
Research limitations Though, the study provides an opportunity to
recognize factors that are considered important by the hoteliers for menu
planning but the universe and sample size is limited so findings are hard
to generalize.
Originality/value There is no research work in the field of menu
planning in India and the study will be the first attempt to provide an
insight into the factors affecting menu planning.

KeyWords: : Menu, Food and

Beverage, Hotel.

INTRODUCTION
According to the latest Tourism Satellite
Accounting (TSA) research, released by the World Travel
and Tourism Council (WTTC) and its strategic partner
Accenture, India's travel and tourism industry is expected
to generate approximately US$ 109 billion in 2009 and
almost US$ 275.5 billion by 2018, growing at an average of
9.4 per cent over the next ten years. Moreover, according to
the research, travel and tourism is expected to contribute
6.1 per cent to India's national gross domestic product
(GDP) and provide almost 40 million jobs by 2018. This
boom in India's tourism industry and the surge in tourist
inflow to the country have percolated to hospitality
industry. The revenues for the Indian hotel and restaurant
industry in the year 2006-07 exceeded US$ 118.85 million,
an increase of nearly 22 per cent over the previous year.
All lodging properties offer food and beverage
services for tourists and locals. These outlets are the
second most important sources of revenue and profits for
any hotel. Provisions of food and beverages also contribute
toward guest satisfaction/dissatisfaction. So every upmarket property prefers to have a number of restaurants
rather than having only one. Their success is dependent on
how carefully the menu is planned.Importance of menu
planning can be gauged from the fact that menu planning
starts before the conceptualization of any food and
beverage operation, and it serves as a base for all other
activities of major hotel departments such as purchase and
store, service, production etc. Menu provides ideas about

2012, IJBM, All Right Reserved

how the facility must be planned, what type of skilled staff

is required, what will be the equipments, what type of raw
material is to be purchased. The word Menu originated
from a French word meaning small or detailed list. Many
scholars have defined menu in different contexts. Montage
(1977) defined menu as a sheet of paper or cardboard on
which is written in a specific order, the names of all the
dishes which are to be served in succession at a given meal.
Although Kreck (1984) was also of the same opinion but he
went ahead of his contemporaries and compared menus to
speeches by professional speakers. Menu designer, Radice
(1985) stated that the primary job of menu is to sell to the
public what a restaurant most wants to sell - to build the
check. In same line, Radice and Arpaia (1986) went on
describing that the menu becomes an extension of the
personality of the restaurant. Ideally, the menu will
promote items the guest perceives as good value, are
unique to the restaurant and provide a good return. Bowen
and Morris (1995) established that copy, colour, paper,
typeface, layout and other elements of design can be used
to create a menu that will draw the guest's attention to the
item the restaurant wants to sell. Main function of menu is
to communicate or to inform a diner accurately about what
is offered to him. Kivela (2001) added two more aspects to
menu and concluded that a menu is a communication,
marketing, and merchandising tool as well as a business
and production tool.
Menu can be categorized in many ways depending on:

Malik et.al/Factors Affecting Menu Planning In Hotels: A Study Of North India

Type of outlet i.e. coffee shop menu, room service menu
etc.
Meal i.e. breakfast menu, lunch menu etc.
Courses offered i.e. appetizer menu, entre menu etc.
Price based categorization i.e. A la Carte Menu, Table
dhote and a combination of both menus.
Regardless of type of menu, the basics of menu planning
remain the same. There are a number of factors, e.g.
management objectives, type of clientele, space, availability
of raw material, skilled labor and equipments, and the type
of menu which should be considered while planning any
menu.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of this study was to identify factors
influencing menu planning in hotels of North India

METHODOLOGY
Schedule Development
On the basis of available literature and expert views, a total
of 22 items were selected. A five point Likert type scale
schedule was developed to collect primary data; where 5
denoted Most Important, 4 Very Important, 3 Important,
2 Least Important and 1 Not Important at all. This was
pre-tested by administering it to the Food and Beverage
Managers of ten hotels. Three items were voted out of it.
Hence, with the help of 19 questions, the final schedule was
developed.

Sample Size
The survey population includes hotels of Haryana, Punjab
and Himachal Pradesh. Food and Beverage Managers of
Table No. 2: Important Dimensions Extracted

150 hotels were approached for the study i.e. 50 from each
state. Out of these 102 were usable (35, 41 and 26 from
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, respectively),
which can be considered as good (almost 70 per cent).
Data Analysis
The collected data was analysed using factor analysis with
the help of PASW Statistics 18 to find out factors affecting
menu planning practices in the selected three states of
North India.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Reliability of scale was assessed using the Cronbachs Aplha
which valued 0.763. Hence it can be said that the scale used
in the study is highly reliable and has good internal
consistency.
Table No. 1: Goodness of Fit Test of data for Factor
analysis (KMO and Bartlett's Test)
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of 0.720
Sampling Adequacy.
Bartlett's Test
Approx. Chi-Square
1328.335
of Sphericity
df
171
Sig.
0.000
Then, factor analysis was applied to identify the factors
affecting menu planning in the sampled hotels. The value of
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test (0.720) and significant
value of Bartletts Test of Sphericity at given degree of
freedom, as shown in Table 1,meant that the data collected
is fit for factor analysis. For factor extraction Principal
Component Analysis with Varimax Rotation method was
used.

Factor Loadings
1
2
3
4
5
Factor 1: Financial resources, Restaurant and Guests Types & Costs.
1.
Financial resources available
0.944
2.
Type of restaurant
0.933
3.
Guests Spending power
0.925
4.
Guests Age group
0.859
5.
Labor cost
0.843
6.
Food cost
0.832
Factor 2: Ingredients, Competition, Locality, Staff Skills and Equipment.
1.
Easy availability of raw material
0.869
2.
Competition
0.847
3.
Location of establishment
0.843
4.
Chefs skills
0.792
5.
Availability of equipment
0.652
Factor 3: Space availability, Type & Variety in Menu.
1.
Space available for restaurant
0.919
2.
Space available for kitchen
0.915
3.
Type of menu being planned
0.819
4.
Variety in menu
0.743
Factor 4: Food Laws & Nutrition.
1.
Food laws
0.817
2.
Nutritive value
0.721
Factor 5: Guests Religion and Health.
1.
Religion of the guest
0.763
2.
Guests Health restrictions
0.580
Guests spending power; Guests Age group; Labor cost; and
The analysis pointed toward five basic dimensions that
Food cost. These all together are responsible for 25.696 per
affect menu planning of the sampled states.
cent of variance in menu planning practices with an eigen
The first dimension, Factor 1: Financial resources,
value of 4.882.
Restaurant and Guests Types & Costs, has six variables,
Factor 2: Ingredients, Competition, Locality, Staff Skills
namely Financial resources available; Type of restaurant;
and Equipment explains 17.312 per cent variance with

Malik et.al/Factors Affecting Menu Planning In Hotels: A Study Of North India

five items (Easy availability of raw material; Competition;
Location of establishment; Chefs skills; and Availability of
equipment) and an good eigen value i.e. 3.289.
With four items i.e. Space available for restaurant; Space
available for kitchen; Type of menu being planned; and
Variety in menu, Factor 3: Space availability, Type &
Variety in Menu elucidates a variance of 15.603 per cent
and 2.965 eigen value.

Food laws and Nutritive value aspect of menu are part of

Factor 4: Food Laws & Nutrition. This factor has an eigen
value of 1.366 and explains 7.189 per cent of variance in
menu planning.
The least influencing aspect, Factor 5: Guests Religion
and Health, has remaining two articles i.e. Religion of the
guest and Guests Health restrictions. It is accountable for
only 6.656 per cent of variance and has an eigen value of
1.265.

Table No. 3: Eigen values and Variances explained by Various Factors of Menu Planning.
Factors Extracted
Eigen
Percentage of Cumulative percentage
Value
Variance
of variance
Factor 1: Financial resources, Restaurant and Guests 4.882
25.696
25.696
Type & Costs.
Factor 2: Ingredients, Competition, Locality, Staff Skills 3.289
17.312
43.007
and Equipment.
Factor 3: Space availability, Type & Variety in Menu.
2.965
15.603
58.610
Factor 4: Food Laws & Nutrition.
1.366
7.189
65.799
Factor 5: Guests Religion and Health.
1.265
6.656
72.454
All the variables in these dimensions are heavily loaded, and food costs are given top priority by the respondents
values more than 0.50, representing 72.454 per cent of while planning menu. These findings can be very helpful for
total variance (Table No. 3)
hoteliers for planning better menus. Yet the research has
From the analysis, it is evident that availability of finance, its own boundaries related to universe, sample size, area
theme of restaurant, guests spending power and age etc. But still, it will serve as foundation for further research
group, and costs i.e. labor and food costs are the most in the still unexplored area of Indian hospitality industry.
influencing variables that affect planning of menu. Whereas
REFERENCES
guests religion and health restrictions are considered least
1. Bowen, J. T. and Morris, A. J. (1995). Menu design: can
by the menu planners which means that most hotels in
menus sell? International Journal of Contemporary
studied region dont offer religion or health specific dishes
Hospitality Management. Vol. 7 No. 4. pp. 4-9.
to the clientele. This may limit their guests of a particular
2. Kivela, J. (2001). Menu Planning for the Hospitality
religion or guests having dietary restrictions. This aspect
Industry. Global Book Publishers. New Delhi.
may be addressed by proper identification of target market.
3. Kreck, L. (1984). Menu Analysis. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
CONCLUSION
New York.
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(1986), Stoner (1986) and Zuckerman (1988) found that
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the main problem is that there is no such menu which can
through Menu Graphics. Pbc Intl. New York.
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