Publisher's Synopsis
Menu planning is one of the important managerial activities of food and beverages operations executed by a team comprising the entrepreneur/proprietor, the restaurant manager, and the executive chef. In a large hotel, the general manager and the food and beverage (F&B) manager will also be members of the team. In welfare catering operations, the head of the institution, the catering manager, and the finance manager will be involved.
Menu planning calls for careful thought on many factors that would determine the success of the F&B operation. Menu forms the basis or acts as a guide upon which all other managerial and operational activities of F&B operations rest on.
For diners in eighteenth-century England, the cultural customs of dining were the focus of the meal. For an upper-class individual, there were cultural rules that dictated everything from dressing for the meal to leaving the dining room.
Upper-class women could spend over an hour dressing for dinner because it was customary for women to change their entire outfit for the evening meal. The elaborate dinner dress consisted of a corset, a bodice, stockings, a petticoat, a gown, ruffles and shoes. Men also would spend time preparing for dinner. However, it would not take men as long because, in most cases, they only repowdered their hair. Dress for dinner was important because young men and women looking for a companion used dinner parties as a way to meet and court potential mates.
After preparing for dinner, guests would proceed into the dining room. Following an elaborate ritual, the host of the dinner would enter first with the most senior lady. The host would seat himself at the foot of the table and, later, when the hostess entered the room as part of the procession, she sat at the head. The senior lady was first to choose her seat. After the senior lady was seated, the remaining guests were free to choose their places at the table. Most likely, the senior lady would sit near the hostess because the seats near the hostess were places of honor and reserved for the most important guests. The same number of male and female guests rarely were invited to dinner, and each person could choose with whom they wanted to sit. There was no specific placement for the guests at the dinner party. Consequently, this arrangement was favorable to courting because the guests could choose their seat mates.
