How To Attract New Customers At The Hoek Cafe and Lounge By Having A Well-Presented Menu.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Setelah magang di The Hoek Café and Lounge sebagai pramusaji, saya memutuskan untuk membahas tentang tampilan menu yang kurang menarik bagi tamu yang baru pertama kali datang serta cara-cara untuk mengatasinya. Berdasarkan pengalaman magang di The Hoek Café and

Lounge, tampilan menu yang kurang menarik tersebut disebabkan oleh tidak adanya foto makanan di dalam menu, tidak semua menu memiliki penjelasan mengenai makanan tersebut, dan juga menu tersebut tidak dilengkapi dengan warna yang menarik.

Saya menganalisis sebab dan akibat dari kurang menariknya tampilan menu makanan di The Hoek Café and Lounge dan juga memberikan beberapa pilihan solusi disertai dampak positif dan dampak negatif yang dapat terjadi. Dampak positif yang dapat terjadi antara lain pembeli dapat melihat contoh makanan melalui foto, tertarik untuk membeli makanan dan pramusaji dapat mempengaruhi pembeli untuk membeli lebih banyak lagi makanan di The Hoek Café and Lounge. Sedangkan dampak negatif yang dapat terjadi antara lain harga untuk membuat tampilan menu yang

menarik relatif mahal, pembeli akan hanya memperhatikan menu spesial, dan memakan waktu yang banyak jika pramusaji menjelaskan bahan-bahan dan kelebihan dari masing-masing makanan yang ada.

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APPENDICES

A. FLOWCHART

Problem:

Menu presentation is not attractive to attract new customers to order foods

and beverages Causes:

1. There are no pictures or photo of the foods and beverages in the menu. 2. Not all foods and beverages in the menu presentation have colorful menu with photos

or pictures and explanations of popular foods and beverages in

every section. Potential Negative Effects:

1. Printing colorful menu design is expensive. 2. Taking photos of special menu and popular foods and beverages will cost a lot of money.

Potential Positive Effects:

1. New customers are attracted by the photos or pictures of the foods and beverages.

2. New customers will imagine foods and beverages and want to try them from the explanation.

Effects:

1. New customers are not attracted to buy the foods and beverages.

2. New customers do not know exactly what kind of foods and beverages are offered.

3. The Hoek Café and

Lounge cannot get optimal income.

Potential Negative Effect:

New customers will only pay attention to the chef

recommendation’s foods

and beverages.

Potential Solution II:

Promoting chef

recommendation’s foods

and beverages with photos and explanations on the

table.

Potential Positive Effect:

New customers will be interested in the pictures of the chef recommendation’s foods and beverages and want to buy them.

Chosen Solution:

Changing the menu presentation with the colorful menu with photos or pictures and explanations of popular foods and beverages in every section and training the waiters

or waitresses to explain the specialties and differences of foods and beverages. Potential Negative Effect:

Time consuming for waiters or waitresses to explain particular foods and beverages to new customers

Potential Solution II:

Training the waiters or waitresses to explain the specialties and differences

of foods and beverages.

Potential Positive Effect:

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

In a restaurant or café, promoting the products can be done by showing an attractive menu. An attractive menu should be able to make customers

who come to the café want to try and then buy the foods and beverages even though they are not hungry or thirsty. That is why attractive menu is

very important to attract customers to buy the café‟s popular foods and beverages more. As Schultz says in his article entitled Increasing Sales with Strategic Menu Design, “A menu is much more than a bill of fare; it is

a carefully planned guide to direct the patron to your most profitable items and maximize sales” (par. 1).

The menu presentation in The Hoek Café and Lounge, serving mostly

Western meals and some Eastern, is not attractive for new customers to order foods and beverages because it is not colorful and does not have

any pictures of the foods and beverages and not all foods and beverages have explanations. These problems discourage people to become

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Maranatha Christian University based on my observation during my apprenticeship program in The Hoek

Café and Lounge. For example, during my apprenticeship, there were four

Indonesians who came to the café. One of them ordered foods and

beverages, but the others only ordered the beverages. After all the foods and beverages were laid out on the table, three customers, who did not order the foods in the beginning, ordered foods. I can conclude that the

three customers who did not order foods were not attracted by the menu presentation; however, they became attracted by the foods that their friend

had ordered.

Seeing the problems above, I want to do a research on the characteristics of a good menu presentation that can attract new

customers to buy more and more foods and beverages, the positive and the negative effects of the possible solutions given, and also the

suggestions for the improvement of The Hoek Café and Lounge. This topic

will be described critically and systematically in this paper.

B. Identification of the Problem

For my research, I would like to focus on two problems encountered by

The Hoek Café and Lounge as listed follows:

1. Why is The Hoek Café and Lounge‟s menu presentation unattractive to

its new customers?

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C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

From the Identification of the Problem, I formulate several Objectives as well as Benefits of the study in the following:

Objectives of the Study:

1. To know the reasons why the menu presentation is unattractive to its new customers.

2. To know how to overcome the problem faced by The Hoek café and

Lounge.

The benefit of the study for the company is to give inputs and

suggestions to The Hoek Café and Lounge how to make an attractive menu presentation.

For the readers, it is expected that this term paper will be a suitable reference to improve the income of a business place.

The benefit of the study for me is getting an insight that attractive menu presentation is crucial for a café.

D. Description of the Institution

The Hoek Café and Lounge is located at Jalan Kebon Kawung Number 2, Bandung. The owner of The Hoek Café and Lounge is Mr. Bernard

Tanjung Malada. He gives the name to this cafe and also manages it. The name „Hoek‟ means „matched place in the corner‟ in Dutch. The Hoek

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Maranatha Christian University Mr. Malada has managed a family culinary business for thirty years.

The Hoek Café and Lounge is the third place that he has opened in

Indonesia. The first and the second culinary business that he opened are

in Nusa Tenggara TimurIsland, Indonesia.

The Hoek Café and Lounge used to be a bakery called La Tulip

Bakery, which sold bread and many kinds of food. Then, Mr. Malada

cooperates with the owner of La Tulip Bakery to manage the restaurants.

Now, in the The Hoek Café and Lounge, a place is reserved for La

Tulip Bakery to sell bread. Customers can buy bread there, although they

have different financial managements. If The Hoek Café and Lounge needs some bread for sandwiches or garlic breads, they always buy it

from La Tulip Bakery.

E. Method of the Study

In writing this paper, there are several ways to collect the data: 1. Observation: It is used for collecting data from observing the

attractiveness of new customers to the menu presentation, being an apprentice for 45 (forty five) days, and writing a journal while being an apprentice in The Hoek Café and Lounge.

2. Written source: It is used for collecting references from relevant books. 3. Online publication: It is used for collecting references from Internet

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F. Limitation of the Study

Subjects to be researched are new customers at The Hoek Café and

Lounge, from 20 June 2009 to 31 July 2009, concerning new customers‟

attractiveness to the menu presentation in The Hoek Café and Lounge.

G. Organization of the Term Paper

This term paper starts with the Abstract, Declaration of Originality, Acknowledgements, and Table of Contents. It is continued with four chapters.

Chapter I is Introduction, containing Background of the Study, Identification of the Problem, Objectives and Benefits of the Study,

Description of the Institution, Method of the Study, Limitation of the Study, and Organization of the Term Paper.

Chapter II is Problem Analysis, including causes and effects of the topic

of this term paper.

Chapter III is Potential Solutions, consisting of potential solutions of this

problem, potential positive effects, and potential negative effects of every potential solution.

Chapter IV is Conclusion, comprising the summary of the previous

chapters, statement of the chosen solution, and concluding paragraphs. This term paper ends with Bibliography and Appendix, which presents a flow chart of the topic and pictures of the menu presentation in The Hoek

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

From the previous chapters, we can infer that the problem at The Hoek

Café and Lounge is menu presentation is not attractive enough to attract

new customers to order foods and beverages The causes of this problem are there are no pictures or photos of the foods and beverages in the menu, not all foods and beverages in the menu presentation have

explanation and also the menu is not colorful. Furthermore, the effects of this problem are the new customers are not attracted to buy the foods and

beverages, new customers do not know exactly what kind of foods and beverages are offered and The Hoek Café and Lounge cannot get optimal income.

I find three potential solutions to solve this problem. There are by changing the menu presentation with the colorful menu with photos or

pictures and explanations of popular foods and beverages in every section, promoting chef recommendation’s foods and beverages with

photos and explanations on the table and also training the waiters or waitresses to explain the specialties and differences of foods and

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Maranatha Christian University best solution for the problem in this chapter. From the potential solutions

that are analyzed in the previous chapter, I combine two solutions; first, Changing the menu presentation with the colorful menu with photos or

pictures and explanations of popular foods and beverages in every section and second, training the waiters or waitresses to explain the specialties and differences of foods and beverages.

A colorful menu with photos or pictures and explanations of popular foods and beverages in every section will attract more customers to buy

the foods and beverages. New customers would rather have the menu that shows the appearance of the food, so that they will know the ingredients, food designs, portions, and other things. Furthermore, having waiters or

waitresses who are be able to explain the specialties and differences of foods and beverages can also persuade new customers to buy special

and popular foods and beverages. With photos or pictures and

explanations of popular foods and beverages in every section and the influence of the waiter or waitress, even new customers who are not

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