Erina Hayashi

Menu Overview

1. My facility is an onsite foodservice that serves about 300 meals a day and
changes its cycle menu according to the seasonal change in projected
customer flow and availability of fresh produce. It aims to encourage diners to
develop lifelong health habits that comes from acquiring the taste for healthy,
nutrient-dense foods offered through our food program. By offering a menu that
places emphasis on the most high-quality, carefully prepared fruits and
vegetables, and at the same time providing comforting tastes that many will
love, we hope that it will expand the customers culinary horizons and ultimately
lead to long-term health and happiness.

2. My foodservice facility targets mainly young adults between ages 18 up to 30

who attends a private college in California and lives in the dormitories; in
addition, we may serve staff and faculty of the college who choose to dine in on
campus, and their extended families and friends.

3. My population group can be characterized as being multi-racial and diverse;

there is a large percentage of Hispanic, African American, and international
population. Although there are many other food venues in and around the city,
we considered that there are vegetarians attending this college and that other
groups have religious restrictions in eating pork, beef, or shellfish. In addition,
many students are unfamiliar with certain eating styles due to living at home until
college, and due to different food circumstances in households that they were
raised in. Because of these special needs, we are capable of arranging
alternate menu items in advance to customers that have special religious,
medical or personal needs, and we have implemented stringent measures
preventing cross-contamination.

4. The budget allocated for our foodservice facility is determined by the annual
payment of each student to meal plans, which tends to be more costly for the
student than many public school plans; therefore, we do not have much
restrictions in terms of what foods and equipment we can purchase. However,
we do strive to source our foods locally in accordance with current food trends,
not only to keep our costs low but also to take part in promoting a sustainable
food culture. We source over half of our raw materials from growers located
within 100 miles of this city, which results in reduced petroleum spending and
promotes the value of our facility. We also recently renovated our kitchens to
become more energy efficient and leave less carbon footprint, and thus we can
allocate the money saved by this process to improving the quality of our menu.

5. In order to offer the best-tasting foods and the most impactful culinary
experience, we focused on using seasonal produce in our recipes; since this
menu is intended to be used in the summer, it features fresh whole tomatoes,
summer squash, zucchini, peppers, berries, and ripe fruits. An example of this is
our Ratatouille, which features plenty of tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and
 yellow summer squash in place of zucchini. The Peperonata, Tomato Basil Salad,
and ripe mango slices also follows suit. We are able to incorporate relatively
expensive foods such as seafood because of ample budget, and because we
believe that we can offer a greater value to our customers by having options like
salmon and clam chowder available. In this menu, we also incorporated more
legume-based entres, such as the Cuban Black Beans with Rice, in order to
accommodate the vegetarian and non-meat eating customers.

6. Menu Explanations and Assumptions:

All rice, tortilla, breads, and flours used in entres will be formulated to
include least 50 percent whole-grain in order to meet the nutritional
requirements outlined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Peach cobbler with Hard Sauce was replaced with Peach Cobbler with
Ice Cream since the fruit and vanilla ice cream combination is a popular
one, and because peach is a good available produce at the time. The
ice cream topping may need to be placed on the Pie after it has cooled
sufficiently, and will be scooped immediately before the customers will
eat the dish.
Sliced Cantaloupe was chosen where sliced melons was indicated,
because of its high Vitamin A content, color balance with other dishes,
and peaked flavor during the summer.
Sausage links provided as a side for breakfast will be purchased pre-made
and will be reheated to save cooking and prepping time. This will also free
up cooking space and decrease contamination risk, while devoting more
time to make the Barley Casserole which is provided at the same meal.

7. We plan our menus so that each meal would appear colorful and appetizing, as
opposed to the whole tray consisting of similar colors. For example, in Mondays
breakfast, blueberries, sliced navel oranges, and bacon is used to add blue,
orange, and reddish brown to the overall brownish and yellow color of the other
dishes. In general, fruits and vegetables are used to add bright colors, and egg-
based and cheese dishes add yellow to the spectrum. Entre, vegetables and
starches will be arranged on one large plate, while soups, salad, and dessert will
be given in separate small plates. Since the customer chooses the entre,
vegetables, starch, and dessert, the tray will be arranged as the customers make
selections. Generally, the largest plate will be placed in front, salad plate above
the main plate, and soups and dessert will be placed around the large plate.

8. Half or more of the complex starches provided by our facility will be whole grain.
There would be about 3 cups or more vegetables, 1 to 2 cups of fruit, and dairy
in the forms of milk and cheeses every day. It also provides ample protein
sources such as eggs, meats, poultry, legumes, fish, and dairy. Assuming that the
customers will eat all of the food offered to them, they will be able to meet the
recommended intakes for vegetables, fruits and protein.