Does your menu speak clearly?

I was at a board meeting in Orlando recently with about 15 or so people who have spent a good chunk of their lives in foodservice. Later that night, at dinner in a casual, fullservice restaurant, an item on the dessert menu called Strawberry Finesse baffled us. Here’s how it’s described on the menu: strawberry mousse on chocolate hazelnut crisp with almond pistachio jaconde and fresh strawberries.

How many of you know what jaconde is? Yeah, we didn’t either. Not one of the 15 seasoned veterans. I learned later that jaconde is a thin cake that is used as a decorative border around mousse cakes. The description suggests an impressive dessert, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. It appeared and tasted like something you’d grab off a cafeteria line.

My problem here isn’t with this particular dessert. I’m confused by the poor decisionmaking that often goes into describing menu items. In the case of the Strawberry Finesse, I’m guessing that some kid who just got out of pastry school created the dessert and wanted to impress customers with his knowledge of pastry terms. What he or she didn’t do, however, was impress with a dessert item that lived up to the hype. And even if he or she did, what’s the point of using menu language that your customers don’t understand? You want to make it easy for them, not harder.

With so much emphasis on the culinary side of the business, and the large showcase chefs are given on television and the media in general, showboating in the kitchen isn’t unusual. So, I don’t blame the pastry “chef” for his or her hyperbole. In this case, at least, I blame management for allowing menu language that is unclear and overreaching.

Here’s another example I encountered recently. I was at a so-called gastro-pub, which featured frites on its menu. When I see the word “frites” on a menu it suggests to me that the kitchen isn’t going to prepare ordinary french fries. No, it’s going to go that extra mile and fry fresh-cut potatoes twice or three times in oil or even duck fat. And, after that, the fries may even come to the table in a paper cone. That’s not what I got. Instead, I was served soggy, once-frozen french fries that were dumped into a fryer from a plastic bag. And, sadly, the fries had clearly sat under a heat lamp way too long.

Why in the world would you use the term “frites” on a menu, and then serve ordinary french fries? Business schools teach you to exceed expectations. Above are two examples of underwhelming the customer.

I’m sure some of you are guilty of doing the same thing. So, I urge you to look over your menus again to get the menu language right. I’d also like to hear from the menu writers out there. Do you have checks and balances in place to prevent this sort of thing? And, just for the fun of it, stories of confusing menu language and their aftermath are welcomed.

Michael Sanson
Editor-in-Chief
E-mail me at [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter @MikeSansonRH