Back to work, back to school. How to organize your menu after summer vacation!
Going back home and back to work can be a trauma for some people.
They wish they could have a never-ending summer, far from problems and Covid ordeal.
Though, they’re definitely back and they have to go back to routine.
A cura di Emeline Dany
So what can you do to lift them up?
Depending on where you live, the hot weather may not have faded away yet and, it’s still too early for a richer autumn menu.
The question that comes naturally to our mind is: would there be a way to make people travel with food, and stay on vacation in their mind a bit longer?
The good news is that with food, everything is possible.
But… you will have to consider the mindset of your customer.
Some studies have determined that feelings/emotions have an impact of food perception.
We may have already mentioned the famous example of the dishes prepared by the mum, dishes that always taste better. It’s because being in a beloved environment, help the eater to enjoy more properly his meal. And this is why if, in deep love, you’re dining in a wonderful romantic restaurant with your brand new boyfriend/girlfriend, the food will appear probably much better than it really is.
Environment including: interior design, smells, lights, noises, service procured by the staff… has a direct impact on food perception.
Some experiments have been conducted on chocolate perception while hearing a type of sound or music and the same chocolate tasted different to the same people ( see Bompas & Parr, Professor Charles Spence from Oxford).
You may know as well that while flying, the food tastes different and that’s why people tend to order more tomatoes juice; umami taste being resisting more to altitude and pressure. OK, we’re going a step too far and this is not the topic of today.
But let’s say when you are on vacation in Spain, enjoying every day patatas bravas with aioli (garlic mayonnaise) during happy hours, and before your way back home, all excited you go buy aioli at the local supermarket; ending tasting it at home a couple of days later, you will not be probably that thrilled. The product will appear simply as it is, even maybe fatter or saltier.
This is about your direct environment sending signals to your brain.
All this to say that if you desire to make your customer travel through a menu that reminds vacation, you may not always have the expected result…
Besides, vacation is usually the moment people decide to drop the diet and forget all the restrictions they have been through. Going back home, means going back to the gym and start a diet/detox to purify the body and eventually lose a couple of kilos. In that case, how can you offer a tasty menu that reminds a careless holiday?
Our recommendation is to opt for a menu that stay in the “back to work” mood and “I am paying attention to what I eat”.
Then, on Fridays for example, you can have a couple of dishes that reminds vacation or the sea imagery. You can study a dish that thanks to its recipes, or plating, will help the customer to relax just a few hours before the weekend. The TGIF effect (thanks god it’s Friday) will benefit the food and its perception.
And why not creating a theme every Friday during September month?
Last, as we already mentioned in our article guilty pleasure vs. functional design, the most important is that you know your customer and offers a menu adapted to the moment of the day you serve.
Happy September to all !!
