Here’s a challenge you could set your students…

They run a restaurant, cafe or other eatery. Times are tough - consumers are spending less on eating out and they are increasingly looking for value for money. So - what factors does a catering business need to consider in order to ensure that its menu (the product) is profitable?

The answer? Well there are many factors that students might identify. Hopefully they would pick up on relevant pricing, keeping control of ingredient and other operating costs, product quality, encouraging repeat business and customer loyalty.

And here is a super article from Catering Magazine which addresses the question directly. Some great follow-up material here.

It identifies issues such as using market research to identify and respond to changing trends in customer preferences, and being aware of what the competition are up to.