Running head: THEME MEAL 1

Theme Meal

Erin McLean

Baptist Health System Dietetic Internship

THEME MEAL 2

Part I

Marketing Plan

Promotional material for the theme meal will consist primarily of informational flyers

that will be placed around the hospital. In particular, flyers will be placed on the bulletin boards

of each of the major hospital elevators as well as in hallways to alert visitors of the meal.

Likewise, the flyer will be sent in a mass email to every employee with a Baptist Health System

email address.

The following information will be included on the flyer: the food to be served, when and

for what meal period it will be served, and where it will be served. More specifically, the main

course will consist of chicken pad thai with a cold Thai broccoli salad as a side. Coconut cookies

will be offered as a dessert to accompany the meal. The theme meal event will be held on

Tuesday, March 18th for lunch from 11am until 2pm. It will be served at the Northeast Baptist

Hospital (NBH) cafeteria.

THEME MEAL 3

Promotional Material

When: Tuesday, March 18th from 11am to 2pm

Where: Northeast Baptist Hospital cafeteria

Foods served:

Chicken Pad Thai

Cold Thai Broccoli Salad

Thai Coconut Cookies

THEME MEAL 4

Menu

Foods served:

Chicken Pad Thai

Cold Thai Broccoli Salad

Thai Coconut Cookies

THEME MEAL 5

Recipes with Nutrient Profiles

Chicken Pad Thai

Recipe by Transmonicon, modified by Erin McLean

Serves 3

Prep time: 30 minutes/Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) package rice noodles

2 tbsp butter substitute

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves,

cut into bite-sized pieces

¼ cup 90/10 blended oil

8 oz whole liquid eggs

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp fish sauce

6 tbsp white sugar

1/8 tbsp crushed red pepper

2 cups bean sprouts

¼ cup crushed peanuts

3 green onions, chopped

1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions:

Place the rice noodles in a large bowl and soak in cold water for 30 to 50 minutes or until

softened. Drain the noodles and set aside.

Heat the butter substitute in a large skillet. Add the chicken and sauté it until browned. Next, add

the 90/10 blended oil and heat. Add the whole liquid eggs, cooking until firm. Cook the mixture

for approximately 5 minutes.

Add softened rice noodles, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, white sugar, and crushed red pepper.

Stir the mixture until noodles are tender. Mix in the bean sprouts and stir for 3 minutes. Sprinkle

the crushed peanuts and the chopped green onion and add 1 lime wedge to each plated dish.

Nutrient profile per serving:

KCAL – 850 kcal

PRO – 37 g

CHO – 85.6 g

FAT – 38.6 g

NA – 1414.5 mg

Recipe accessed: March 9, 2014

Transmonicon. (n.d.). Pad thai. Retrieved March 9, 2014, from

http://www.thaikitchen.com/ Recipes/Salads/Cold-Thai-Broccoli-Salad.aspx

THEME MEAL 6

Cold Thai Broccoli Salad

Recipe by Thai Kitchen®, modified by Erin McLean

Serves 4

Prep time: 10 minutes/Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

8 cups water

4 cups broccoli florets

¼ cup sweet red chili sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

½ tsp salt

½ cup carrots, shredded

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the broccoli florets to the boiling water and cook for

1 ½ minutes or until tender. Rinse the broccoli florets under cold water, draining well.

In a large bowl, mix the sweet red chili sauce, lime juice, and salt together using a wire whisk

until blended. Add the broccoli florets and shredded carrots to the sauce mixture, coating them

well.

Refrigerate the salad for 1 hour and then serve.

Nutrient profile per serving:

KCAL- 68 kcal

PRO- 2 g

CHO- 15 g

FAT- 0 g

NA- 530 mg

Recipe accessed: March 9, 2014

Thai kitchen recipes. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2014, from

http://www.thaikitchen.com/Recipes/Salads/Cold-Thai-Broccoli-Salad.aspx

THEME MEAL 7

Coconut Cookies with Fleur de Sel

Recipe by Mbnilsson

Makes 24 cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes/Cook time: 7 to 10 minutes

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter

2 ½ cups unsweetened coconut, shredded

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp fleur de sel

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Using a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the

unsweetened coconut, mixing well.

Beat the eggs until blended using a mixer on medium-speed. Add the sugar and mix on medium-

high speed until the mixture becomes fluffy and light-colored. Gently mix the butter-coated

coconut with the egg and sugar mixture until well blended.

Place a teaspoon of batter onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet and gently press down on the

batter until it lies flat. Ensure that each cookie is approximately 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies

for 7 to 10 minutes until golden. Once removed from the oven, immediately sprinkle each cookie

with a pinch of fleur de sel. Place the parchment-lined cookie sheet with the cookies on a wire

cooling rack. Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Nutrient profile per serving:

KCAL – 100 kcal

PRO – 1.1 g

CHO – 9.6 g

FAT – 6.6 g

NA – 25.3 g

Recipe accessed: March 9, 2014

Mbnilsson. (2012, February 5). Crisp coconut cookies with fleur de sel. Retrieved March 9,

2014, from http://semiswede.com/2012/02/05/crisp-coconut-cookies-with-fleur-de-sel/

THEME MEAL 8

Evaluation Form

Please evaluate the meal using a scale from 1 to 5. Please place this form in the basket where you

purchased your meal.

(5) Excellent, (4) Very good, (3) Good, (2) Fair, (1) Poor

Color/Appearance 5 4 3 2 1

Taste/Flavor 5 4 3 2 1

Aroma 5 4 3 2 1

Texture 5 4 3 2 1

Portion size 5 4 3 2 1

Comments:

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

THEME MEAL 9

Production Documents

The following are production documents utilized for the theme meal (forecasting

documents not utilized by the facility):

THEME MEAL 10

Established Pricing

Many of the products purchased for the theme meal were sold in bulk so not all of the

products were utilized in the production of the recipes. The following list contains the overall

price of the food items (many items sold in bulk), the number of units purchased for each food

item, and the monetary amount of product used directly in the production of the theme meal.

Chicken Pad Thai:

-Chicken: $35.76 per case, 2 cases purchased for $71.52, $47.68 of product utilized

-Rice noodles: $57.87 per case, 1 case purchased, $46.29 of product utilized

-Liquid whole eggs: $27.24 per case, 1 case purchased, $15.44 of product utilized

-Beyond butter substitute: $4.74 per container, product already available-used current stock,

$1.18 of product utilized

-90/10 blended oil: $9.77 per 1 gallon, product already available-used current stock, $2.44 of

product utilized

-Fish sauce: $19.63 per case, 1 case purchased, $8.18 of product utilized

-Rice wine vinegar: $9.14 per case, product already available-used current stock, $0.59 of

product utilized

-Sugar: $19.45 per bag, product already available-used current stock, $2.48 of product utilized

-Bean sprouts: $13.31 per case, 2 cases purchased for $26.62, $13.31 of product utilized

-Crushed peanuts: $24.21 per case, 1 case purchased, $16.14 of product utilized

-Fresh limes: $24.46 per case, 1 case purchased, $18.34 of product utilized

-Green onions: $7.60 per case, 1 case purchased, $7.60 of product utilized

-Crushed red pepper: $26.09 per case, product already available-used current stock, $1.30 of

product utilized

Cold Thai Broccoli Salad:

-Broccoli: $15.91 per case, 1 case purchased, $15.91 of product utilized

-Shredded carrots: $5.81 per bag, product already available-used current stock, $5.81 of product

utilized

-Sweet red chili sauce: $31.38 per case, 1 case purchased, $5.23 of product utilized

-Lime juice: $10.36 per 1 gallon, 1 gallon purchased, $6.22 of product utilized

-Salt: $1.53 per bag, product already available-used current stock, $0.09 of product utilized

Thai Coconut Cookies:

-Shredded coconut: $52.63 per bag, 1 bag purchased, $26.31 of product utilized

-Eggs: Price not obtained, product already available-used current stock

-Stick butter: $2.37 per case, product already available-used current stock, $1.73 of product

utilized

-Sugar: $19.45 per bag, product already available-used current stock, $1.24 of product utilized

-Fleur de sel: $36.54 per container, 1 container purchased, $0.73 of product utilized

The total cost of the food utilized in the direct production of the theme meal was $244.24.

A total of 53 meals were sold at $6.50 per meal, generating an income of $344.50. Overall, a

total of $100.26 was generated as profit.

THEME MEAL 11

Part II

Description of Theme Meal Concept and Title

The concept behind the theme meal was to expose customers to Thai cuisine. I wanted to

offer pad thai as the main entrée since it is a very popular and more recognizable dish from

Thailand. I also wanted to provide the cold Thai broccoli salad and the Thai coconut cookies as

well to incorporate other ingredients that are commonly used in Thai cuisine. I also chose to

feature food from Thailand since, until recently, it was not featured on the menu at NBH (another

intern had a theme meal offering Thai cuisine that was so popular, it was incorporated into the

NBH rotating menu). I chose the title “Thai-licious Tuesday” since it was a fun, clever way to

convey what kind of cuisine would be featured on Tuesday, March 18.

Production

Food items were purchased based on the projection that a maximum of 100 meals would

be purchased. The following list contains quantities planned for production followed by the

actual quantities produced:

Chicken Pad Thai:

-Chicken: 16.4 lb planned for production, 16.4 lb used in production

-Rice noodles: 160 oz planned for production, 128 oz used in production

-Liquid whole eggs: 131.25 fluid oz planned for production, 131.25 fluid oz used in production

-Beyond butter substitute: 2 1/3 cup planned for production, 2 1/3 cup used in production

-90/10 blended oil: 4.16 cups planned for production, 4.16 cups used in production

-Fish sauce: 4 1/8 cup planned for production, 4 1/8 cup used in production

-Rice wine vinegar: 6.19 cup planned for production, 6.19 cup used in production

-Sugar: 12 3/8 cup planned for production, 12 3/8 cup used in production

-Bean sprouts: 31 ¼ cup planned for production, 31 ¼ cup used in production

-Crushed peanuts: 8 1/3 cup planned for production, 8 1/3 cup used in production

-Fresh limes: 25 limes planned for production, 25 limes used in production

-Green onions: 100 planned for production, 100 used in production

-Crushed red pepper: 4.17 tbsp planned for production, 4.17 tbsp used in production

Cold Thai Broccoli Salad:

-Broccoli: 96 cups planned for production, 64 cups used in production

-Shredded carrots: 12 cups planned for production, 8 cups used in production

-Sweet red chili sauce: 6 ¼ cup planned for production, 4.17 cups used in production

-Lime juice: 1 ½ cup planned for production, 1 cup used in production

-Salt: 4 1/6 tbsp planned for production, 2.78 tbsp used in production

Thai Coconut Cookies:

-Shredded coconut: 20 cups planned for production, 20 cups used in production

-Eggs: 16 large eggs planned for production, 16 eggs used in production

-Stick butter: 3 stick butters planned for production, 3 sticks used in production

-Sugar: 5 1/3 cup planned for production, 5 1/3 cup used in production

THEME MEAL 12

-Fleur de sel: 2 ½ tbsp. planned for production, 5 1/3 cup used in production

The theme meal was offered over the course of 3 hours from 11am until 2pm. The

chicken ran out around 2pm, but there were leftovers of all the other foods. The quantity of

leftovers for each of the food items was difficult to determine since the cook assisting me

throughout the duration of the theme meal had begun to throw away the food in an effort to clean

up. As a result, I was unable to accurately assess leftover quantities. I do recall, however, that

there were leftovers for all the foods (except chicken) especially the rice noodles, eggs, and the

pad thai sauce mixture.

Budget

The planned budget was $300 which would consist of the food items used directly in the

production of the theme meal. The actual budget was $244.24 which consisted of the cost of the

food items used directly in the production of the theme meal. A favorable budget variance of

$55.76 was observed since the cost of producing the theme meal was less than the planned

budget.

Patron Evaluation

Throughout the duration of the theme meal, approximately 150 diners were in attendance.

A total of 53 theme meals were sold, not including meals provided to doctors and dietary staff

members. Out of all the meals provided, only a total of 27 evaluation forms were returned. An

overwhelming number of the evaluation forms were positive with only one evaluation scoring 3

(good) and below. A majority of the categories scored 5 (excellent) and 4 (very good). One low

scoring category pertained to the texture of the noodles which some people scored as a 3 and

others as a 2 (fair). The lowest scoring category pertained to portion size which scored 3 on some

evaluations and a 2 on one evaluation. Almost all of the comments left on the evaluation forms

were positive. Many comments pertained to the cookies being very tasty and that the service

provided was excellent. One comment pertained to the rice noodles being slightly mushy while

another pertained to the noodles being too broken up and not long enough.

THEME MEAL 13

Serving Line Diagram

Several different utensils were utilized during the execution of the theme meal including

tongs of different sizes, various scoops, large serving spoons, as well as a small, regular spoon.

Area utilized for theme

meal execution

Serving line

THEME MEAL 14

Self-Evaluation

Many of the activities worked as planned. The cookies, for example, were baked the day

before the theme meal so that more time could be spent the day of the meal on gathering the

materials and preparing some of the other foods. Some of the prep work for the main entrée and

side was completed including chopping the chicken and vegetables and preparing the sauce

mixtures. Also, enough food was prepared to last the duration of the three hour period designated

for the theme meal.

Several activities did not work as planned and therefore required changes in the execution

of the theme meal. The instructions for the pad thai recipe, for example, stated to soak the rice

noodles for 30 to 50 minutes until tender and then to transfer them from the water to the skillet to

finish cooking. However, after 60 minutes of soaking, the noodles weren’t soft enough. Five

minutes before the theme meal was to start, the noodles were quickly boiled in hot water to finish

cooking them. Due to the delay, the theme meal started a few minutes later than it should have.

Similarly, another activity which didn’t go as planned included preparing enough of the pad thai

entrée before lunch to prevent people from having to wait in line. Since this was unable to be

accomplished, people did have to wait a while for their food to cook. Also, recipe cards were

made to specify the amount of ingredients needed for eight serving sizes of pad thai that would

be cooked at one time using a large skillet. The intention behind this was to prepare enough food

so that customers didn’t have to wait a long time in line. However, skillets large enough to make

eight servings worth of food were not available. Only three servings could be made at a time, so

the recipe cards were no longer able to be utilized. Instead, the amount of each ingredient

necessary for the pad thai was estimated.

The only unanticipated event that really impacted the meal was the amount of time it took

to cook the chicken. It took approximately six minutes to cook the meat before the other

ingredients for the pad thai could be added. As a result, some customers had to wait in line for a

while before their meal was ready.

Recommendations for Improvement

One recommendation for improvement includes cooking the chicken beforehand rather

than in front of the customers in order to save time. This would help to cook the pad thai faster

so that people won’t have to wait in line. Another improvement includes using larger skillets or

woks to cook more entrée servings at a time. This as well would reduce the amount of time

customers would have to wait for their meal. Lastly, I would boil the rice noodles rather than

soak them since the latter method did not work.