Executive Chefs and their members often have different perspectives on “food quality.” For chefs, the conversation centers around quality ingredients, as Auguste Escoffier knew these influenced taste. For members, it begins with “I like,” bringing emotions, preferences, and memories into the discussion. Both groups, however, place food quality satisfaction at the heart of the debate.

Food quality is defined as a sensory property that includes appearance, taste, nutritional value, health benefits, and safety. In short, it speaks to the critical mental attributes that affect consumer choices.

Interestingly, both chefs and members share a mutual love for “street food.” Why? Because you can hear, see, smell, and even touch your food before the first bite, building anticipation like a Heinz Ketchup commercial.

The humble yet complex burger is a perfect culinary example. An American classic that captures our hearts and minds before ever reaching our mouths. Before tasting, we assess its size or weight, the right mouth stretch, and the juiciness as it drips down the chin, finalizing the all-important messiness with extra napkins—a part of its folklore.

This builds a first-bite sensation, overwhelmingly searching for temperature, salt, fat, or sugar. Once those are satisfied, the palate begins investigating deeper flavors. These triggers demand that we slow down, savor, and enjoy our meals. Like cooking, we can appreciate the nuances of a dish as we eat.

With these subjective challenges, how do some clubs create better member satisfaction? Knowing that members’ minds play a significant role, we broke down some “norms” that can secure a more positive perception. These must work in harmony with the tongue to maximize emotions.

Price
Food pricing creates expectations. Americans often focus on portion size first and then quality. Plate size plays a role in securing value perception, as does the ratio of protein to other components. Our culture typically resists high prices unless related to prime meats, fish, or specialty game. Fast food, especially “super-sizing,” has driven the perception that food should be cheap.

Deconstruction
Dining out has increasingly become about individual preferences, often involving removing ingredients or placing them on the side. Orders typically start with allergies, then health conditions, and lastly, dislikes. It wasn’t long ago that people ate prepared salads like chicken or tuna; now, all salads are made a la minute, or delivery speed slows down. Saying “no” to modifications risks a low perception of food quality.

Menu Description
In menu writing, always start with the main “star” of the dish. List the majority portion first, then move down the list of ingredients in descending order. Descriptions should be limited to essential details to convey the dish’s concept quickly. Avoid lengthy descriptions or adjectives that make diners feel they are reading a thesaurus.

Speed or Pace
Pace is vital to positive expectations. Members have a breaking point, especially at the meal’s beginning. This is why bread, drinks, and the first course arrive quickly, building confidence. Losing confidence in quick and simple items means spending time making up for it. When creating menus, chefs must count the steps for each preparation. Simple weekly changes shouldn’t require complete muscle memory reinvention.

Visual Expectation
Diners and fast-food establishments use pictures to set strong visual expectations of value. People eat with their eyes first, creating expectations even before ordering. While in China, my perception of menu pictures became increasingly comfortable, subliminally measuring expected portions while directing how hungry I was. An example is the member who sends back their dish before ever tasting it because the menu description or classic idea was not delivered to their mental expectations.

Childhood Memory
While mom’s meals weren’t the best, they are emotionally revered. These classics age well and, for a club, must come close to the size, texture, and taste once remembered. Soup viscosity is a classic example in clubs—thick over thin presents value to most age groups. Garnishes should be ample, fit on the spoon, and served hot. Anything less and memories are lost, resulting in average taste. All classic “titled” dishes must follow classic ingredients or change the title. Childhood foods secure more than taste, offering comfort and security from a vulnerable time in life. Condiments significantly influence, as dipping or spreading habits are favorable. We must pay attention to members “building” their foods, like burgers, hot dogs, or ice cream with branded labels.

Taste
The first bite begins with a clean palate, anticipation, and desire for what you are eating. Remember, you ordered it, so you are measuring your ability to make the right choice. We then move to fat, acid, sweet, and salt, highlighted in most palates. The human tongue can only handle a limited number of tastes, so the first and last sensations drive satisfaction. Condiments built with fats carry these flavors, enrobe the mouth, and allow ingredients to linger longer in the tongue’s flavor zones. Surprisingly, spicy is not one of the big three due to the various degrees of heat. Condiments help clean the heat up or even allow a maximum heat sensation. Fast food companies call this “smothering.” Chicken wings, for example, are breaded, fried, tossed with butter-based hot sauce, and served with mayonnaise-based dressings. Layers of fat play a role in carrying heat.

In conclusion, while taste lingers emotionally—long after price, portion, or speed—if you want to measure “food quality,” you must review all considerations. Don’t be misled; taste is crucial and drives the emotions of returning for another bite. However, satisfaction starts very early in the decision-making process.

We made t-shirts for the catering team with the slogan, “Taste is remembered long after price is forgotten.” Talk to anyone who can describe the perfect fried chicken but can’t recall the exact price. Ultimately, they justify any expense as worth it.

Club + Resort Chef – August 2024

Lawrence T. McFadden, CMC, ECM is a food and beverage training consultant and search executive with KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, a consulting firm providing executive search, strategic planning and data analysis services to the private club and hospitality industries.