Designing Food and Beverage Experiences (HOSP7050)

The food and beverage (F&B) industry is a dynamic sector continually evolving in food design, preparation, packaging, and delivery. To remain competitive, pubs, cafes, and restaurants must find innovative ways to adapt to changing trends and meet customer needs.

Emerging trends refer to the changing patterns in consumer behaviour, society, or technology that can potentially transform the future of the food and beverage (F&B) industry. For instance, advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics are helping F&B businesses enhance their efficiency and performance, ultimately creating smarter operations. These trends rapidly gain traction through social media, thanks to sharing and publicity. However, the introduction of robots can lead to communication challenges that might negatively impact the customer experience. Therefore, for any new trend in the F&B industry to be sustainable, it is essential to strike a balance between providing an authentic customer experience, ensuring profitability, promoting community well-being, and supporting environmental conservation.

This assessment requires students to select and research an emerging trend in the food and beverage industry. Students will need to consider various factors, including technological innovations and changes in consumer behaviours. Your task is to write a report of 2,500 words (including tables and figures but excluding references) that discusses how your chosen trend is influencing food and beverage design and how the industry is adapting to this trend. This adaptation is essential for creating innovative operations that enhance the food and beverage experience. A list of F&B emerging trends will be provided on the course Blackboard site.

The structure of the report can include:

1.     Title page

2.     Discuss the emerging trend and its development (300 words)

3.     Elaborate on the factors that accelerate the rise of this F&B trend (600 words)

4.     Using real-world examples of a trend, discuss how this trend has changed F&B design (700 words)

5.     Recommend how F&B businesses can learn from this emerging trend (800 words)

6.     Conclusion (100 words)

7.     References

AI Statement:

The assessment tasks in this course have been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.

A failure to reference AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

Task Description:

This assignment requires you to evaluate one selected Food and Beverage (F&B) provider, and create ideas and solutions to address the problem(s) to improve its consumer-product relationship. The F&B provider can range from a restaurant, a café or bar, or executive lounge that offers F&B services.

Final deliverable: You are required to write an Evaluation and Design Report (3,500 words including tables and figures, but excluding references) to identify the problem(s) of the selected F&B provider and provide relevant recommendations. You should position yourself as a service experience designer, and recommend an updated F&B experience in your design proposal.

Steps:

1. Select one F&B provider (this is not limited to the Great Brisbane region). You may consider one provider that you can physically visit or have previously visited (but not compulsory).
2. Collect both the first-hand and second-hand data to comprehensively evaluate the F&B experiences. First-hand data can include your personal visitation (past/present) of your selected F&B provider, or your on-site observational notes while eating and drinking in this place. Second-hand data can include industry reports, blogs, online reviews, video documentaries, media coverage, and other social media posts and comments. (Examples are discussed in class).
3. Analyse the context of the selected F&B provider (i.e., its cultural, social, historical and commercial background), customers’ socio-psychological needs and expectations, and evaluate the F&B experiences. You are expected to analyse the first- and second-hand data (e.g., customers’ online review of your selected F&B provider, and personal observational notes). Your evaluation should apply the Five Aspects Meal Model (FAMM), socio-cultural and psychological theories as well as design thinking that we discuss in this course to help frame and guide the analysis.
4. Identify and discuss the problem(s) related to F&B experiences. You are required to critically evaluate its consumer-product relationship, and discuss both the positive and negative aspects of the F&B experiences.
5. (Re)design the F&B experience with justification. This design part should include an overview of your design, a clear link to literature, and the method of delivery. You are strongly encouraged to provide additional materials to support the design (such as menus, product information sheets, pictures or graphs available online/personally designed). It is also important to touch upon the practical dimensions of their F&B product, venue (servicescape), menu design, pricing, and hygiene considerations if relevant.

An example of report sections:

Section Headings

Title page - Title of the food and beverage experience design project; student names and id numbers; course code

Table of contents - List the sections of the proposal

Executive summary (about 300 words) - This section summarizes the aim and outcomes of the project. It succinctly outlines the project objectives, methods, identified problems and evaluation, and expected outcomes of your design. It showcases your efforts to design and develop a food and drink experience to improve consumer-product relationship.

Overview of your selected F&B provider and project objectives (700 words) - Outline the physical context and socio-cultural background of your selected F&B provider. Explain your design purpose and main objectives (e.g., why you have chosen this F&B provider, what you intend to evaluate and what you seek to achieve). Explain the profile of its customers using online/secondary data.

Data collection and analysis (500 words) - Explain the method you used, the procedures of data collection, and your sample and relevant sources. Explain your data analysis.

Evaluation of F&B experiences (1000 words) - Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the F&B experience and its consumer-product relationship. Address the customers’ needs (pains and gains), and identify the key area(s) to improve F&B experience with detailed evidence/data.

(Re)design of the F&B experiences with justification (1000 words) - Using examples to explain your comprehensive design of the F&B experiences. The rationale of your design should be supported by the literature. This section also explains how it will be delivered in a commercially feasible manner.

References (not included in word count) - For all references used, referencing style should follow the APA style guide. Format requirements: 1.5 line spacing, 2.54 cm margins, 12 point Times New Roman.

Note: Do NOT interview, survey, or take photos of either customers or management of the chosen F&B provider.

AI Statement:

The assessment tasks in this course have been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.

A failure to reference AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.