Description

Family style meals to promote local cuisine and enhance people connections

At Hacienda Venecia or Utopia Eco-Hotel for example, a single menu is offered to everybody for lunches and dinners: a “family-style” menu.

The concept is simple, instead of offering an “à la carte” menu from which guests can choose (as in a traditional restaurant), the hotel offers a different single menu for every meal. The guest is invited to register for it in the morning if he wants dinner, in order to know early how many meals are to be prepared.

It allows to put forward typical meals made of seasonal products  provided by local producers. It also allows to avoid any waste of food. The hotel can purchase the correct quantity of fresh products and cook exactly what is needed. In financial terms, this is an interesting solution for the hotel, and it is passed on the final price: A better value for a happy customer !

Some ecolodges offer two options: one with meat/fish and another one vegetarian.

At Utopia, meals are vegetarians as to satisfy most people. WiFi is not available inside the restaurant, as to avoid harmful waves but not only… it is a owner’s choice in order to set up a favorable context for social contact. There is also only big shared tables. Dinner is therefore turning into a convivial moment for everybody ! I had the chance to enjoy Utopia delicious dinners and of the good mood in there, and I love it !

Of course the formula may not be adapted to any kind of hotels. But in the case of a small facility located in the wild, with a mostly leisure customer base, it seems to work alright!

Translated by Guillaume Rey

Seen at

Name		Type of facility	Environment	Country	Swap?
	A Little Eco Lodge		rural	Myanmar	No
	A Little Eco Lodge		rural	Myanmar	No
	Yachana Lodge	Community based tourism, Hotels & guest houses	rural, zone-chaude	Ecuador	Yes
	Hacienda Venecia	Hostels, Hotels & guest houses	rural, zone-chaude	Colombia	Yes

Learn more

Think about asking guests if they have allergy or any specific meal requirement (vegetarian?) in order to adapt the  menu to their particular needs or offer an alternative meal.