A qualitative research on the use of the standardized recipes in small and medium-sized patisseries

Having increased in number in the recent years, Small and Medium Enterprises (henceforth SMEs) have a large share in the country's economy. There are many advantages to SMEs alongside disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages include the rapid personnel turnover, organizational problems on the way to growth, and problems related to marketing activities. The research question of this thesis deals with the problems that SME patisseries face as their number increases rapidly around Turkey. The aim of the research is to see whether standardized recipes are utilised in SME patisseries, and if so, to find out their perspectives towards the standardized recipes. The introduction provide an in-depth look at the research subject, question, aims, and methodology. This is followed by the theoretical framework, which focuses on SMEs, the concept of the menu, and standardized recipes. The research project utilises qualitative research methods. The qualitative interview method was used as the research method. The participants were recruited with the convenience sampling and snowball (chain) sampling methods. Twenty interviews took place as part of the research. The data was analysed with the content analysis method, and ten emergent themes were found. The obtained themes were codified and then presented in various tables according to the participant number, phrasal frequency and its proportion %. The findings section details and discusses the demographics of the participants, their views on the standardized recipe, and the standardized recipes shared with the personnel. According to the results obtained from the participants, it was determined that the standardized recipe was indeed used in SMEs and its importance was known to the participants. However, it was observed that the standardized recipe examples shared with the personnel had missing components. The data were compared with the relevant literature and linked to the result. Finally, the study presents recommendations in accordance with the data obtained from the opinions of the participants. Keywords: Small and medium enterprises, menu planning, standardized recipe, standardization of the standardized recipe, patisseries