Brighton Hospitality Research Group

The Culinary Arts Studio - our hospitality research lab

The Brighton Hospitality Research team enjoy the use of a technologically advanced facility that not only enables them to enhance learning and teaching in hospitality management, but to also engage in food and hospitality management research projects, the results of which impacts directly to industry.

Research projects

Some of the research projects that we have completed in The Culinary Arts Studio include:

• Solar cooker, a project that utilizes parabolic mirrors to cook food items. We conduct sensory evaluation to measure perceptions of taste smell and vision of the food items and currently working with the Eastbourne Council to expand the project to a much bigger scale. 

These videos show what we have cooked using just the power of the sun.

• Menu Museum Project, this archiving project aims to reignite a research path that enables industry to draw conclusions based on historical evidence and trends, enabling the industry to learn from the mistakes of the past. 

By understanding menu development, pricing and design trends, businesses can avoid common pitfalls and gain a better understanding of pricing, consumer behaviour and effective design. 

This projects aims to deliver a resource that will allow researchers and industry gain a far better insight of common pitfalls in menu development. 

The plan involves:
1. The design and implementation of an interactive website (statistical data and pricing trends analysis can be extracted straight from the website by visitors).
2. An exhibition of a selection of the menus and recipes.
3. Two seminars (one at Eastbourne one at Brighton) showcasing the Menu Museum and menu design trends to restaurateurs in the area.

• HOTPOT, a joint project between Institut Polytechnique La Salle Beauvais (LSB), France, The Institute of Food Research (IFR), Norwich and the University of Brighton. HOTPOT is funded by the European Regional Development Fund Interreg 4 programme over a 39 month period to the sum of 2.8million Euros.

• An Investigation into the Use of Lighting and Colour and their Subliminal Effect on the Dining Experience by Anna Schrade

• An investigation into the influence of showing calories on menus in restaurants by Maria Gebbels

• An Investigation into the Role of Background Music on the Dining Experience by Daniel Ghirardini

• Knowledge Transfer Partnerships such as the one with Pordum Foods Ltd and their Bon Appetit range.

Find out more

Find out more about the Culinary Arts Studio on the Culinary Arts Studio website.