Minding Your Menu
Restaurant trends come and go but what’s important is to pay attention to what your customers like. It’s true you can’t keep the same menu forever. You have to change it up a bit to attract new customers and surprise the old ones. Here is some restaurant menu advice and tips to help with menu updates, competitive menu trends, and money management for restaurants. Learn how to make the best out of your signature dishes, save money by using specials, and get creative with seasonal produce.
Staying flexible when you first open
Give your menu a chance to work. After a change or new opening, allow at least a couple weeks or maybe a month to let people get familiar with your offerings, try out several different things, and establish favourites. Watch for trends at different times of the day and different meal periods. If your appetizers are selling better at lunch than at dinner, try to figure out why.
Revisiting your menu later on Ultimately, when you change your menu, you’re trying to capture that new prospective diner and keep him coming to your restaurant while keeping your signature dishes that made you successful to begin with.
Here are a few reasons you may want to change your menu:
Keep up with rising (or falling) trends and competition in dining: Being at the forefront of the “wraps” trend was great, but if you’re still tied to it, that’s not so good. If the steakhouse down the street is packing them in and your steakhouse is empty, figure out why. Look at your competitor’s menu and analyze what it’s doing right and wrong. You can capitalize on its mistakes and improve on its successes.
Adjust for seasonality:
You may want to take advantage of the seasonal produce and other items. Or if you live in an area that sees dramatic climate changes, you may want to consider embracing the way dining habits change with the seasons. Seasonality dramatically affects top-end restaurants, but it’s less important if you don’t promise fresh items to your diners.
Generate new excitement within your concept:
You always want to “dance with the one that brung ya.” But you can still try new items. You can also make these changes to showcase trendy, new, popular ingredients; celebrate holidays; or commemorate local activities.
Changing an entire menu isn’t effective. Your regular patrons walked in your door for a reason. They probably developed favourites and may not come back if they can’t get them. Plus, changing an entire menu isn’t efficient; many hidden costs are associated with changing your menu including testing and tasting new recipes, reprinting the menu, retraining your staff (both kitchen and floor), retooling your processes, and reprogramming your ordering system.
Paying attention to specials
To showcase limited availability and truly special things: Maybe you can order Copper River salmon (wild Alaskan salmon available only a few months each year) and want to offer it to your customers.
To create efficiency within your inventory by reducing waste from perishables going bad before they’re sold: Specials can repurpose these ingredients at a discounted price to sell them before they perish.
To promote your favourite, high-margin items: You can offer items at a discount, hoping to increase customer counts and increase profits.
One added benefit of changing the menu is your staff will be excited by the change. Consider giving your cooks or culinary team an opportunity to create items when you plan on offering specials or doing a menu revision. They get a chance to be creative, which usually increases morale.
