Menu renovation is often seen as being a source of stress and frustration, but we have put together a few tips so it can be welcomed as an opportunity to drive profit:
#1. Versatility
Stock up on products you can utilise for a variety of dishes. Chicken wings, chicken fillets and even burgers are great examples of this. Chicken wings are suitable for sharing platters, which are popular through summer while also at home on a big, meaty TexMex plate. Chicken fillets work in salads or pasta dishes while deconstructed burgers are a cool summer adaption on winter’s go-to indulgence. This makes things simple, cost effective and manageable when it comes to mixing things up.
#2. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Change is good, but there is already a strong collection of spring, summer, autumn and winter specials that customers expect and are excited to see. Add your own unique style to some signature seasonals and word will quickly spread about your exciting new menu, with potential customers’ interests sufficiently piqued to pay you a visit. They won’t remember from one year to the next, so once you have four seasonal menus planned out, make allowances for emerging trends but you should be mapped out for years to come!
#3. Planning
That brings us on to the third point, and in many ways the most difficult because it is so tempting to put off. Planning four seasonal menus can seem a daunting task but, as mentioned above, having a range of versatile products can make the process an easier one for now and years to come. The nature of foodservice is that we’ll always have unscheduled trends, just look at current street food, Mexicana and personalisation trends, but a lasagne will always be a lasagne, a salad will always be a salad, and you’ll always be able to fall back on these staples.
Plan at the start of the year, as best you can, when you will switch your menus, what these menus will feature and where you’ll be advertising the changes. From there on in, you may need to make a few tweaks but at least your approach is structured, conscientious and strategic.
