Restaurant Menu Optimization

7 tricks to optimize your restaurant’s menu options

03.30.2021

Optimizing your restaurant menu can lead to higher profit margins for your business. This process takes into account different practices like constant tracking of your most profitable and popular dishes. With this in mind, the 7 simple tricks by the Choco team can help you make the most out of your offer.

In our latest article, we talked about the art of menu engineering and shared the formulas to calculate food costs, revenues, and prices of your dishes. Today we’re gonna see what other things you can do to improve the profitability and popularity of your menu.

1. CHOOSE THE RIGHT SUPPLIERS

Choosing the right suppliers and maintaining a good relationship with them is one of the key aspects of running your restaurant and creating a tasty and profitable menu. The more you strengthen these partnerships, the more likely you'll be to receive special deals.

However, it is important to remember that your restaurant is not alone in this business. For this reason, you want to make sure that you're building a good reputation by, for example, avoiding ordering mistakes and communicating efficiently (with the Choco app, you can keep all your suppliers in one place, view orders in real-time and reduce the chance of mistakes).

Among your selected partners, you can choose to support local business - even when your restaurant is mostly relying on large-scale suppliers, make sure you are checking out on local and seasonal food offer to see what can be included on your menu in order to make it more sustainable.

Also, your local restaurant community can be a lifeline when it comes to ordering your products, and purchasing in groups can make things easier for suppliers, as well as help drive your food costs down.

2. Keep up with the latest food trends

Although your restaurant is likely to present an already defined menu concept, it is important to monitor the latest industry trends or simply keep an eye on what your local restaurant community is doing.

From innovating your packaging (by choosing alternative and more environmentally friendly materials) to including some superfoods to boost your guests' health, there are many ways to bring on that added value that customers look for.

Speaking of industry trends: have you already taken a look at our fermentation masterclass? Improve your cooking techniques together with our trusted masters, starting with expert Markus Shimizu from Mimi Ferments and his recipe of shiō koji.

3. Avoid decorative food on the plate

While styling your food can delight customers' eyes, using ingredients to decorate your plate is not always the most sustainable choice. This is particularly true when thinking of dishes presenting a single leaf of salad and any flower or vegetable that ends up being discarded by customers. In this case, you should always follow the rule that anything that is present on the plate should be eaten - if not, take it off. There are many creative ways to improve the aesthetic of your menu without wasting food and money.

4. Make a signature sauce

Customers enjoy finding their beloved standard options (especially when it comes to items like pizza, sandwiches, or burgers). However, they also love trying new things: that's why offering a signature sauce is a good, "in-between" trick to elevate your menu by bringing a new and unique taste to it and, at the same time, strengthening your brand.

In the food industry, there is plenty of cases of companies and restaurants being successful for their signature sauce. And here, food waste can play an important role for your restaurant business.

5. OFFER LIGHTER MENU OPTIONS

This tip can apply to your overall menu, as well as to the single dishes. Firstly, instead of presenting an endless list of options that can be overwhelming for customers, you should focus on a smaller offer - better to make the most out of fewer things, than letting some potentially fruitful dishes be overshadowed by an enormous menu list.

Offering a shorter menu also leaves more room for customisation, which can be a good strategy to promote your offer among new and loyal customers.

The possibility of ordering a smaller portion of a certain dish available on your menu can result in less waste and higher value for your food.

6. Pair drinks with dishes

Beverages can also be used to improve customers' experience and make your menu more profitable. Your signature cocktails, selected wines, or home-brewed kombuchas can be just the right completing element within the dining experience - especially, focusing on low or non-alcoholic beverage options can be a good strategy, when considering the growing trend.

Drinks can play an important role in completing the taste journey of a certain dish as well, especially when their flavors component are broken down and combined with the ones of the dishes. From creating a tasting menu with paired drinks to training your staff to suggest the right combos or explore their local territorial beverage productions, there is a lot that you can experiment with when it comes to improving your drinks offer.

7. Pay attention to the ambiance

Your customers' experience is not made up of food by itself - it's a real play! Although what you're serving is at the core of it, you should not forget about details that are as well important. Make sure that everything in your restaurant is "on-brand", from the way you design your menu and space to the music that you play.