Engage with a difference
Hospitalities Job for You
Local Hospitality Talent Search
Creating Excellence For People In Business
DELIVERED BY EXPERTISE
Expert F&B consultancy and services
F&B Consultancy
F&B Service Provider
F&B Food Business Project
Menu Design and Content
For a restaurant / Cafe / Kitchen & Bar, the menu is the most powerful communication tool. It not only introduces guests to your eatery and displays your food offerings, but it also reinforces your brand concept and personality. But to do so effectively, it needs to be designed in a particular manner. A customer only looks at a menu for 109 seconds (averagely) before deciding what to order. Thus, not only does the menu design impact the customer experience, but the restaurant’s profits hinge on it as well.
Unfortunately this ‘assumingly’ simple booklet has a lot of scope for errors that many restaurateurs tend to overlook.
Here are some of the most common restaurant menu design mistakes you should avoid to run organized kitchens, keep customers happy and build a more profitable restaurant business.
Having proper categorization of food items is one of the most basic rules but is often ignored. Your food menu design should be designed in a way so that items are listed in clear groups. The order of the categories is also important. Appetizers, soups, burgers, pizzas, desserts, etc. should feature together and in order of serving. For example, entrés should not be listed before soups and appetizers, for your guests might be tempted to order the main course, and ignore appetizers. Also, featuring vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes on separate pages is a good practice that should not be ignored.
Both, a large and comprehensive menu, and a small, compact restaurant menu have their own pros and cons. However, while you may feel that having a comprehensive menu will give the impression of variety and capability, it can hurt your sales. Your food menu design should be such that you can further break longer categories into further sub-categories, such as pork and seafood.
Guests take longer to decide what they want because of the multitude of options available – this slows down the time taken at the table, and you end up serving fewer customers. Also, a big menu more often confuses people as they are not able to decide what you make best and so they default to the least profitable item.
It’s advisable to concentrate only on your specialties and unique foods that your chef can do justice to, and which will fetch new and repeat customers.
The best restaurants are the ones where nothing is permanent – the menu keeps rotating, tempting guests to return. It is important to analyze and introduce new items in the menu to keep the customers hooked. Plus, you should also analyze the performance of menu items based on the sales and the feedback of customers. Review the menu item sales report from your POS and if a particular item is not getting sold as much or is constantly getting returned to the kitchen, you should consider weeding it out from the menu.
Don’t invest too much on expensive paper and printing, as even making a small iteration will hurt your pocket. A binding or an elastic menu will let you add an extra page quickly when you introduce new items. However, do not list new dishes to the menu if they are still in trial mode.
The menu is like your sales brochure. So, put in a lot of thought along with capital investment, while designing it. Engage the services of a good graphic designer who can help you design an aesthetically pleasing menu.
Keep the following tips in mind for creating a great restaurant menu design. The menu should be clear and readable. No matter how great your dishes are, selecting the wrong font style, size, color, and paper can make it difficult for a diner scanning the pages. Do not crowd the pages with too many elements or use a background that’s too dark and strains one’s eyes under dim lighting.
Nothing is worse than reading a menu with typos. If you cannot spell a dish, it doesn’t instill confidence in the patrons that you can cook it. Hence, spellcheck your menu thoroughly. The menu should help customers who have never seen or heard of your restaurant, visualize the ambiance of your place, and the type of food served so that they know whether you offer casual or fine dining. Your menu should complement the size of the table, plate settings, and other aspects. It shouldn’t appear too large, bumping into cups and plates on the table, and making it awkward for the guests to hold it while having a conversation, or look too small on a large table.
Stressing on prices alongside items is the biggest food menu design mistake that you can make. It diverts the customer’s attention to the amount. This causes a guest to dismiss menu items based on price alone. Also, when the price of menu items drastically vary on a single page, it causes guests to select items with the lowest prices. Keep the dish the focal point and not the prices. The rates should be the same font and text as the menu.
Train servers (front of house) to upsell certain / promotional items. But even without servers, upselling should be a part of your menu. Allow guests to add on cheese, mushrooms, olives, nuts, etc. to their dishes and have these options specified, so you don’t need to rely solely on the server.
Having Combo Meals or Platters is a great way to upsell add-ons such as beverages and desserts, which a customer otherwise would not have ordered.
Have too many items on the same page and the menu is going to end up looking cluttered; have too few items and it’ll look like you don’t have much to offer. Thus, proper utilization of space, and that too keeping the customer psychology in mind is important.
Place the high-profit items in the Golden Triangle of the menu – which is the upper left, upper right, and the lower bottom of the menu page. These are the areas where customers usually tend to look at while placing orders.
Also, use the front and back of the menu to display information about the restaurant. Information such as opening and closing hours, services, history, address and more is a good idea. Visitors, especially the ones who are not from the state or country, sometimes take back menus as souvenirs.
Understanding the psychology of your customers can go a long way in pushing sales through food menu design. Guests’ eyes are usually drawn to the top right of the menu, making it a great place to list best-selling (expensive too) items. Use beautiful photos that are pleasing to the eye, as studies show that dishes with corresponding pictures are thrice as likely to be ordered than items that don’t have photos. However, use this tactic sparingly. If every item has a corresponding picture, the one you want to sell will not stand out.
This article will tell you how to employ customer psychology effectively to maximize your sales.
Nowadays, many people like to check the menu online before choosing a restaurant. So make sure that you post your menu online. The best way to do this is to have your restaurant’s website where you can flaunt your menu. You can even tie up with food delivery apps these days or online reservation services providers, who also show your menus online to increase your branding awareness as well.
However, make sure your online restaurant menu design facilitates browsing and is mobile-friendly. Hence, refrain from posting it as a PDF.
Food & Beverage menu design that doesn’t describe items alienate customers and take up your servers’ time as they need to explain it. Give a brief and interesting description of your items, explaining if the dish is hot, cold, spicy, vegetarian, or contains nuts, gluten or other allergy-inducing ingredients, especially if the cuisine you serve isn’t native to the land. Find out how to write striking restaurant menu descriptions here.
A great series of Food Photo Gallery. Food plating / beverage garnishing is a key play to recommend / up-sell / promote certain items to dinners / guest. A great restaurant / cafe's menu design can make an impact on the guest experience and profits. Make a lasting impression with yours and always.
For more tips on the menu space, structure and design development or customize building your attractive Food & Beverage menu, contact us!
9 Ways to Make Your Restaurant Kitchen Run More Efficiently
As a restauranteurs or owners, your to-do list can be a bit overwhelming, but you know every little detail does count, especially in the kitchen.
While unfortunately there will never be more than 24 hours in a day, there are ways to run a more efficient kitchen.
The basic of 9 ways to make your restaurant kitchen run more efficiently:
We all get set in our ways and believe that the way we run things is the best way, the only way, but a true leader listens to his or her staff and is willing to see the process through their eyes and listen to their recommendations.
Try observing a full service to get a real picture of the workflow in the kitchen and then talk to each member of the kitchen staff about ways to help them be more efficient. Being too controlling can back fire. Instead teach your staff to work independently and they will feel more invested in their job.
While you would love to impress your guests with complex, unique dishes, you might not always have the right ingredients, equipment and skilled staff to do so. Be practical and streamline your menu to what you have in the kitchen and what your staff does well. Everything on your menu needs to be something that your kitchen can handle efficiently without putting undue burden on your staff. Choose recipes that include ingredients that you know fit into your budget and concentrate on making them the best they can be. Good food is more about taste than presentation.
While this might just seem like busy work, it is actually very important to have well-established standard operating procedures that all staff are up to date on. It helps ensure consistent quality throughout the kitchen. Make sure your staff are constantly reviewing these procedures and always do spot checks to make sure they are following every step. And don’t be afraid to update the standard operating procedures if new laws or regulations come out or you find a better way of doing things.
Nothing is worse than running out of key ingredients in the middle of the dinner rush. Avoid this embarrassment by having a good inventory system in place so you know when you need to restock. It is also important not to waste food either so regularly review your standard orders to see if there are some ingredients you aren’t really using anymore.
Every business today is always searching for new ways technology can make them more profitable and efficient and the restaurant industry is no different. Whether it is newfangled devices to cook with or a state of the art point of sales system, technology can be a restaurant manager or owner’s friend. But remember sometimes old-fashioned human communication and skill is better. For instance, it doesn’t matter how much expensive equipment you have in the kitchen, you still need a skilled to chef to create the mouthwatering dishes your guests are expecting. And when technology lags, nothing is quicker than having the wait staff communicate changes in orders directly to the kitchen staff. You can always update the computer system later. It is more important to let the kitchen know as quickly as possible.
To prevent bottlenecks from happening in the kitchen, make sure there are clear work spaces carved out in the kitchen for different duties. Also have separate areas for inventory to come in the door and for finished meals to go out to the customer. With smaller kitchen staffs this might not be as feasible, but try to find what works best for you. The key is to make sure that the food stays safe and not contaminated and that staff are not all trying to use the same space and equipment at the same time. Cross-contamination of food is a serious concern for guests with food allergies.
When creating out these work stations, evaluate if the chef will have everything he or she will need close by to do their job. For instance do they have easy access to a sink and the refrigerator? Are the ingredients they need easily at hand?
Not having a clean, well-stocked kitchen at the start of a shift can really set back your chefs. Even simple things like knives that need to be sharpened could slow things down. Assign someone you trust to make sure all equipment is clean and in working order and that the kitchen is well-stocked with ingredients before the doors of the restaurant open.
While freshness of meal is vital and more and more people prefer made to order dishes, there is always certain preparations that can happen ahead of time to increase efficiency. For instance if you are making tacos, you can have the meat cooked and ready to go when the orders start coming in. Or you can have the potatoes peeled and cut up to make mashed potatoes.
Of course, the most important ingredient for an efficient and successful kitchen is highly-skilled and hard-working staff. And for that you need to be willing to invest time and money in hiring and training the best kitchen crew possible. If you show you staff that you want to help them be the best they can be in their job then they will work hard for you and remain loyal. You also want a staff that believes in your restaurant’s mission and are excited about carrying it out.
None of this will happen overnight, but if you start making small improvements every day, you will be amazed at how much more efficient your kitchen will run and you will have happier customers and staff to prove it. Being open to change and being willing to work hard a long side your staff are the signs of a good leader.
At the end, you are bet on people while literally than the strategies!
Start with your investment in the team engagement / staffing / building a commitment team. Contact us now for kitchen operational strategies and staffing needs!
How to Increase Your Food Business and Restaurant’s Profits
Opening and running a restaurant requires a significant commitment of time, effort and finances. With so many other responsibilities on your plate, it’s not always easy to prioritize profit. However, doing so is key to the lasting success of your business.
To help you make the most of your efforts, below are 10 strategies you can use to bolster your bottom line.
Owning a restaurant is extremely challenging. Between managing employees, balancing finances, implementing marketing campaigns and pleasing customers, you have to do it all ― and no one can be an expert on everything. If you’re ready to expand your restaurant, taking time to conduct research will help guide you in the direction you’re trying to go.
Regularly reading restaurant management blogs will give you keen insight from industry professionals on best practices for running your restaurant efficiently. With so many resources available at your fingertips, you can educate yourself on restaurant management practices that can help you save money on costs and increase your profits.
We’re all guilty of it, even at home. America is the leading country for food waste, adding up to billions of dollars each year. One strategy for increasing your profit margin is to focus on reducing food waste. Start by investing in a food waste tracker. These devices measure food and have a camera that monitors food waste so you can keep an eye on what’s being thrown away (and determine why). If you end the day with a food surplus, you can donate it to a food bank to receive a tax break / staffs’ meal usage.
Another way to cut down on food waste is to redesign your menu, focusing only on making what you do best. Here are some tips for creating an effective menu:
Incorporating modern systems into your restaurant business will increase your profits dramatically. If you’re disorganized, lose receipts and have a desk cluttered with paperwork, you may be throwing money out the window. A restaurant management system will help you keep track of sales, manage employees and create a rewards program or mailing list for your customers ― and that’s the beginning.
Again, food waste costs restaurants a ton of money. Restaurant inventory software will let you track every ingredient you use, whether it’s a teaspoon of spices, a diced carrot or an egg. With inventory software, you can also keep an eye on expiration dates so that your bread doesn’t get moldy and your milk doesn’t spoil.
One of the best ways to attract customers to your restaurant and increase profits is through marketing. There are so many marketing techniques that can help you expand your business and attract the attention of customers you previously couldn’t reach.
If you want to increase your restaurant patronage and keep your regulars coming back, form a relationship with them. Social media marketing is a virtually free way to interact with customers and grow your brand. Utilize social media management apps that allow you to schedule when a post will go live and give you insight into the ideal time to upload your #foodpics so you can reach the largest audience.
People love convenience. After a long day at work, the last thing we want to do is prepare a home-cooked meal or drive through heavy traffic to get a bite to eat. Food delivery services now act as taxis for food, so you don’t need to hire drivers or buy company vehicles to send food to “hangry” customers.
A customer’s experience begins as soon as they reach your restaurant’s front door. Having welcoming staff at the door to greet them and get them situated can make a positive first impression. In addition, having staff thank customers on their way out may encourage them to return soon. Customers who feel welcomed and appreciated are more likely to generate positive reviews and recommend the restaurant to people they know. You want a customer’s first visit to be a good one.
Sometimes the visions you have for menu items or specials are not aligned with what your customers are seeking. To create a successful menu that will generate profit, learn which meals customers want. Consider your restaurant’s location, which types of foods sell well in the area and what people are ordering the most from your current menu.
If you find that something isn’t selling well, try reworking the dish or creating new options. Customer survey data can provide valuable feedback. Additionally, have managers or waitstaff visit tables during service times and chat with customers about their opinions on certain dishes.
Many customers visit restaurant websites to get business hours, digital menus and contact information. In addition to a website, restaurants should create a social media presence to promote their restaurant and communicate with a broader audience.
Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are a few popular platforms that can attract and engage customers. Facebook is great for displaying business information, such as address, hours and daily specials. Instagram and TikTok help businesses create engaging videos highlighting dish preparation, restaurant tours and upcoming specials or events.
A confident, knowledgeable staff will give customers an excellent impression of your business. Wait staff should know your menu items, current specials and how the food is prepared. With firsthand menu knowledge, they can more easily give recommendations, answer questions and ensure customers are getting what they want.
Staff should learn how to talk to customers positively and upsell things like appetizers and drinks. In addition, they should be informed of any changes that are made or newly available items and deals by having regularity shift meeting.
Rewarding loyal customers helps ensure they’ll stay with you long term. Offering a reward program, such as allowing them to earn points for each visit, can incentivize them to come back. After accumulating a certain number of points, they can exchange them for discounts or earn free items or meals.
Customer loyalty programs demonstrate that you value your patrons. To bring in new customers, consider offering coupons or daily specials to encourage them to stop in and experience your restaurant. Everyone loves discounted meals that taste great.
To find out more in relevant how to increase your restaurant’s profit? Contact us now.
Restaurant Cost Controlling Tips
7 Highly Effective Tips for Restaurant Cost Control to Minimize/Reduce Your Restaurant Costs
The first step to restaurant cost control is to track and control your inventory. Monitoring inventory may seem like a tedious task, but also essential if you want to reduce your costs. Have an annual contract with the vendors. The Purchase Department should negotiate the price with the present vendor about the products which was procured in the previous year and should bring the rates down. It is advised to conduct an inventory check regularly, perhaps once a week for effective restaurant cost control and track the most used items. This step will also enable you to save while ordering raw materials and while managing your yield. You need to order inventory accurately, keep track of inflows and outflows in your restaurant, and you’ll lower your variance and your food costs.
You can control your restaurant costs by going for minimalist cash transactions and conducting all your purchases through the restaurant’s account on a credit basis. Usually, the raw materials purchased in cash are less in quantity and can turn out to be expensive as compared to when you are buying it in bulk.
Purchasing the raw / food stocks’ materials on credit is a good idea as it allows you to run your restaurant, generate revenue, and then pay off the credit for the money made. Consider the Credit Period before deciding your restaurant’s vendor. It is usually around 15 - 90 days but differs from vendor to vendor. Remember to establish the ground rules of payment, ordering, and receiving. Join a ‘Purchase Group’ if possible to significantly lower your restaurant costs. In a purchasing group because of the sheer number of buyers, the suppliers often lower the prices.
The operations of the restaurant and their service providers are critically dependent on each other, so it is imperative to maintain positive and healthy relationships between them. You must remember that while putting a certain amount of pressure on the suppliers is necessary and inevitable; your restaurant cost control targets will fail at the cost of a healthy relationship that you may share with them.
Another tip for reducing your budget spent on labor and restaurant cost control is to lower your employee turnover. One of the most critical areas where every restaurant owners should pay attention to the retention of employees. It is a real challenge to hire a quality employee with the right skills. Hiring a restaurant staff member needs a lot of resources starting from the interviews to recruiting them, and training them appropriately. But in a case, if an employee leaves your restaurant in the initial weeks only, all the resources that you had put in hiring the person goes waste. So while hiring new employees in your restaurant, your primary focus should be on quality hiring and make such favorable conditions so that they stick around for a longer time. Spend time in hiring and adequately assess the candidates’ profile when hiring them.
For more advice on minimizing turnover with practical approaches, contact us now!
You can implement Restaurant Cost Control and reduce your Food Costs significantly by merely giving attention to a slight detail that is often overlooked, yet just as critical, namely Yield Management. Yield management is an integral part of food cost control as it gives you the idea of how much quantity of raw materials would be used to prepare a particular food item. The raw materials should be ordered and purchased keeping the yield of the items in mind.
For example, the amount of raw meat delivered to your restaurant, and the amount of raw meat that can be consumed in a dish are different. While placing the order, you should keep in mind how many portions would a particular order of raw materials deliver.
Another way to control restaurant cost is to understand the use of your ingredients and then order them accordingly. Most ingredients are not too different in quality, but because of the grade difference, the price gap is a lot. Understand if you need an excellent ingredient for your dish or if one grade lower ingredient would also be fine to order accordingly and save some money, for example, if you are making guacamole do you need grade 1 avocados? The only difference between grade 1 and grade 2 avocados is the outer part which does not make a difference in guacamole, so you can very well put a grade 2 avocado in the dish.
Overproduction, big portions are the signs of wastage which lead to escalating food costs. You should have the tools to measure the portions and rigorous process to control the size of the portion. Right plating of the food is also essential as over serving of food can lead to high food costs and also wastage. Find out how to Portion Control can Reduce Your Food Costs and Improve your Restaurant Revenues here.
Another way in which you can reduce costs by training your staff about maximum recycling and smart waste management in the restaurant. Learn how to manage the waste in your restaurant here.
We suggest creating a tracking chart based on these parameters:-
By keeping a regular check on these, you can not only control wastage because of your portion sizes but also monitor other sources of wastage that will cost you money. Track these wasted generation sources to keep your restaurant costs in check.
One of the significant areas where restaurants lose out on a lot of money is internal thefts and pilferage. The lack of automation and reporting often leads to rising costs. There are multiple ways internal thefts happen in restaurants, and the restaurant owners are not able to identify the point where the thefts are occurring. For example, dishonest staff members can alter the number of sales that happened on a particular day and pocket the billed amount for themselves. One way to control this is to assign roles and permissions for each activity. Find out the other ways internal thefts happen at restaurants and ask how to keep them under check.
Another important tip that you have to follow is to keep a regular track of your restaurant business. This can only happen when you keep a regular record of the operations being undertaken by your restaurant. By keeping a track on the numbers and regular reporting, the managers will be able to control food costs, Labor Costs and simultaneously keep a lookout on sales-purchase reports.
The purchases-sales report should be audited on a weekly or fortnightly basis depending on the size of the restaurant.
Along with it, there is also a need to conduct monthly sales report where you could examine the monthly sales done for every menu items served by your restaurant.
Take Your Restaurant to the Next Level
New restaurants are popping up all the time and competition is fierce for diners’ dollars. That may give you the impression that operating a food establishment is easy. In actuality, these businesses are labors of love, physically and emotionally demanding to run and one of the highest-ranked industries for failure.
But get it right and that corner restaurant you operate now could become a gold mine. An eatery that prioritizes consistency, utilizes modern technology and hires the right staff is on the path to success. However, there’s plenty more you can do to take your restaurant to the next level and ensure its longevity.
There are many things to consider before starting a restaurant, including what type of payment gateways your restaurant should accept and which kind of restaurant security you need. Truth be told, the work is never done. Once your eatery opens, your goal should be to maintain a steady revenue and then eventually grow your profits. To take your food establishment to the next level. Below are the quick tips:
1. Treat consistent quality as a non-negotiable.
2. Look after your staff and give them more to do over time.
The most successful business owners don’t do everything themselves — they know how to delegate tasks related to finances, human resources (HR), inventory and scheduling. Hand some key responsibilities over to managers, chefs and experienced waiters bit by bit. Show them exactly what you want them to do and support them as they learn. The best suit HR software for restaurants makes it easy to manage your staff and track their performance.
3. Weigh expansion options
4. Welcome online reviews
5. Be smart about purchases
6. Establish your online presence
7. Revisit menu item pricing
8. Value customer retention over acquisition
9. Use the right & latest technology
10. Open a delivery arm
11. List your restaurant / café / bar kitchen on table booking or loyalty program apps
12. Rethink daytime hours - Many restaurants open only for evening service, but they’re paying rent 24/7. That could mean leaving money on the table. When it comes to maximizing your revenue potential, think outside the box to develop profit-generating ideas that bring in cash outside of your traditional busy hours. For instance, if kitchen staff arrive early to prep, why not develop a daytime takeout menu? If it takes off, hire someone to make daytime deliveries. What about sharing your expertise and passion for cooking? Many bars hold special classes to teach drink lovers how to make signature cocktails. You could even run a beginner, intermediary and advanced course for local residents on how to cook their favorite restaurant dishes like a pro.
Restaurants fail all the time. Why? Because their owners don’t address the important factors within their control. They think the formula that works now will work forever and, therefore, never change or don’t delegate tasks and get burned out. Give your restaurant the best opportunity to survive and thrive by following the tips above and checking out our additional consulting strategies to assist you and your restaurant increase profits.