10 Things You Absolutely Must Ask an Expert Before Finalising Your Restaurant Menu!
At Bistro Brain, we believe that your menu is at the heart of your restaurant. Your menu defines what kind of restaurant you have and what kind of audience it will attract. Start out with a poor, randomly thought menu and your restaurant could run into issues ranging from people not liking your restaurant at all to issues with A great menu could help a failing restaurant get back on its feet.
These are some factors to consider while planning and designing your menu:
1. Menu Research & Development
The first step to a stellar menu is the research and development process. Here, an expert can help you decide on recipes, categorize them and develop more recipes suited for your restaurant. It’s an iterative process that involves trying out several recipes, menu combinations, local ingredients & vendors and correcting continuously. Having an expert onboard helps you fine tune your recipes, come up with more creative menu options & be completely sure of what you are offering to your customers. In this very important step a good restaurant consultant will help you ideate, develop recipes and processes, explore feasibility of the designed recipes, plan & execute launch.
2. Menu Nutritional Analysis
Our everyday customers are becoming more and more health conscious in this avocado-smoothie-making, kale-salad-eating millennial age. Health conscious customers need a well-planned, well balanced meal. The best way to do it is to ensure that your menu meets the requirements of a nutritionally balanced meal. This may involve counting calories of all your menu items or creating a set of healthy options to balance your menu.
3. Vendor Selection & Raw Material Recommendations
As a chef or restaurant owner you might have taken into consideration what recipes you will offer. The best recipes, however, shine because the ingredients that go into that recipe are fresh, of high quality & carefully selected. A proper restaurant consultant can guide you about factors to consider while picking a vendor for vegetables, meats and other materials. They can help compare vendors’ proposed pricing and select the best suited to your budget and needs.
4. Menu Optimization
You already have your restaurant up and running but your menu doesn’t seem to be working. A restaurant consultant can help you decide what should remain on your menu, what should go or change and what else can be added to your menu.
5. Menu Design
Your menu’s visual design is what will capture your customer’s interest. A well designed menu will take into consideration customer psychology, item placement and brand identity. A uniquely designed menu will not only get you returning customers but in today’s Instagram age, help you reach out to newer and wider audiences at no extra cost.
6. Menu Pricing
Pricing your menu is one of the trickiest tasks required while planning the menu. Price too high and you lose a whole section of the audience. Price too low and your restaurant bears losses. Price without considering daily needs, raw materials and so many other factors that can make your restaurant either a success or a failure. Be absolutely sure to consult an expert for this one.
7. Plateware Selection
Even before the food is served, customers interact with and judge the plateware at your restaurant. Your plateware could enhance your restaurant’s ambience, set the tone for the food and amaze your customers. Experts can guide you with buying the proper plateware for each of the dishes on your menu and help you plate each of dishes as well.
8. Glassware Selection
Just as with plateware, glassware plays an important role in setting the restaurant’s ambience. A fine dine restaurant would be incomplete without the proper glassware to accentuate each of their drinks. Something as simple as glasses for water can be done creatively. An expert will consider all possible factors for picking the perfect glasses to serve at your restaurant.
9. Take-out Packaging Recommendations
Delivery packaging needs planning for the kind of food you serve as well as how to make it compact, efficient and an experience of its own. A consultant can help you not only plan your packaging but also decide which menu items should be kept for delivery and help you optimize that process.
10. Menu Offers
Most restauranteurs miss out on planning for menu offers while building your menu. These could be limited time offers, lunch offers or so much more which can help build your business using existing dishes or introducing some new dishes for a short time.
Phew! Didn’t think there would be so many considerations for menu creation, right? If you are feeling a little overwhelmed by so many tasks, feel free to reach out to us. Contact us for a free consultation today. We can help make your menu stand out and be the asset it needs to be.
