Episode 102, Make Changing Your Menu Easier, Quicker and More Effective

Make Changing Your Menu Easier, Quicker and More Effective

(If you make the process difficult, you won’t do it as often)

When should you change your menu?

• When your customers are tired of dishes
  • Your staff will tell you
  • Your sales will tell you
  • Your customers will tell you (by not showing up as often)
• Seasonally (If applicable)
• When it’s time to shake things up, stay relevant and keep interest piqued
• When dishes aren’t profitable and raising the price isn’t an option
• When food cost is too high
• If you haven’t changed it in 6 months

How do you know which dishes to change?

• Seasonal items
• Tired items
• Unprofitable items
• Most Effective way of deciding
• Menu Engineering
  • Take the decision mostly out of it
  • Requires some up-front work, but the ROI is incredible
• Going by Sales Mix report is what most people use, but you may be missing the mark in doing so
  • Could be a profitable and popular dish if the price is right

Make it Easier, Quicker and More Effective

• Develop a protocol
  • Step 1: Continually research and develop dish ideas that fit your segment
    • Trends
    • Competitors
    • Corporate LTO’s
    • Trendy Social Media accounts
    • Your own LTO’s that have won fanfare
    • Ask Hillcrest/Anthony
  • Step 2: Test execution and market response via LTO’s/Special Board
    • Toggle price, description and composition until you are comfortable
  • Step 3: Decide what existing dishes to change
    • Implement an ongoing menu engineering workflow
      • Isolate proposed changes based on menu engineering work sheet and audit each recommended change from a financial perspective
  • Step 4: Cost out proposed dishes to ensure profitability
  • Step 5: Get changes to graphic designer (Find a good one and latch on!)
  • Step 6: Develop menu descriptions to educate your staff
  • Step 7: Pre-launch tasting with all staff and encourage HONEST feedback
  • Step 8: Launch
    • Hype up on social media/marketing outlets
  • Step 9: Start the process over the day you launch
  • Step 10 (Bonus):
    • R&D Panel tasting (can include management, friends, family and customers)
    • Create a cloud storage space to where employees can post ideas and share thoughts
    • Learn how to change prices/descriptions
      • Eliminate need for graphic designer on small changes – increase speed exponentially
      • Print in-house
        • Tailor menu design to fit this
        • Purchase/lease requisite printer
          • Will pay for itself

Overall

• Being faster means more profit (especially with fluctuating prices)
• It keeps things interesting and you relevant
• Don’t let a long process render you cynical. 
  • It still needs to be done
  • You can get faster – don’t accept anything else
  • I have changed menus mid-shift