Streamline your menu

Keep things simple in the kitchen

Support your kitchen and service teams in these difficult times by considering how you can move away from multiple menus with complex choices.

Almost all businesses have had to streamline their menus in the pandemic but this has had very little effect on consumers, since 77% of consumers are happy to visit a restaurant with a limited menu*.

Creating a smaller menu helps with not only stock control, but tighter labour control too. If the menu is smaller, focus on the description on the menu to make all the dishes sound very appetising, using all the buzz words customers want to hear. All of this will make things in the kitchen a lot simpler, particularly if you no longer have the same resources you once had and if you can’t get hold of certain products.

* OMNE Hungry for New Edition 2, 2021

Create a flexible menu

If you are still looking for flexibility and to keep things fresh, making use of special boards has never been so important! This now only allows you so much flexibility with changing ingredients, but there is also a psychological influence on consumers who perceive more quality from special boards.

“Having dishes that are dishes like ‘pie of the day’/’soup of the day’ or even by being a bit more generic with menu descriptions (like saying fish and chips, instead of cod and chips), it adds a feel of freshly made and it also allows you to maximise what you have.”

– Damon Corey, Culinary Development Chef

Keep on top of allergens information

Flexibility is great but don’t forget just how important allergens are to clearly either display on your special board or train your staff to know of.

When creating these dishes our recipe tool for Bidfood Direct is ideal with helping you have the confidence that you are correctly displaying all allergens when you have to adapt your menu.

How to simplify your menu

By streamlining your menu, this allows you to really focus on what you’re known for and to make your menu something that’s a truly memorable experience.

Quality of food and drink is consumers’ number 1 driver on where they will eat, coming in above price and breadth of choice*.

You can create more profitable menus by making simple changes in the way you display dishes to perceive more quality. Simple swaps for things like changing nachos on a plate to in a metal chip cup can increase the amount a consumer is willing to pay by up to 80%!

If you’re looking for more tips on this, speak to our Catering Supplies team for tips on what you can do to utilise how you display your food to drive more profitability on your menu.

Keep customer favourites and improve efficiency

Never steer away from what you are known for. You should prioritise traditional customer favourites and do these really well, alongside healthier options and any seasonal specials you might have.

One of the hardest habits to change is adapting a formula that has always worked for your menu favourites.

However, with such a strain on resources, could you consider simplifying things where you can? Things like ready to use sauces, pastes and rubs have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years:
• They provide total consistency in your recipes across your menu
• They save hours of preparation time in the kitchen
• They’re usually very flexible

So plan your menu to take into account how you can use things like “mother sauces” across multiple dishes on your menu.