Transcript Designing your Menu - SustainablePurchasing

Menu Inspiration
A unique look at the components
included on a restaurant menu.
Types of Appetizers
• For centuries, a delectable
assortment of small plates
have preceded the main course
• Trend has retained its
popularity.
• According to the National
Restaurant Association's
Tableservice Restaurant
Trends
• Tapas: are a wide variety of
appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish
cuisine, cold or hot.
• Mezze: selection of small dishes
served in the Middle East & the Balkans
as breakfast, lunch or even dinner, w/ or
w/o drinks.
• Antipasti: An appetizer usually
consisting of an assortment of foods, such
as smoked meats, cheese, fish & veggies.
• Amuse-bouches ("mouth amusements")
: single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre
• Dim sum: Refers to a style of
Cantonese food prepared as small bitesized or individual portions of food trad.
served in small steamer.
2012 Menu Sales Outlook by
GuestMetrics
Category
%
Entrees
- 1.5%
Desserts
- 2.3 %
Appetizers
+ 2.8%
• GuestMetrics has a
proprietary database of 250
million recent table-service
restaurant & bar transactions.
• The company’s analysis helps
explain why operators have
seen such tough season.
• Customers still come to
restaurants as before; they
simply order less food than
they once did.
Appetizers: Why offer them?
• Consumers are ever cautious
about their restaurant
spending
• Full-service operators have
found their best to get
customers to try a new dish.
• Many cases the appetizers are
shared QSR 75 % of consumers
who purchase appetizers share
them
• More opportunity to put out
new and innovative offerings.
Hotel Fauchere's Bar Louis serves up a sushi pizza that
has proved wildly popular with guests, Milford, PA
Unique ways to market your items
• Change the Appetizer section to
“Sharing Plates”
• Davanti Enoteca in Chicago, category
called “Vasi”, Italian for “vessels”.
They serve 4 items in crocks: a ricotta
cheese spread $5, an olive tapanade
$4, a liver pate for $5, & fresh
mozzarella spread for $8.
• Gordon Food Service in Grand Rapids,
Mich (120)“Crocks & Smears.”
Restaurants are creating a separate
appetizer section for meat spreads,
vegetable & cheese spreads that are
served with toasted or grilled bread.
• Palate Food and Wine in Glendale,
Calif., the spreads, which also include
fish spreads, are served in Mason jars.
Sharable Appetizers
• Mussels cooked in a flavorful liquid,
served w/ shells, bowl to discard,
served with bread
• Lukshon in Culver City, Calif., mussels
are served in green chili curry with
coconut and lime. The Asianinfluenced dish sells for $18.
• Eliminating side dishes & moving
them to the top of the menu. Chefs
apply more aggressive cooking
techniques to make vegetables
flavorful to be served as an app.
alongside a protein-based appetizer
• Gjelina in Venice, Calif., 12 vegetables
All $8 options include charred
brussels sprouts w/bacon, dates &
vinegar; grilled Russian kale w/ lamb
sausage, yogurt dressing & toasted
hazelnuts; & braised sprouting
broccoli served w/ smoked ham &
tomato broth.
Inside Look into Jones, Philly
http://www.jones-restaurant.com/
http://www.jonesrestaurant.com/JONES_allday.pdf
• They see the trend of apps rise. With
the current climate of tapas-style
restaurants increasing.
• See their guests moving away from
traditional coursed meals & instead
ordering appetizers in a coursed
fashion, allowing them to try many
different things instead of
committing to 1 specific dish.
• Jones prices apps $7 to $14 range
• Best-selling dish = mac & cheese 8.5
(b/c it’s easy to relate = comfort)
• Sell over 15,000 a year =$127,500
• Guests order several appetizers &
leave them to stay on the table w/
their dinner & easily accompany as
a side dish w/ dinner.
New Playbook to Kids Menus
• With childhood obesity so
widespread—1/3 of America’s
children are overweight
• Restaurants are beginning to
take on responsibility by
offering healthier kids’ menus.
• National Restaurant Association
recently initiated Kids
LiveWell, a program helping
parents identify restaurants w/
healthier options.
• Other initiatives are motivating
kids to be more active, most
notably First Lady Michelle
Obama’s Let’s Move campaign.
Kids Menu Stats
Researchers @ University of Edinburgh (UK)
found : kids who eat same food as adults =
healthier.
▫ 31% of families are now more active with
their kids
▫ 63% of moms have made a change in their
kids eating habits over past year
▫ 70% of moms want to see healthy kids
options on menus
▫ 80% of kids say eating healthy is important
What can you do?
• Change your cooking techniques:
grilling/poaching/baking
• Options include: dim sum, hummus, yogurt &
the use of sweet potato.
• Homemade comfort desserts, smoothies,
granola bars, top flavors: strawberry,
blueberry & orange.
Healthier Kids Options
To support parents’ efforts to feed their
children a healthy diet, restaurants should:
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Participate in NRA Kids LiveWell program
& reformulate meals so all meet calorie,
sodium, fats & other nutrition standards
Offer more fruit & vegetable options & make
those options the default side dishes w/
every children’s meal
Remove soft drinks & other sugary drinks
from children's menus
Offer more whole grains as a part of
children’s meals;
Provide calorie information for all menu
items on menus or menu boards
Market only healthy options to children
through all marketing approaches used by
the restaurant, including through mass
media, websites, in-store promotions and
toy give-aways, school-related activities, &
other venues.
Kids Meals Food Facts
• The majority of restaurants (68%) offer fruit as a
side item with children’s meals.
• 7 in 10 chains (73%) offer fried potatoes, such as
French fries and potato chips, as a side item with
children’s meals.
• Over ½ (53%) of restaurant chains offer vegetables
other than fried potatoes with children’s meals.
• Most common types of vegetable side items are
broccoli (fresh and steamed), carrots, celery, salad,
corn, green beans, & mashed potatoes.
Kids Menu Beverages
• Over ¾ (78%) of the restaurant chains offer
soft drinks as children’s beverage options.
• Over ½ the chains (58%) offer fruit juices.
• Nearly ½ (40%) of chains offer non-fat/lowfat (1% or fat-free) milk
• 43% of chains offer high-fat (2% or whole)
milk
• Only 1 chain, Arby’s, includes a bottle of
water as an option with its children’s meals.
Kids Innovations
Food Menu Items:
• Dijon, Saltine and Wheat
Germ Crusted Chicken
Fingers with Ranch Dipping
Sauce
• Angel Food Cake with
Tropical Fruit Compote
• Healthy Fair for Kids @
Midway International
Airport, Chicago
• Logos are spotted on the
tops of grab & go containers
in most restaurant coolers
primarily in Concourses A
& B and near baggage
claim.
• Foods include: antibioticfree meats, whole grain
breads, smaller portion
sizes, lower salt, no deepfried anything, local
ingredients and nonsugared beverages.
8 Tips to Healthier Menu
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Add color fruits/vegetables:
peaches, nectarines, corn,
salad/lettuce &spinach.
Add whole grains: pizza crust,
bread, quinoa, brown rice.
Add lean protein: turkey, tofu,
chicken, fish, etc.
Add flavor: Fruit sauces, fruit
salsas, marinades, honey
mustards -get creative.
Beverages: 100% whole fruit juice,
skim milk
Add fruit slices and options for
water.
Watch sodium levels: 1 T
ketchup/mustards has 170 mg.
Pickles have 300 mg.
Explore your adult menu and
promote those items on your kids
menu.
Cocktail Menu
• Create seasonal cocktail list,
understand your local
seasonality & plan for year.
• Summer menu: lots of berries
(strawberries are usually the
first in) and floral flavors and
aromas (lots of gin & botanical
focus).
• Use stone fruits, melons.
• Consider the regular
clientele
• Hire an experienced
mixologist to help design,
execute and promote the
menu.
• Take into account seasonal
climate changes and
regionally celebrated
festivities.
• Place your most profitable
specialty drinks near the
top of the menu.
• Cost the menu properly. The
industry standard for
determining the mark-up of
cocktails 25%
Create a Beer List
• Express the restaurant’s unique
personality and style.
• Having only 10 craft beers can work
well for most restaurants
• Great beer list does not have to have
100 beers.
• Beer is a perishable product & most
are at their best when consumed
quite fresh.
• Give customers opportunity to
select from various price points
within the same beer style requires
having more selections.
• Basic craft beer might sell for $4.00
- $5.00 for a 12-oz. bottle & best-in
class might go for $10.00
Beer List Tips
• Craft beer list should be related
to the food menu
• Use published lists "The Top
100 Beers" to get some ideas
highly rated products, consider
your product mix.
• Be careful when using extreme
beers. Extreme beers are big,
bold, higher alcohol beers that
are especially popular, if not
carefully matched, can easily
overpower food.
• A craft beer list should not be an
expression of what your
distributor wants to sell you, but
must be an expression of your
establishment's concept, style
and cuisine.
Wine List
• The sections of a wine menu are
standard: reds, whites, roses,
sparkling, & dessert wines.
• For lengthier lists, typical
subsections are created
according to grape varietals or
regions of origin.
• Wine list sections often start w/
the priciest bottles & end on the
cheapest.
• A helpful description of the
wines on your wine list is the
most important part of
facilitating the ordering process
for unsure customers.
• Check out the wine lists of your
local competiting restaurants,
clubs etc.
Create Categories
• Indicating if a wine is sweet or
dry, full-bodied or light, &
other basic information
• Group your wines according to
taste categories: “Light and
Delicate Whites”, followed by
“Slightly Sweet Whites”
followed by “Dry, Full-Bodied
Whites”.
• You can get creative and group
wines by special interest, such
as “Organic and Biodynamic
Whites”, “Exotically Scented
European Whites”, or “Cheap
Thrills”.
• Consider grouping your wines
by food affinities, such as
“Crisp, Dry Whites for
Seafood” followed by “Fullbodied Whites for Roast
Poultry” followed by “Big, fullbodied Reds for Steaks”…or
something like that.
How to Describe Wine?
• Consider using my “5-word
review” for a tiny bit of
supporting information:
▫ French Pinot Noir – Light and
Dry.
▫ Off-dry, fruity, great with
sushi.
▫ Light, delicate, fruity and crisp.
▫ Pink bubbly, but don’t call it
sweet.
▫ PLEASE…even if your wine list
style of choice is minimalistic,
PLEASE provide detailed wine
notes and descriptions to your
staff, either in “wine class” style
or in printed training
materials!
The List
• A good wine list denotes
four things about every
wine:
▫ The name of the
producer.
▫ The name of the wine
itself (including any
modifiers such as
“Reserve”).
▫ The region of origin
(unless it’s a regional
wine).
▫ The vintage date.
Here’s a perfect example:
Robert Mondavi Winery
Cabernet Sauvignon
Reserve, Napa Valley;
2009
Or
Cabernet Sauvignon,
Robert Mondavi Winery,
Napa Valley, 2009.
Pricing your wine
• It has been proven that wine sales
increase if at least 50% of your
wines-by-the-bottle are priced
between 1 and 2 times the price of
an average entrée.
• Average entrée priced $20.00,
customers will not flinch at a bottle
of wine priced $20.00 - $40.00.
• For wines by the glass, “rule of
thumb” that one 4- or 5-ounce glass
of wine covers the wholesale cost of
the bottle. Any additional glasses
poured from the bottle are pure
profit.
 If a bottle of Kim Crawford
Sauvignon Blanc has a wholesale
price of $8.00, a good price for a
glass is…you guessed it, $8.00.
http://bubblyprofessor.com
/2011/01/01/miss-janestop-ten-tips-for-wine-lists/
Competitive Analysis
• What is the direct labor involved in its preparation? Does it require skilled
preparation or just simple heating & plating?
• What is the portion size?
• What kind of restaurant are you? (fast-casual, limited-service, fine-dining)
• What are the accompaniments served with it?
• What is the check average you seek?
• What are the prices of other menu items in the same menu category and the
spread among items in other categories?
• Is there live entertainment or music in the restaurant?