Developing Menus

I’m bringing to the table this crucial subject, how to succeed with your food menus???
There are thousands of restaurants, however, not many times the menus are developed with logic or driven to profitability, so I’ll start first with some myths:

*Hundreds of dishes in your menu do not please Clients, actually, they confuse them.

*What the Owner, GM or Partner eats, does not mean that all of your Clients will like it.

*The best way to know that your menu is a success (among other things), your success it’s directly proportioned with the leftovers in the trash, if your plates return clean, it tells you that you are on the right track, if it doesn’t, then you have a problem in your hands.

*The best Executive Chef is NOT the one that cooks the best dishes; it is the one that KNOWS how to make the kitchen Staff to cook those exact same dishes.

*If you don’t have a plan, things WILL go wrong.

*Defrosting meats below a water faucet diminishes almost 30% of the meat liquid, but remember that you paid for that water as if it was meat.

*The water does not boil faster if a cook is continuously looking at it; there are more important things to do around.


Now some of many tips for you to have a well planned and successful menu:

1.-Seasonal fruits and vegetables and fishes are cheaper, nicer and better, use them.

2.-Write the menu properly, there is a classic menu order, follow it accordingly, using correct cooking methods and terms.

3.-Print your menus in the best quality materials, as they are the face Clients look at.

4.-Do not overflow your menu with countless dishes, 6 of each course will do the trick.

5.-Use sustainability in your favor, local ingredients are cheaper, fresher and you are contributing to your destination.

6.-Do not use the same factor to price your items, use your common sense and use your competitors for it, you wouldn’t want to be out of market.

7.-Your menu has to be “culturally accepted”, don’t use very exotic ingredients (unless your concept reflects that or your Clientele recognizes), otherwise you will end up with unhappy Clients and lots of money into the garbage.

8.-Use the philosophy of “Honest Food” (it’s a satisfaction for Clients when they got a good deal for a good meal).

9.-GET BACK TO BASICS, your target market has changed, you need to change as well or you will be out of business quickly, go through your business again and again, and look for the basics of Clients satisfaction, financial achievement and Staff motivation, the rest is “a piece of cake”.

Running out of ideas on how to bring your menus back to life?

If you got to the point of taking three aspirins with espresso while your hands are shaking and you still have no clue on how to bring dishes variety for your Clientele, take a soothing green tea, breath normally, count to ten and relax, then I invite you to read some recommendations on how to bring some life back to your menus, remember that menus are your recommendation letters, your sales tools and your marketing pitch, so my tip for you is to make it right, not in a good way, but in a professional way (there’s thousands of miles that separate this two visions). So here are many things that you CAN do in order to make it profitable:

===To aim for a specific target market, first you need to figure out what your competitors are doing, and after that, you have two options left, create something new or make the existing much better than your competition (the professional way).

===It’s not a biblical damnation if you ask for help; there are many professionals out there that would help you building successful menus, trust on what you see, not of what you’ve heard.

===Search the internet, browse through old magazines, look up for cookbooks, but not just for copying recipes, but for getting fresher ideas, new trends, dishes presentation, but try to make it cost-effective.

===Mile long menus are difficult to read, to understand, to interpret and most likely you have your kitchen full with expired or close to expire food. Your menus should be concise, explained (otherwise you will end up with an “explanation waiter” instead of a seller), easy reading (fonts) and lead you to mouthwatering just for reading it.

===Get the most out of seasonal products, as you will end up buying cheaper, fresher and tastier. Ask your suppliers for seasonal ingredients, that way you can bring your menus a very special twist.

===Build up a solid ingredients chart; include minimums, maximums, and point of reorder, cost and three supplier’s options, this will take your headaches away, and you can get a very standard way of purchasing.

===Make daily specials, this can bring menu variety for your Customer, especially if they are regular Clients. Also prepare a cocktail of the day, this will light up your bar just a notch.

If you are a Vendor or Supplier, I cordially ask you to please abstain yourself of promoting your services and products.

Please feel free to leave a note or share your professional experience.