7 TIPS ON BOOSTING THE MOST PROFITABLE ITEMS ON YOUR MENU

Profit margins are notably slim in the restaurant business, but boosting the volume of beverages and desserts can be one of the simplest approach to generate more profit from every customer you served. Your menu should be designed to highlight your most profitable items and drive customers to order meals that you know will bring them back.

An excellent restaurant menu design is a mix of art direction, psychology and understanding of your business. From the time your customer walks into your restaurant, a memorable and exciting experience needs to come into play or you won’t be seeing an increase in your demand as well as your profit. Treat your customers like they are royalty, and they will be more willing to spend a few extra dollars. Think about your past experiences dining out, how were you treated? What did you really enjoy about your meal, or what made you leave and never come again? Here are seven tips that can help any restaurant or food service operation to sell more of the items that stand to put the most cash back into your restaurant.

Package your items appropriately.

The design of your menu can also convince your customers to spend a little more. Some menu designers discovered some ways to enhance a menu so guests will order more items from your menu. Offering some meals in a package format can be a good strategy to sell your most profitable items in the menu, in a way that feels like a value to your customers. In addition, custom menus encourage customers to try items that they like, but wouldn’t typically consider without the “package” deal, including a specialty cocktail, side dishes, desserts or wine.

Redesign your menu.

Effective menu design is an art and science. Use some pictures and layout to “tell a story” while leading the diner’s eyes where you most want them to see, is a key to selling more of the items on your menu. Generally, the upper right corner of the menu is where the eyes travel first, so your most profitable items should be featured in that area. If you can avoid specifying prices, you have the best chance of convincing your customers based on images and language, rather than the price alone.

Tweak your language.

Changing the language you use to relevantly appeal to your customer’s motivations, wants, and desires can have a significant impact on your ability to sell profitable items. Likewise, training your staff to suggest your profitable items on your menu as a sales-oriented conversation versus a closed-ended question can change the result of the order too.

Give a complimentary “introducer”

Boosting your profits by offering free food may seem strange, yet when you offer complimentary items like fresh baked bread, olives or chips, they make the customers want to order something even more profitable as an accompaniment. For example, tasty basket of chips and salsa presented alongside your mouth-watering margarita menu can act as a natural food pairing.

Make the customer feel valued.

Free food on the table does not just satisfy your hungry customer, it will make them willing to order at a certain item at your restaurant in return for your generosity, especially if the food is recognized as high quality. By giving away free food you are increasing the appeal of what you have to offer to the people.

Engage in Social Media

Place your menu online. You can share pictures, recipes and discounts on your menu items. These days, more people are researching online before choosing a restaurant, and having your menu items available online is very important. You can talk about the quality of the food you serve and where it comes from, if this is something that can excite customers.

Create a feeling of celebration.

You can boost the possibilities that diners consider your beverages and desserts you offered by organizing some events and celebrations to your advantage. Additionally, you can create a lively atmosphere supported by classic music, scents and sounds that can make diners feel like they want to stay for a while for dessert and drinks.

There are limits to the prices you can discuss with your suppliers, or the price you can set for various items from customers without affecting the demand, but there are some small yet mighty techniques restaurant owners can leverage to drive sales. With the collective effect of these small changes, there’s a significant impact on your profit and the brand image you form in your customer’s mind.

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