How do you approach the development of your menu?

[maxpete]

Hey everyone!

I'm curious to know how you approach the development of your menu? What inspires the choices of your dishes and drinks? 🍽🍹

[maxpete]

Interested to hear your thoughts @slatebleu, @amorano, @Nolanryan, @Lovethesoup & @scalehouse 

[scalehouse]

We're a brewery/pizzeria, so drink and menu dishes are pretty standard.  For drink, we have our beers that we brew on site, 12 on tap.  Typically we have our year round signature beers (6-8) and then rotate out the rest based on season.  Lighter/low ABV in the spring/summer, darker/higher abv in the Fall/winter.  We also have a selection of local wines.  With wine we like to have a variety or white, red, rose, sparking year round.  we try to have a range of lower/end cheaper to higher end expensive and since we do pizza and meatballs, our reds are selected based on whats best with italian food. 

For Food, we do pizza specials and depending on what sells may end up on the permanent menu as an addition or replacement.  I always try to create a special with ingredients we already have in house and used on other items.  Rarely do I create something that requires ordering additional ingredients that we don't have in house.  This keeps costs down and inventory levels/ordering manageable.  During the summer we don't do much special, just pushing regular menu to stay efficient.  In the winter we do pasta nights, soup specials, happy hours in order to cater to the year round locals, many of which we only see in the winter as summers are for the tourists.

Hope that helps!  We are full service with host, servers, dishwashers, prep, etc, and one of the only ones left in the area like this.  most have changed to self serve or ordering counters. 

[maxpete]

@scalehouse I appreciate you sharing this! Sounds like you have a great system in place and love that you like to change things up depending on the seasons and what is available in house. 🍕

[TheCreamery]

Menu design is important for sure to refresh every season. The core items ...customer favourites are always difficult to change out...but to stop customer 'menu fatigue' its certainly necessary 

We try to keep out menu current....like the introduction of Poke Bowls, Smoothie bowls etc..

Sure cross using ingredients is a necessary to manage food costs.

Keep it simple is the nest advice!

[maxpete]

@TheCreamery definitely agreed! How do you keep track of customer satisfaction of new items? Just based on their reviews and how much they order?

[DSander]

Before we opened our restaurant we did a lot of market research by either visiting other establishments in our area or scouring website. (I was new to the area.) This way we could see what was trending in our area. That's great for finding what people want. 

We then went on to create items we wanted also. Overtime, some of those became favorites because they were unique to the area and some dropped off and we 'gave in' with bringing in some standards that guests kept asking for. 

For inspiration moving on, I constantly read through industry and food blogs to see what's trending. eater.com and punch.com for example. There are also food trend magazine and articles on yelp for business and many other site. Your food purveyors typically offer these also. Your food reps also are good sources for what's happening out there by knowing what is being ordered. 

Get on instagram and such and follow restaurants from around the country. Go on Eater.com or the infatuation.com and pick a city that is similar to yours demographic and pull up their "top restaurants" or "must visit new restaurant" list and go to each of those places websites and read their menus. 

There's never been a better time to get inspiration so easily.

[maxpete]

@DSander these are such great tips and ideas, thank you for sharing! What are your most popular dishes?

[lawnbrook]

We are primarily a winery an distillery, but the restaurant side of our business is there to bring people in. We try to make sure we stay ahead of the curve in our area. We don't want to be a follower. We have always used qualified chefs as aposed to 'cooks' and it really shows. The customer feedback is in agreement.

The one thing we need to do is 'train' the chefs to not get overcomplicated with offerings. We run with a single chef and kitchen hand so the dishes must be quick to prepare. Much of this relies on mid week prep so that weekend service is more an exercise of finishing and assembly.

We avoid premade 'anything' where possible.

The other big aspect of the menu for us (as a distillery) is cocktails. High value drinks that use our own spirits obviously lead to higher profit 😎

[maxpete]

Love that you are looking to make unique dishes and an experience for your customers too! Definitely a good call out on making sure that the dishes aren't super complicated too so that you can prepare them as quick as possible.

Any favorites from either your chefs or customers?

Yes to the cocktails, can definitely be a high ticket item. 🍸

[chingyong]

Hey MaxPete!

Menu magic for us involves a blend of taste trends, seasonal flair, and a dash of culinary intuition. We're all about crafting dishes and drinks that not only satisfy cravings but also spark excitement. What's your secret ingredient for menu development? Let's swap inspiration! 🍽️🥂

[maxpete]

Love hearing that, do you have any favorites? I don't work at a restaurant but if I were to, I would definitely incorporate seasonality into my menu items!