How do you keep your Menu Size Manageable? Simplicity vs Variety

[pessosices]

Hey Food Friends!

Last time we talked about how you keep your menu fresh and updated, and this week I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into that.

How do you keep your menu size in check? How do you balance Simplicity vs. Variety? 

It's easy to want to expand your menu to add variety and have something for everyone. But it's even easier to have that menu get too big and out of control. 

The first step of revamping and improving any restaurant (as illustrated in every food network show) is cutting down the menu. This cuts down on ingredient cost & waste, labor & prep cost, and makes it easier for customers to decide what to get.

But the question is how do you do it?

Do you keep your full menu or do you cut things down and make it simpler?

How do you decide what to keep and what to cut?

How often do you reassess your menu?

Do you go based on the majority or keep certain things even they're less popular?

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences!

Pesso

[Pizzagod]

Why is this a problem?  I mean you have what you have.  Among my other trailers I have a coffee trailer.  Hot, iced, and frozen. No lattes, no hot cappuccinos, nothing that would take a lot of time to get across the counter.  Somebody says they want something else, I just smile and shrug "small trailer".  I'm never going to get every penny out there, better to focus on the money I will get and do a good job with that.

Since you have an ice cream unit, here's what I did-I have soft serve in another of my trailers, and I sell cones and dishes (that's simple enough) Sundaes (Just syrup, no whipped cream, no cherries, etc.) and shakes. 20 oz. shake is $9.  Customer wants it, fine, if not, no problems. But it's fast.  This trailer initially also had popcorn, candy and caramel apples, cookie dough on a stick, and cotton candy. First REAL busy day I got I dropped the apples, the popcorn and the cookie dough.  I can push out a lot of the items I'm focusing on. As far as offering everything else in the world?  I'm never going to please everybody anyway, why not focus on doing a good job with the items I am carrying?

[pessosices]

Thanks for sharing, @Pizzagod !

I definitely agree that keeping things limited is the way to go! There are so many benefits, and having the excuse of a small space or anything else is a great way to do it.

We stopped doing shakes a couple of years ago because of the high cost and time and issues invovled. And instead of special sundaes filling up the menu, when a customer asks for a sundae we just tell them they can get any flavor and any toppings they want. It works really well!

Thanks for the great pictures and your experience!

[Juicefactoryvii]

I need help! 

[pessosices]

Hey @Juicefactoryvii 

What do you need help with? 
This is a seller-to-seller forum so our help may be limited vs reaching out to customer success team directly, but we can try!  

[Juicefactoryvii]

I feel my menu is large, it has grown and I would like to scale down 

[pessosices]

That’s definitely something we can help with, @Juicefactoryvii !

I would start by recommend that you look at and figure out what your most popular and least popular items are.
And even better, count how many of each item you sell per month/year. 
If you have your items set up on Square, you can go into Reports to see exactly how many of each. 

Cutting out and removing your least popular items is a great way to start. 

From there, you can see what your most expensive ingredients are, and as a result, your least profitable items. Working on increasing the profit there, potentially by raising prices, changing ingredients, or by cutting out those items altogether.

I would love to hear what you find, and keep us updated!
Let me know if you have any questions or if you get stuck anywhere.  

[Pizzagod]

If you feel it's too large, it's too large.

five items tops.

Post yours so we can break your heart.

[Micheljack]

Striking that balance between variety and simplicity is key! I’ve seen how the jollibee menu keeps things diverse yet focused—definitely a great example of smart menu planning.