Menu Tips
Here are some suggestions for using your menu as a powerful selling tool:
- Romance the desserts. Describe the flavors and ingredients with enticing, rich, and descriptive words.
- Remember that branding of premium ingredients enhances image and value.
- Keep customers coming back with wide variety and unique choices.
- Make sure your dessert selections reflect the overall mood and theme of your restaurant.
- Price with an eye on the value perception of your patrons, not based on a rigid cost formula.
- Patrons tend to scan menus, so highlight specials with visual tricks like boxes or shading. Operators can expect a 20% minimum increase when they highlight.
Your Wait staff is Their Guide
Your wait staff can have a significant impact on dessert sales and profits. Teach them some tricks of suggestive selling and reward them for increasing dessert orders:
- Make sure they sample the desserts themselves for inspiration.
- Be sure to let them know if there are any specials you want to promote, and if you're temporarily out of anything.
- Suggest that when they hand customers the menu, they remind them to save room for dessert, and to remind them again during the meal.
- When it's time, instead of "Do you want dessert?" tell them to say "Now you're ready for the best part!"
- Display your dessert selection. Actually seeing a luscious dessert on a tray can sway even the most reluctant patron.
Promotions Are Key
Promotions can also be a powerful check-builder:
- Drive traffic with strong point-of-sale materials promoting a special dessert, a special menu or even an event.
- Build check averages with add-ons. If customers are ordering pie, suggest à la mode. If a couple says they're too full for dessert, suggest they share.
- Build loyalty with frequency cards or other continuity programs that encourage repeat purchases.
- Consider adding a special meal that includes dessert at a bundled price.