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Menu
Planning
r o f e g n Cha s ’ e g n Cha ? e k a S With spring in the air, are you planning on rolling out a new menu? Do you change your menu with the seasons or with the wind - in that your offering is a moveable feast in constant flux? Take Stock investigates if menu change or stability holds the key to increased profits.
W
hether your business is a Michelin starred restaurant or a high street sandwich bar, your menu will have its ‘stars’ and its ‘workhorses’.
Stars are customer favourites with a high profit yield and workhorses are favourites but with a lower profit contribution. Either way, you’d be foolhardy to let these dishes off your menu when updating it. Given that you already have these staples taking up actual menu and kitchen work station space, your room for change is physically limited. In turn, this can limit your need for change, enabling you to retain a menu that alters little in its basic format. According to Phil Leverington, of Yorkshire-based restaurant consultancy No Reservations, which works throughout the country helping food businesses boost their profitability, the key to a profitable menu is not how often you change it but rather how focused it is to your customer.
34 Take stock magazine