5 Ways to Grow your Restaurant Sales With Takeout Menus

Do you know the ROI of Takeout Menus for your restaurant?

At the start of a new year many restaurant owners are scratching their heads on how to grow business. The opportunities are many, but some are readily tossed aside. One of those often neglected strategies is Takeout Menus.

Recently I had a conversation with a restaurant owner who wanted to order 250 takeout menus. I asked him why so few menus? His comment to me was all related to the cost of takeout menus. His plan had been to keep them behind the counter and give them to customers who asked if he had a ToGo menu. I get it, he wanted to save money but did not even consider the opportunity lost. As you can imagine, I had to continue this conversation forward.

Discover Menu Marketing Strategies

As our conversation continued, we discusses the pros and cons of the five strategies below and the potential impact on growing his business.

1. Keeping takeout menus at the restaurant counter.
2. Handing our takeout menus to each customer as they pay for their order.
3. Direct mail programs to local households
4. Conversion programs for 3rd party delivery orders.
5. Community event participation.

We talked about the economics of having a high quality menu that makes it to the menu drawer in the home, not the kitchen trash can. If he were to print 5,000 takeout menus the average cost would be about .16 cents per menu. With an average sale of $27.00 per check, it then comes down to simple math. Most of the menus would be utilized for people who have dined at your restaurant so the goal would be to get more orders through the course of the year. We also know that takeout orders or online orders tend to be 18% higher than dine in customers. That statistic alone could raise his check average to over $30.00

Let’s do the math. If the restaurant converts 20% of those takeout menus to customers who order only 5 times per year, it would generate $150,000 in revenue. Not a bad investment for menus that would cost roughly $800. It sounds so simple, but you need to be committed to a menu marketing strategy to grow sales.

The current restaurant trends indicate that consumers want convenience when they consider restaurant choices. Many are turning to online ordering for pickup or delivery. The growth of 3rd party delivery companies is proof of what consumers want. Are you taking advantage of these trends, or finding ways to reduce cost?

At CORE Restaurant Marketing, we have helped many restaurants design and execute a business strategy. Our mission is simple, how can we help restaurants succeed. Our services we offer touch and the experts we utilize have generated proven results for restaurants of all types. Contact us at info@corerestaurantmarketing.com for more information or schedule a time to speak with one of our restaurant marketing coaches.