Restaurant Marketing Plans 2014 –Your Menu

As you move forward into 2014, there are many ways to improve the profitability of your restaurant. One of them is with your menu. It is your highway to profitability.Every one of your customers and potential customers looks at it.

Menu Design

Effective Menu Design

If you keep that thought in mind, you will understand why you need to stay on top of your menu to make sure you are achieving the following objectives:

  • Have the true cost of my menu items been defined? Do I have recipe cards for each item?
  • Have you done a menu engineering analysis to see what your most profitable items are?
  • Has your menu been designed for profitability? Design styles can have an impact on check averages.
  • How are you priced against your local competition?
  • Is your menu being used as a marketing tool?

It is important to get your menu right as you move into the next year. Recent analysis say that the food and labor cost are expected to rise by 4.6% next year. Commodity costs continue to rise and the impact of raising the minimum wage in many states will put more pressure on your bottom line. Menu costing and menu engineering strategies help you achieve the proper cost as well as eliminate potential waste in the kitchen.

How can an effective menu design help your restaurant marketing plan? Proper menu placement based on the menu engineering analysis and design factors will most likely have a positive impact on your check averages. Unfortunately, many restaurants prefer the “Do It Yourself” process and never realize these revenue gains.

Your menu is also your marketing tool. Not only do the customers who come in the door see it. Your menu also gets exposure on the web through various menu sites that are on the internet. Another marketing tool is to get your menu into homes within your local community through effective use of Takeout Menus. Do you have online ordering? It presents an additional revenue stream for your restaurant.

When I work with my clients I analyze the potential revenue impact of their menu and marketing of their menu to see what the potential ROI is before any work is done. This study often shows that making menu improvements is one of the most profitable steps a restaurant can take. Starting 2014 with this as a primary action step will yield benefits for the entire year. If you would like an analysis for your restaurant, please contact us.

With over 30 years of experience in the food industry, CORE Restaurant Marketing’s mission is helping restaurants improve their revenues. To learn more about how CORE Restaurant Marketing can bring value to the restaurant industry, download the Free Whitepaper “Key Drivers to Restaurant Profitability”.

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