Who knew that a menu could control your thoughts?  It turns out that it can, in a way.  It can be used to suggest items, and often, the suggestive power of a carefully crafted menu actually works.  A blog on the Baltimore Sun’s site examines the power of menus to lead customers to exactly the items the chef hopes they’ll order.  One of the sources for the post is an in-depth look at menu design by Restaurants USA from 2000, no less relevant today.  Both are an interesting read, and in the end, you can see how this kind of “mind manipulation” is actually a win for both parties.  The chef highlights the signature dish or the dishes with the highest profit margin, and the customer gets a menu that is attractive, easy-to-read, and acts as a guide in the decision-making process.

According to Restaurants USA, the average increase in revenue from a menu redesign is between 2 and 10 percent.  That in itself might just be reason enough to give your menus a second look.  Feeling inspired?  Take a look at all the menu-making options available at Serv-U, and if you’re thinking of adding food photography to your new menus, make sure to dress up each dish with attractive plating, from melamine dinnerware to fine china plates.  Questions?  Just call us at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site.

To wrap up our series of blog posts about improving your bottom line, I’d like to cover a few extra ways to save your business money—and increase your profits.  One is through creative menu-making.  With food costs in flux, many restaurateurs are finding this to be a good time to rework their menus, featuring high-profit and value-oriented items in the most eye-catching locations.  Changes in menu offerings and prices often lead to renewed customer interest and higher profits.  Rather than outsource your menu-making, though, make your own menus with quality menu paper and protective menu jackets.  Making your own menus also allows you complete control over the finished product.  If you’re looking for a way to offer seasonal items or daily specials, consider inexpensive table tents; use them to keep your food inventory in check and reduce spoilage.  Write-on signs are another good choice for featuring a particular dish for a limited time.

Besides revamping your menu, it’s always a good time to reenergize your employees.  The foodservice industry isn’t suffering the labor shortages more common in years past, but it is still important to invest in keeping your managers, cooks, and wait staff at the top of their game.  An essential tool in brushing up on skills or retraining staff is a collection of specialized foodservice training books and manuals.  In fact, with “poor service” often named the #1 consumer complaint about dining out, training your staff to offer the best service possible is a way to differentiate yourself from your competition.

You can give new life to your seating, too, with replacement furniture parts.  In these economic times, it is often more cost-effective to replace the necessary parts rather than purchase new.  For example, a barstool with a worn seat can get a fresh look with a slip-on seat cover—at a fraction of the cost of new furniture.  Even if you’d just like to test out a new décor, barstool covers and replacement seats allow you to make the transformation at a minimal cost.  At Serv-U, we carry replacement seats for wood furniture, upholstered seats for metal barstools, barstool swivels, slip-on barstool covers, metal barstool frames, chair glides, table base plates and columns, and even upholstery by the yard.

Of course, there are times when you need new furniture.  After all, your dining area needs to be comfortable, inviting, and up-to-date for your guests.  For new restaurant furniture, you can count on Serv-U to supply you with top-quality chairs, barstools, booths, and tables at factory-direct prices.  For the best quality furniture for the price, look for Serv-U Furniture in our catalog and online.  Many styles are in-stock for immediate shipment, and our sales staff is very well versed on the details of our furniture; just call 800-797-3788 to have any questions answered.  We also have complete turnkey services if you are considering a remodeled kitchen or dining area; for details, call 800-797-3788.

In these economic times, security is critical.  Be sure that you protect your hard earned profits by using a heavy duty safe.  Depository safes allow employees to make quick and easy deposits without access to the inside of the safe.  If you have any more money-saving tips or if you have tried any of the above ideas successfully, email your stories to us at servusales@servu-online.com and we will add them to this blog.  Thank you for your patronage.

When it comes to making new menus, many factors must come into play; food cost and availability will likely be at the top of any restaurateur’s mind.  According to a Time article, though, the font may be in the back of the customer’s mind.

This news article is based on a report that will appear in October in Psychological Science, and the researchers report that certain font types on menus convey very particular emotions to diners.

“To conduct one of her experiments, Song compared the responses of subjects exposed to menu descriptions typed in a simple Arial font with responses from those exposed to identical dish descriptions in a harder-to-read Mistral font. Subjects in the latter group were more likely to conclude that the dish was hard to prepare and required great skill.”

So if food costs are worrying you, and it’s time for that dreaded price increase, using a fancy font on your new menu may lead diners to believe that there is an added value to the food.  Of course, use this tactic at your own peril, as some suggest fancy fonts will bring nothing but trouble:

“ ‘Using fancy fonts and small print may suggest that you're sophisticated, fancy and highbrow, but also pretentious and unapproachable,’ says Aaron Allen, founder and CEO of the Quantified Marketing Group, a restaurant design and marketing company based in Orlando, Florida.”

But if you really are ready for an exciting menu project, you might take a lesson from Bennigan’s.  The nationwide casual chain has recently come out with an all-Spanish menu because, as their director of marketing says, “The U.S. Hispanic community is our country’s fastest-growing segment, and this new menu is just one more way we can welcome those customers.”

…Speaking of Spanish-language offerings, here at Serv-U, se habla espanol; favor de llamar 800-797-3788!  Serv-U has everything necessary to create your new menus, so give us a call!

As the economy and American food tastes change, so do the menus in many restaurants.  I recently found a couple of interesting articles on the topics of food trends (in the US in general and specific to restaurants).  So have a good Thursday and enjoy these good reads:

From the Year of the Potato to chicken to superfoods and ethnic food influences, QSR Magazine has pulled together commentary from some top-notch contemporary chefs.  For some good ideas from seasoned experts, check out the whole article.

 (photo courtesy of Sashertootie on Flickr)

It turns out that a lot of consumers and cooks alike are retooling their menus to suit today’s changing economy.  Cooks might move toward more economical dishes and eliminate low-profit items from their menus.  The average consumer in the grocery store seems to be more likely than ever to opt for organic foods (according to a recent article in The New York Times); many foods in this sector seemed to have escaped price increases, making them more appealing to cash-strapped consumers.  Organics may become more popular in restaurants for the very same reasons, not to mention that organics on the menu can be a good marketing opportunity for a restaurant trying to set itself apart from the competition.

Let your restaurant menus do your marketing…

On average, a restaurant customer only spends three minutes perusing the pages of a menu.  In those three minutes, though, your restaurant’s menu should become your best marketing tool.  Customers who are truly drawn into a menu are more likely to have a hard time picking their favorite choice and are more likely to return to your restaurant a second time.  Get their attention, and get it FAST with an eye-catching menu layout and presentation.

Images, boxes, colors, and bolded text all attract the consumer’s eye.  The upper right-hand corner of a two-page menu is often referred to as the “sweet spot.”  This is where your customers’ eyes start and end their journey over your restaurant’s selections.  This is a good place to highlight the most popular and most profitable selections on your menu. 

Of course, the look of your menus is important, but so is the feel.  Print your menus on heavy, high quality paper.  Then, protect your carefully designed restaurant menus with plastic menu jackets.  To infuse an air of sophistication, add a leatherette book jacket.  These jackets can even be imprinted with your restaurant’s name, leaving a lasting impression on your customers.

A menu stand lets you showcase your menu tableside.  Table tents can serve the same purpose, great for allowing your guests to peruse your restaurant’s dessert or drink options while enjoying their main course.

For organizing your collection of menus, menu racks are available in many variations, including wall-mount and free standing.  They keep the menus tidy, giving a clean, professional look to your restaurant’s front of house.  They also make access to the menus easy for quick seating during your business’s busiest times.

Featuring daily specials at your restaurant will garner attention and allow you to reduce spoilage by getting more of a particular item out of the kitchen on a given day.  One great way to showcase those specials without the cost and labor of individual menu inserts is to set up a sign (indoors or out) that can be changed daily to suit your restaurant’s changing needs.  These signs come in a variety of styles and sizes to suit your restaurant décor.  There are metal restaurant signs, wood restaurant signs, pedestal signs, easel-style signs, chalkboards, whiteboards, lettering signs and more.  Choose the one that’s right for your restaurant and keep your customers coming back to taste your daily specials.