One Fat Frog knows a thing or two about unique restaurant menus, both from consulting the restaurant entrepreneurs who come buy equipment from us, and also from ordering lunch every day. Having a unique menu is one of the things that helps your restaurant stand out. Here are some frequently asked questions that restaurant entrepreneurs have regarding how to create a unique restaurant menu.
How many items should be on my restaurant menu?
One of the mistakes that One Fat Frog often sees from restaurant entrepreneurs is having too many menu items. A menu that is too large means that there will be more food waste, which will hurt your profits. One of the ways that restaurants increase profitability is to remove dishes from the menu that are not as popular as well as menu items that do not share ingredients with other dishes. Fewer menu choices also allows you to direct customers toward what you want them to order, such as dishes that are more profitable.
How much should I charge for entrees?
Take it from One Fat Frog. How expensive your dishes are is an important part of your restaurant, not only for profit’s sake but also for your restaurant startup’s image. Directories such as Yelp and Urban Spoon also have price guides that show how expensive your average dish is. People choose a restaurant based on price almost as often as they choose based on your reputation. Your prices are partly determined on the cost of your food and partly by what customers expect for those types of dishes. A sandwich served on a paper plate should be less than $10 while a tender New York Strip could be more than three times that much.
How should my restaurant menu be laid out?
When choosing a design and layout for your restaurant menu, always think this way: What do you want customers to focus on? If you want them to notice how inexpensive your dishes are, make the prices prominent and maybe even put them in order by price. In a fine dining restaurant, you probably don’t want to list the prices at all, because that’s not a concern of your customer. Using pictures of your meals is common in casual restaurants but in higher class restaurants a more stylized design is expected. Your menu layout should convey the theme and atmosphere of your restaurant while directing customers toward whatever you want them to notice, whether that is featuring the wine list, your drink specials, appetizers, or your low calorie or gluten-free menu. If your customers work at One Fat Frog, your menu should feature prominent Happy Hour drink specials. Just saying…
How much variety should my restaurant menu have?
Either a lot or not much. That probably didn’t seem helpful. Don’t worry; One Fat Frog isn’t going to avoid the question. A lot of restaurants are successful because they stick to a single specialty. No one complains that KFC and Chick-fil-a don’t have beef and pork choices because customers go to those restaurants specifically for the chicken. The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck only has cupcakes but they’re successful because their cupcakes taste amazing. Other restaurants, such as an Ale House, bring in customers because they have a little bit of everything without really having a specialty. The key is figuring out what your niche is and building your menu around that.
How does my restaurant menu translate into what restaurant equipment I need?
If you’re taking over an existing restaurant and the equipment is already there, you can use that equipment to figure out what should be on your menu. What can you cook with this equipment? However, One Fat Frog recommends the opposite: Determine what dishes you want to serve on your restaurant startup’s menu and then the Frog can help you figure out what equipment you need to create that menu.