Develop Menu Like a Professional

Menu is one of the important factors that can determine the success of a restaurant. A restaurant owner should be aware that creating a menu based on personal preferences or culinary trends at any given moment cannot guarantee in long-term popularity.

Before creating a menu, you should always ask yourself a few questions. First, who is your target? Second, how do they like to eat? And last but not least, what kind of experience can you offer and keep them coming back. Once you have the answer, you can choose the type of menu that best fits for your restaurant concept, then start developing the recipe and setting the price.

Some restaurant may have an a la carte menu, a set menu or a buffet. Each has different advantages and disadvantages, and suits a different restaurant concept.

A. And now we will discuss about the set menu

Set menu is a dish with a complete menu consisting of a starter, main course, and dessert that served sequentially at a predetermined price. With a set menu, you can anticipate food stocks more accurately. And the positive value, you will minimize the occurrence of waste. But the weakness is that the costs incurred to make this set menu are quite expensive because the ingredients used are premium ingredients.

B. Choosing the right menu

First and foremost, you should consider your restaurant concept when developing a menu. If you want to create a menu based on existing trends, you have to make dishes that are unique and different from the others. If it is accepted by the client, others may even follow suit. And try not to take a long time to prepare your menu, especially during lunch, dinner, or high season when the turnover is high. Use fresh ingredients on various menus. Make the most of your ingredients by applying them to a variety of dishes. For example, you can serve chicken fillet in one plate and make a soup using the bones from the chicken.

C. Choosing the right supplier

You only need to buy vegetables from one supplier to reduce costs, but you also have to have a backup supplier so that if there is a problem with one supplier you can use another supplier without looking for another supplier.

D. Setting the Price

To determine the price of a food can be obtained by considering the following:

• Divide the cost of goods sold by a predetermined margin percentage. 
  Generally for food in the range of 25-35% and it’s also added with a fluctuating fee of 5%
• Comparing with the prices set by competitors. 
  Setting prices based on market demand (this one can be applied if your restaurant     location is strategic)

And if the price you give is too high, you can outsmart it by providing several menus with lower prices to invite customers and after that you can offer the main menu in your restaurant.

Photo by Jessie McCall on Unsplash