There isn’t one set of rules when it comes to planning a menu for your food business. A lot of the variables will depend on, the type of cuisine you want to offer, the budget you are working to and the experience that you wish to offer your customers. That being said there are a few things that are generally worth considering for everyone who is planning a menu for their restaurant.
Keep it simple
Many restaurants make the mistake of trying to do too much. Don’t write a menu with a hundred different items as you’ll end up throwing out a lot of food and too many options just confuses the customer. The same goes for ingredients. You don’t want to have completely different ingredients for every single item on the menu as your supply costs will be too high and you’ll end up wasting food, which is a waste of money. Keep the number of items on your menu low and use ingredients in multiple dishes.
Choose dishes that are easy and fast to prepare
The level of complexity of your menu items will depend on the skill of your kitchen staff and the facilities you have available to you. However dishes that are fussy to prepare will only slow down your staff and delays in service lead to unhappy customers. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about presentation at all, just don’t over complicate it.
Include vegetarian/vegan and gluten-free options
It may seem like a pain having to cater to everyone’s personal dietary requirements and no one is suggesting you do. However the number of vegans, vegetarians and those who don’t eat gluten have rapidly increased over the last few years and by not catering to them you are limiting your potential customer base. Just because a menu item is vegan, vegetarian or gluten free, doesn’t mean it has to be exclusively for those with dietary requirements, the trick is to come up with options that tick these boxes but are also appealing enough to be ordered by people who are not restricted by their diet.
Centre dishes around seasonal produce
There are a number of reasons that including seasonal produce on your menu is a great idea. First of all, fruit and vegetables are more affordable when they are in season. Rather than spending more trying to source produce that isn’t in season, why not focus on what is readily available? Seasonal menus are also a major selling point for businesses. Many customers like the idea of enjoying, fresh, locally sourced produce and are even willing to pay a bit more for it.
After you have designed your menus, it time to start finding suppliers. If you want access to high quality produce and a supplier you can always rely on, make V One your partner in produce. Visit our website to find out more