Well, Are You Keeping Up?

Restaurant operators are notoriously slow to change their menus. It’s not because they don’t care—it’s because they think it’s expensive. But here’s the truth: food costs are climbing, and every month you wait, you’re slipping further behind. So it’s important for you to keep up with your restaurant menu.

Most operators glance at the checkbook at the end of the month and wonder why there’s less cash in the account. Less money in savings. Less cushion for the future. What they’re not seeing is the tidal wave that’s just offshore: more cost increases, more pressure, and more danger to their bottom line.

The Hard Reality

Many of those rising costs haven’t even hit your restaurant yet. But they will. And when they do, the operators who didn’t act will find themselves scrambling, cutting corners, and losing guests to competitors who look sharper and offer more perceived value.

This isn’t about fear for fear’s sake—it’s about survival.

Brand Marketing Is the Difference

Price and function are only half the story. The other half is value. A strong brand pushes your value proposition higher. That’s why branded products always outsell the generic, in every industry.

Your menu isn’t just a list of items and prices. It’s a branded piece of high-quality literature. Done right, it builds value, anchors perception, and keeps guests from walking out the door and never coming back.

The Wrong Way vs. The Right Way

Yes, you can get a “cheap” menu. Hell, you can even get one for free. But cheap menus don’t build brands. They don’t hold value. They don’t protect you from rising costs.

The right way is to treat your menu like the most powerful marketing tool you have—and trust professionals who know how to engineer it to make you money. That’s what we do at HotOperator®.

Your Call to Action

This is an investment, not an expense. If you don’t get on board, the future doesn’t look bright for your restaurant. But if you act now, you can stay ahead, protect your profits, and make sure your guests come back again and again.

The question is: Will you do what’s necessary to keep up?

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FF Chicken + HotOperator Together

FF Chicken is a new, Flame-Grilled chicken franchise that specializes in Free-Range chicken. It’s also free from hormones and antibiotics. Their All-Natural Chicken is marinated in their signature Peri Peri sauce. This new franchise chooses HotOperator for new Digital, Carryout and Catering menus. It also recently selected HotOperator for their continued marketing programs.

What is Peri Peri Sauce?

Peri Peri sauce is a blend of African Bird’s Eye Chili, Lemon, Garlic, and a secret blend of herbs and spices. The sauce is very popular in South Africa and Asia, and is gaining popularity in the United States. This is mostly due to military service people returning from being stationed in those regions of the world. 

The flavor is mildly wild, a little spicy, and very flavorful.

​Why FF Chicken Decided to Work With HotOperator

The owner of the FF Chicken franchise, Fahim Munawar said he had tried to work with a distributor. But he simply could not get the professional look he wanted. He also stated: “I want my franchise to grow and be impressive. The only way to make that happen is to work with an agency that is independent of trying to sell me food.”

HotOperator specializes in not just developing a menu design. They also helping their clients organize the menu process. This includes which items to 86, and which items to add to the menu to help grow the business. This advice is not based on selling select products to the restaurant operator. Instead, it’s based on an objective viewpoint to promote the restaurant brand.

A Professional Look for the FF Chicken Menu System

The creative team for HotOperator focused on creating a look that would express their brand, and at the same time, sell items with the highest plate contribution. HotOperator wanted the look to be both brand focused, and because the restaurant is a QSR chain, to help consumers make decisions as quickly as possible.

The designs the creative team came up with best represent the FF Chicken brand. They also use Product Positioning, Menu Highlighting, Mental Anchoring and Strategic Pricing to help make the FF Chicken franchise as profitable as possible without pushing away guests.

It All Starts With The Menu

HotOperator is a full service restaurant and foodservice marketing company. Their relationship normally starts with a menu makeover and continues with brand marketing, logo development, new product development, social media, radio, television, film and public relations.

FF Chicken chooses HotOperator for complete marketing campaign

Fahim decided to place his entire franchise marketing in the hands of HotOperator. He said: “HotOperator has done such excellent work so far, I decided to work with them on my entire program.” The work includes social media for Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn to generate more traffic for their restaurants along with more franchise locations.

For more information, HotOperator can be reached through their website here.

To inquire about an FF Chicken franchise, reach them on their website here.

The post FF Chicken chooses HotOperator for new Digital, Carryout and Catering menus appeared first on HotOperator.

How to Take Advantage of Delivery and Carryout Trends in Your Restaurant

According to a recent National Restaurant Association survey, 60% of U.S. consumers say they order delivery or carryout food at least once a week, with 31% saying they order from a third-party delivery service. So, unless your restaurant is completely rural, this is an opportunity that you can tap into to help grow your restaurant business. But before you jump into the carryout and delivery business, here are some things you can do to help you make it profitable, and keep your customers happy. In other words, here’s how to take advantage of delivery and carryout trends in your restaurant.

Start with the right products.

First, do some simple analytics on your current sales, and if you are already selling carryout and delivery, separate those sales reports so you know what people are already ordering. To do this, gather up a product sales report and break it down into a scatter graph for review. In this way, you will have a much better idea of what your customers are already buying from you. Look at least three months to get a good idea what’s working for you and what isn’t.

Part of this research should be to look at online reviews, especially any that pertain to carry out and delivery. What you are looking for are what people are saying about any of your carry out and delivery orders. Also, if you want to get deeper into the minds of your customers, do some surveys with anyone who has ordered delivery or carryout food from you to see what they thought. Oftentimes, it’s what people don’t say that should concern us the most because people think they are doing us a favor by being polite and not saying anything. When in fact, they simply stop ordering from us, and we never really know why.

Be Carryout & Delivery Selective

Next, don’t try to make everything on your menu available for carryout and delivery. Instead, focus on items you know will travel well, and items that are already popular with consumers. When I say travel well, what I’m referring to are items that can be packaged up, shipped across town, and will still taste good. Most consumers understand that products they order for carryout and delivery will not be as good as they are in the restaurant. But they also want what they order to make it home and be better than they would make for themselves.

Research To Find What Travels Well

When you’re deciding what to keep on your carryout and delivery menu, again, do a little research. Make the products up, package them as you would for your customers, and then take them on a ride home with you and taste test them. Get people you trust to do the same thing, and take their comments seriously. The last thing you want is to have unhappy customers commenting on social media and business review websites after it’s too late for you to do anything to make a better product. Many bad reviews can be avoided by simply trying out everything you sell before you sell it.

DoorDash and Grubhub Both Know What Sells

Based on the DoorDash State of Flavor Report and Grubhub’s list of the hottest dishes of 2020, here is a list of some of the top foods getting delivered nationwide. This list is based on the overall popularity and rising trends of food delivery items from both DoorDash and Grubhub. Keep in mind, your market may vary, but it does show what consumers like, and it also tells you the kinds of products that travel well. While not everything on this list will work for your restaurant, some of them will. And what I find most interesting is how simple the items are. There is nothing creative about anything on this list at all.

1 – Chicken Fingers

DoorDash reports chicken fingers and fries as the No. 1 ordered food item for 2020. This shouldn’t be a surprise at all, since fried chicken items travel well, and still taste good, especially when dipped in a sauce.

2 – Chicken Sandwich

Who would have guessed, another fried chicken item? When topped with pickles and some special sauce, you’ve got an item that will taste great after sitting for half an hour or longer. Best of all, it’s easy to make. Just make sure yours has something special to offer that will set it apart from everything else being offered by quick service restaurants nationwide.

3 – Mac N Cheese

Of course, comfort foods are king when times are great, and especially when times are tough. The thing about Mac N Cheese is that it’s a difficult product to make from scratch for most people, so they would prefer to order it out. That and the products in a box from a grocery store are not great when cooked at home. If you have a restaurant that serves anything close to American food, this is a must have item.

4 – Sushi

This was a bit of a surprise, and it’s not for everyone or every restaurant operator to make. But it does make sense, since carryout and delivery foods are eaten immediately, and fresh fish dipped in soy with wasabi will taste fantastic when it’s taken home. If your restaurant is a little more upscale, you could get away with adding sushi to your menu, but again, it’s not for everyone.

5 – Asian Food

Items like Pad Thai are very popular with both carryout and delivery. Something to consider here is nearly every restaurant style can offer an Asian fusion item on their menu. Rice and noodle bowls are relatively easy to make, and travel very well.

6 – Veggie Burgers

Plant-based products are in, and it looks like they’re here to stay. Grubhub orders for plant-based burgers have risen 291%, nearly catching the spicy chicken sandwich and its 299% growth. If you don’t have a vegetable based burger, you need to. Most distributors carry items already prepared for cooking, so this doesn’t need to be made from scratch. But it does need to find a place on your menu.

7 – Mexican Anything

Mexican food in general is a leading choice for food deliveries, with both tacos and burritos topping the charts. According to the Uber Eats 2020 Cravings Report, tacos and burritos were top recipients of both delivery and carryout food requests. Best of all, unless you are an Asian restaurant, you can offer some terrific tacos and burritos with a fusion flair.

8 – Breakfast Sandwiches

A simple egg, cheese and sausage biscuit was the top rising item on DoorDash deliveries, seeing a 2,872% increase in popularity. Easy to make, and fits nearly any restaurant style with a little creativity, putting take out breakfast on your menu makes perfect sense. Even if you only open for carryout and delivery breakfast at your restaurant.

9 – Cinnamon Rolls & Donuts

Food delivery orders for cinnamon rolls rose 205% on Grubhub and 1,450% on DoorDash, and donuts were right behind them. Of course, this isn’t for every restaurant style, but I offer it on this list because of the rise in popularity. If you have a fryer in your restaurant, carnival style sugar donut holes are easy to make, and even easier to sell.

10 – Pizza

Always a favorite, pizza travels well, tastes great and feeds a lot of people. The only downside is the amount of competition because of the number of restaurants that offer pizza delivery already. To make this work, you would need a strong point of difference, and a reason for being in the pizza business. We have seen a lot of sports bars, American restaurants, Greek restaurants and bars get into this business and do well with it. Just keep in mind, while pizza is very profitable, it is divided up among more than one person, so your plate contribution per person will go down when you sell pizza.

11 – Burgers

American’s love their burgers, especially from their favorite restaurant. Getting them home still fresh is key to success here. The best way to ship them off is with simple packaging. Wrap the burgers in a foil and paper wrapper, put the French fries in an open cup, stuff it all into a bag, toss in another handful of fries for good measure, and watch the 5-Star reviews come in.

About HotOperator

HotOperator is a foodservice marketing agency. We love restaurants. We want them to survive. But we can’t do that unless we work together. Hire us to help you romance your restaurant brand.

Mark and Kelly are a marketing team and managing partners of HotOperator. They have been working in the restaurant business since 1989. Contact them through the HotOperator website, or by calling 800-316-3198, or contact Laux here.

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