Your Restaurant Menu Should Be A Selling Guide
How to use your menu as a selling guide
Got a call the other day from a potential client who asked a simple question: do engineered menus actually work?
There is a short answer and a longer answer.
The short answer is yes, a little.
The long answer is a bit more complicated, but yes. A lot.
This is why a HotOperator menu is set up the way it is. And why most other menus are not. A HotOperator menu uses a method that works extremely well when the restaurant operator uses it properly. And it makes it easier to use your menu as a selling guide
To properly use a menu as a selling guide, it needs to be designed correctly. And this goes for every level of menu. From quick service restaurants to full service elegant dining restaurants. The later can sometimes be argued from chefs who think everything on their menu is great. But from experience, I know that while everything is great, some things are better than others. This is true in two important ways: some menu items make more money, and some items are more popular.
Keep Perfect Balance in a Menu
To keep a perfect balance in a menu for using a Restaurant Menu as a Selling Guide, there is the design and creative side, and the science side. With the creative, the menu needs ot look on brand. It also needs to enlighten the guest when they hold it in their hands. Nest, your menu needs to express your brand, and the ‘voice’ needs to describe items in a way that will appeal to women (women read menus, men skim over them when ordering).
On the science side, the menu needs to use Positioning, Highlights, Mental Anchoring, and Pricing Sweet Spots. This is determined by the Menu Matrix and review.
How to Use a Menu as a Selling Guide
Okay, so we’ve developed a well design-engineered menu. Now what? To start, we need some basic server training about how to use the menu. The well design-engineered menu will help sell more of the items that are highlighted, but if your servers are ‘selling’ with the menu, the results will be nothing short of amazing.
It’s a little better vs. a lot better. Again, the menu alone will impact sales, but wit the help of a good seals team, the menu will make a huge difference in your restaurant.
Servers Make Tips (nothing new here)
We start the server training with some very simple ideas. First, the restaurant is directly connected to the restaurant server. When the server does well, so does the restaurant. Further, when the restaurant does well, the server will make more money. That’s because, on average, servers make about 20% of the check total. So, when the check total increases, so do their tips. But what servers may not know a lot about is how to use a menu to make better tips.
Order Taker vs. Sales Person
If a server thinks of themselves as an order taker, they are missing a huge opportunity. And in most cases, the server (yours included) may have never thought about it either way. So the first step in making the change is to start thinking about asking for orders. Be aware, nobody gets every order they ask for, but they will get some. And the difference is how much money the server will take home with them at the end of their shift.
Guests Want the Server’s Opinion
Restaurant sales people have a lot of power in a restaurants. Your guests want their opinion.That’s because the server works for the restaurant, so they the logic tells them the server will know what’s good. So when a guest comes into the restaurant, if the server offers some things over others, it is likely that the guests will take that advice in many cases. Keep in mind, this is a not every time thing, but selling does work some times. But, a guest will never take the advice of a server if it is never offered.
Don’t Put the Menu on the Table
Instead, have your servers hand the menu to each guest. Even the kids get a menu handed to them. And as the server is handing over the menu, they should be introducing the highlighted items to the guest while looking directly into their eyes.
While smiling! This is so overlooked. But there is only one time a person can make a great first impression. And it’s the first time a server comes into contact with the guest.
There is an Order to Selling
There is an order to selling food from a menu. The first item to promote and try to sell is the appetizer. The server needs to point them out, tell them which ones are popular, and then take a drink order. Never take a drink order before saying something like: “Before I get your drink order, can I put in an appetizer for you?”.
Next, while delivering the drinks, ask the guests which appetizer they settled on. If they say which one, great. If they say they don’t want an appetizer, make sure your server/sales staff offers up a dessert order.
Finally, when taking the entree order, make sure your servers complement some of the choices. Have them say things like: “That’s a good choice, or, I think you’ll really like that.” This will help reduce the number of complaints in the restaurant, and negative comments on review sites.
Accessories Make the Dress, Bookends Make the Meal
The idea of “upselling” may never have occurred to your staff. So make sure you tell them to never stop selling. As an example, explain to your servers that when the order is taken but before any food is delivered, ask the guests (again) if they would like a dessert. And it’s best to offer a specific dessert. So ask them to say something like: “Would you like a dessert? We have a nice piece of chocolate cake in the kitchen, can I set one aside for you before we sell out?”
Do Your Servers Read and Remember?
Show of hands, how many restaurant owners or managers have their staff read and remember what’s on the menu? From my own experience working with restaurant owners over the years, you would be surprised how many don’t.
The reason we want servers to read and remember is because they can’t sell what they don’t understand. Even better, do ‘cuttings’ with your staff. Get everyone together and have your chef make up the dishes and let your servers taste the items. In this way, they will be able to describe the items they are now selling. Do thins about once per month and make it fun!
What’s Good Here?
That is a question a server is going to get only if they didn’t do a good job in the beginning when seating the guest. But when they do get that question, it will become a reminder that they should have been telling the guests the answer to that question during the seating process.
But what if I have a Host Station?
When you have a host or hostess, have them carry the menus to the table and introduce the guests to the menu. Tell them not to just plop the menus on the table. Instead, have them hand each guest the menu and guide them through the menu. Have them take just a moment to point out the appetizers, highlighted items and then tell them that their server will be with them shortly.
Positioned to Make a Sale
A well designed menu will have items positioned to make a sale. That means, the items we want to promote will be in the proper locations so they get a lot of attention. Further, your servers will be able to find them easily.
Every HotOperator Comes with Server Training
When you sign up for a HotOperator Menu, you are automatically signed up for server/salesperson training. Once the menu is introduced to your managers, we set up a time to go through a Zoom training session with your staff. In this way, we’re able to get your managers and serving staff using the menu properly.
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