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How rising import taxes may reshape menus, pricing, and sourcing in the restaurant industry. The restaurant experience isnt just about great service and ambianceits deeply tied to ingredient sourcing and food costs. Supplier and Menu Shifts Some restaurants may respond by sourcing more ingredients domestically.
Great restaurants provide great experiences, and great restauranteurs unfortunately spend many of the hours in each week doing activities that could (and should) be automated, rather than being able to use those hours focusing on what makes their concept or business exceptional. Smarter data use. But what’s next?
Just like a well-crafted mission statement will help guide your business decisions, identifying and understanding your target customers and competitors through restaurant market research will give your business a competitive edge. Do you want to find out which food items your customers love the most? With the 4.5%
Wine lists that resemble an encyclopedia of the wine making craft are just the price of admission. The price they pay is a lack of balance in their lives, relentless stress, and always concerns about when their star will lose its shine. Make the tomato an experience. Make the sandwich your lifes work.
Your menu plays a vital role in your business marketing. So, let's dive deeper into the steps on how to turn your menu into a marketing tool. Optimize Menu Design for Customer Behavior A menu is often one of the first things a guest interacts with when entering a restaurant, right after taking in the atmosphere and interior.
Even menu decisions are now data-driven. With escalating food costs, operators are streamlining menus based on detailed sales insights, emphasizing top-selling, high-margin items to protect profitability while maintaining a positive customerexperience.
From salted egg yolks and chili crunch fusions to mushroom-infused teas and freeze-dried fruit powder garnishes, Kimpton’s in-house experts share the standout ingredients, menu items and techniques that will come to the table in 2025.
Understanding your target market is the foundation of making smart decisions for your menu, pricing, and overall guest experience. Without a well-defined target market, restaurants risk wasting resources on strategies that dont connect and menu offerings that dont selltrying to appeal to everyone, but standing out to no one.
At the same time, economic uncertainty, consumer price sensitivity, and limited resources remain pressing concerns. For restaurant operators, these challenges underscore the importance of thoughtful decisions that boost efficiency and drive customer retention. Start small by choosing technology that connects easily.
Photo: Shutterstock Delivery and a take-home meal deal drove a lot more customers to Olive Garden this spring. The offer allowed customers to buy an in-store meal starting at $14.99 It plans to keep prices down while also adding more lower-priced items to the menu. “If By Joe Guszkowski on Jun.
A Dilemma of “Super Size” Proportions Amid rising food prices and shifting consumer preferences, the restaurant industry is facing a dilemma of “super size” proportions. percent menu-price inflation rate. Red Robin climbs 3 percent to 78 thanks in large part to its focus on menu and food.
MVP Menu Performances More than 200 million people tuned in to the Super Bowl last year—many with a plate of wings in front of them. 11, 2024, comparing it to the average Sunday in 2024 and found that: Wings win MVP with an 87 percent increase in sales The average price of wings ordered increased 18 percent.
Restaurants collect a ton of customer data. Think about it: What if you could automatically send a special offer to a customer who hasnt ordered in a while? When used strategically, customer data can help you personalize marketing, streamline operations, and create a better dining experience for your guests.
You can have a crowd-pleasing menu, loyal regulars, and a packed dining roomand still watch your margins disappear. Too many restaurant menus are built on intuition and aesthetics, not real numbers. What Is Menu Engineering and Why Should You Care? Because not every dish thats popular is profitable.
Retailers are also embracing limited-time offers and seasonal innovations to drive traffic and create a sense of urgency. By partnering with CPG companies, restaurants can bring signature flavors and menu-inspired offerings, such as sauces, soups, frozen entrees, or burger patties, to retail shelves.
Technology doesn’t just level the playing field; it allows mom-and-pop shops to improve efficiency, reduce wait times, and enhance the customerexperience in ways that were once out of reach. The benefits expand beyond labor and into customer data and efficiency. However, customer expectations are constantly evolving.
This ideally reinforces the connection in the customer’s brain between their everyday choices and the resulting impacts on the environment: “You’ve saved so many gallons of water, you’ve saved so many square meters of land and emissions and energy,” as Goldman says. Congratulations. The environmental mission can come later. So he took action.
It just goes to show how important drink pricing and cost management are to maximizing profits. Bar profit margin and pour cost Some high-performing bars can reach higher margins by optimizing their costs and pricing strategies. Keep in mind that certain drinks can be priced higher due to their popularity or unique ingredients.
Understanding the Fractional CFO Role A fractional CFO is a seasoned financial expert who partners with businesses on a part-time or contract basis. Strategic Cash Flow Management Restaurants often grapple with cash flow challenges due to seasonality, fluctuating customer demand, and variable/fixed costs.
Tracking it correctly will: Reveal accurate profit margins Help set profitable menuprices Flag operational problems Support better budgeting Help you stay competitive Yet, despite its importance and the advantages of using it, many operators don’t calculate it regularly or aren’t confident they’re doing it correctly.
Their effect isn’t just sensory — they can also activate digestive enzymes and modulate appetite, contributing to the dining experience beyond taste. Educating patrons on how bitterness can actually enhance enjoyment — just as salt sharpens sweetness — requires thoughtful menu language and trained front-of-house staff.
Where our eyes land first, how we interpret prices, and what descriptions stick in our minds—all of it is shaped by subtle design choices and cues we may not even notice. It’s rooted in behavioral science and backed by decades of research into decision-making, pricing, and visual perception.
Customers expect to browse menus, place orders, and pay for their meals with just a few taps of their phones. For restaurant operators, this presents both an opportunity and a challenge: how to implement an online ordering system that maximizes revenue while maintaining control over their customer relationships.
Too often, what customers found was a clunky experience marked by poor scanning results, slow click-throughs and the need to download third-party apps just to engage with the expected content. Customer feedback. Restauranteurs can also utilize QR codes as a channel to link customers directly to their business calendar.
These metrics give you a clear picture of your delivery performancefrom order volume and customer retention to delivery speed and profitability. This might seem like a small detail, but it plays a big role in the overall delivery experience and significantly impacts customerexperience.
Fast-casual Condado Tacos—which prefers calling itself “next-gen casual”—has long had a bar program with a selection of conventional margaritas and beers to go with its Mexican-style menu and vibe. But those same margaritas had been on the menu since 2014 when the bar, so to speak, was set a bit lower. By Patricia Cobe on Jul.
Does the energy feel flat, and the customers look bored. Get some fresh customers through the door and start the neighborhood talking about whats happening in your restaurant again. You need ideas that will wow new customers and get the regulars excited to come back in.
Youre delivering a great dining experience, yet foot traffic remains inconsistent, online engagement is low, and new customers arent coming in as often as youd like. The problem isnt your food or serviceits visibility and customer engagementand were going to help you fix that. Optimize your Google Business Profile.
The real wins come from small, smart shifts; things like improving your online ordering system, highlighting your most profitable dishes, and giving existing customers more reasons to come back. Create Limited-Time Offers That Drive Action Limited-time offers (LTOs) give potential customers a reason to order now, not later.
Knowing the true cost per serving means you’re not guessing where to set menuprices. When done correctly, dish costing helps you control food costs, reduce food waste, and price items in a way that supports your restaurant’s financial health without alienating guests. Every smart pricing move starts here.
When you decided to open a restaurant, you probably didnt picture yourself glued to spreadsheets or tracking the price of eggs, but keeping an eye on the numbers is how you stay open year after year. A spike in food costs, a drop in sales volume, or one slow season can wipe out months of hard work.
This doesnt mean cutting corners and sacrificing the customerexperience; its about knowing where your money is going, spotting leaks early, and fine-tuning whats already working. Create specials that use the raw materials you already have in-house or seasonal ingredients you can buy at the best market price.
Youre not just managing food and staff, youre battling slim profit margins, high operating expenses, and constantly changing customer preferences. And while the odds improve with experience, restaurant ownership is still tough. The Alternative: Validate your idea, clarify your customer base, and align pricing with your market.
They play a big role in overseeing your inventory and attending to customer complaints. They also bring creative ideas to the table, such as improving the drink menu and coming up with new events and promotions to drive sales. How would you improve or refine our current drink menu? what did you do?
What was once a gradual process turned into a rapid transformation, permanently reshaping how restaurants operate and interact with customers. Customers have now fully embraced the benefits of using restaurant technology, and to keep up with guests evolving expectations, the tech industry is growing at an incredible rate.
Understanding what customers order, when they order, and how often is an untapped goldmine of information for restaurant operators. Using that data can help you answer questions like: Are we pricing our bestsellers too low or overpricing items customers arent buying? What do repeat orders say about our customer preferences?
How you approach restaurant marketing can be broken into two main categories: Attracting new customers to your restaurant Earning more from the customers you already have Most restaurant operators pour time and money into the first, but often overlook the massive opportunity in the second.
The answer to why your restaurant needs a website is simple: if you dont have a website, you are 100%, without a doubt, missing out on hundreds, if not thousands of customers. How owning your digital presence can help you reach more local customers. Thats exactly how potential customers feel when they cant find your restaurant online.
These are tools that can help you streamline operations, easily schedule staff, and make sure you never run out of ingredients for your best-selling menu items. AI is no longer just a buzzword, its a reality that is reshaping how restaurants operate, interact with customers, and make decisions.
It is atop the list for restaurants looking to modernize, differentiate, and elevate experiences. Foot traffic or heat mapping, menu item engagement, or consumer demographics by time of day. Foot traffic or heat mapping, menu item engagement, or consumer demographics by time of day. As of 2024, over half of U.S.
After all, it’s not just the quality of your food that can keep customers coming back — 73% of diners base their satisfaction on the quality of service they receive. Your staff, especially your restaurant manager, plays a crucial role in the overall dining experience. Hiring the right people can make or break your business.
Since opening in 2019, it has gained a strong local following thanks to its tender brisket and pulled pork, both seasoned well and served in generous portions. Located on Walton Avenue, it serves Texas-style barbecue made with USDA Prime meat, smoked low and slow in custom-built smokers.
Instead of constantly playing defence with menu updates, imagine a centralized system that allows you to make menu changes instantly across every delivery app and direct ordering platform. What is Menu Management Software? Think of menu management software as the control center for all your restaurants menus.
Even your most reliable menu items can lose their shine over time. Dining habits change, food costs fluctuate, and customer preferences can shift depending on what’s trending. All of these things are ok, so long as you’re menu is evolving with the changes. But together they add up. A shift in dining trends.
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