Would you go on a first date dressed like a bum? Would you leave out your best experiences on your resume? The answer to both of those questions is, of course, no! You would never purposely devalue yourself or your career experiences. Why would you ever present yourself in less than the best light possible?
The same rule applies to your foodservice menu.
Your menu is your brand. It’s you. It’s the thing that puts butts in seats and pays your bills. You have to protect it without hurting it. You have to tweak it without disrupting the reason why people come to your establishment in the first place. You have to intertwine the ingredients, prices, seasonality and flow of the menu so your guests can’t wait to get a meal set in front of them.
Especially in today’s world, where costs are too high and product availability is never a sure thing, you’ve got to be sure what your offer is and how it’s offered are well thought out and presented effectively.
A Winning Example
When I started working as the corporate chef for a regional convenience-store chain, I saw we had about a dozen items in our sandwich cooler that were priced at $1. All of the items were products we brought in frozen, from a good supplier, but the specs were purposely developed to get the cost down as low as possible.
The idea was to sell these as cheaply as possible in hopes people would come back and buy other items with a better margin. The problem was, most of the people who bought these would buy only these items and nothing else. We were creating a guest who didn’t help us grow our business.
After discussing this with our CEO, we decided to rework the recipes of all the items and keep only two of them at $1, but we also increased the quality of the ingredients and packaging so we could get anywhere from $0.50 to $1.50 more per sandwich for our reworked items. The results were increased sales in units and margin for that category.
Ultimately, we dropped a few of the items and brought in more fresh sandwiches, but the newly developed SKUs helped to increase the overall value perception of the menu, giving us more credibility to bring in an updated and refreshed line of fresh sandwiches. Win-win.
Your Menu, Your Brand
Your menu is your main vehicle to bring people in and back to the foodservice counter. The message your menu presents will determine your success.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to offer discounts or coupons to get new customers in the door. Just keep it short term to get them there the first time, then wow them with your menu and bring them back at full price later.
In a troubled economy, don’t devalue your menu by telling everyone how cheap you are, or you will cheapen your total brand. Instead, focus on the reasons why people came in the first place.
People can attach the word “value” to your menu for a few reasons. To some “value” is low cost. McDonald’s built an empire on this concept, but it also have been very consistent with its message and product.
“Value” also means you get what you pay for. Does your menu have “value”? Where is your equity? What did you build your business on?
Don’t make the mistake of devaluing your menu and your brand for a short-term concern. Focus on what got you here, and remind your guests how good you are. Value will always win.
Bob Derian is president of Chefbobco LLC. Reach him at bderian@thebateam.com.