TigerChef

Adopting popular restaurant menu trends helps your restaurant keep up with what customers have come to expect from their favorite eateries. When these trends include personalization – offering original dishes, for example, or using stylish menu holders customized to the atmosphere of your particular restaurant – you can relax in the knowledge that you are setting your business apart rather than simply following the crowd. Furthermore, when ecological awareness and nutritionally sound fare are in vogue, everyone benefits. Customize these four hot trends to your establishment and watch your business expand.

1. Local Sources

One promising trend appearing in restaurants of every persuasion is that of using local ingredients. Local produce is especially popular, but everything, from meat to alcohol to seafood, is coming more and more from local sources. As restaurant owners and consumers alike become more environmentally conscious, clients will prefer your restaurant to others based on your smaller ecological footprint.

2. Healthy Eating

In addition to increasing awareness of environmental issues, more customers are paying close attention to what they eat. Nutritionally sound menu options sell better than ever. You can add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your existing offerings as well as create new options suitable for a variety of diets. Make sure to cater to allergic clients by providing dishes that even those who are allergic to gluten, nuts, or dairy can eat. Reinforce your menu with vegetarian choices and healthy kids’ meals, too. You may want to offer miniature versions of healthy adult platters as children’s meals.

3. One-of-a-Kind Dishes

Showcase your individual style with newly minted culinary inventions. This recent trend is especially popular using drinks and desserts, but you can add your own personal touches or create something entirely new for any type of menu item, from appetizers to coffee. Just one clever substitution or unexpected addition to an existing dish will provide your customers with a more memorable experience. Rotating your specials and other menu items frequently is another way to ensure your clientele remains interested in dining at your establishment.

4. A Tailored Menu

Another method that food service professionals are using to market their products more effectively is personalizing the physical menu. From menu holders and menu clips that complement the ambience of your business to menu board graphics that highlight relevant themes and ethnic accents of your selection, how you present your menu determines how well specific items will sell. Try using differently colored menu covers or drawing attention to high-profit choices like soup. One way to do this is by using Vollrath’s Twin Well Soup Merchandiser. This particular model includes a menu board and attractive lighted canopy, ensuring customers’ notice.

For restaurant owners, the most exciting aspects of these trends are that they are not only easy to implement, but a great way to both help the planet and exercise creativity with menus and marketing. From your ingredients to your menu cover, you can employ your own individual style to pull in new clients like never before.

Filed under: Resource Central • How-To • General • Food Quality • Sales Boosting • Going Green

Tags: local produce, menu board, menu cover, menu covers, menu holders, restaurant menu trends