Which New Food Items Should You Add to Your Pizza Menu
Having a great pizza shop naturally means that you should have great pizza. However, you may find that you want to offer more than just pizza on your menu. This may be a result of competing pizza shops in your area, or a desire to find ways to boost profits. Either way, if your kitchen has enough space, and you have the staff who can prepare different types of foods, then expanding your offerings may be a good idea.
So, what items should you be adding to your pizza menu?
Fortunately, the list is long. However, by keeping it simple in the beginning, you will be able to see what sells and what doesn’t. Here are 4 types of foods that you might want to consider adding to your pizza menu.
Calzones
If someone loves pizza, chances are that they are going to love calzones as well. They are almost as versatile as pizza and you can create many different types of fillings. Cheese, pepperoni, and sausage and mushroom calzones are some of the more common, easy to make, and deliciously popular calzones out there. However, you can also try making calzones that are a bit different. Chicken Cordon Blue calzones are a tasty example. If calzones prove to be popular in your shop, start thinking outside the box by creating some new and unusual calzones.
Salads
Dough, sauce, and cheese are great, but sometimes people just want to have a fresh salad. One of the mistakes that many pizza shop owners make is that they don’t offer salads, or that the salads that they do offer are underwhelming. Try to create salads that are actually appealing and filling in their own right. Some popular choices are chef salads, Caeser salads and Greek salads, as they are easy to prepare and healthy too.
Sandwiches
Another item that many pizza shops offer are sandwiches. Sandwiches are even more versatile than pizza, and are easy to add to any menu. Submarine sandwiches or hoagies, are popular and easy to make. You can start with a few different types of sandwiches and then add to the menu over time. You can also invest in a panini press and offer toasted sandwiches to your customers.
Desserts
Consider offering dessert on your menu in addition to other items. Dessert pizzas such as chocolate cookie pizza or cookie dough pizza can add fun to your menu. Or choose traditional Italian desserts such as tiramisu, éclairs or cannoli to round out your choices. You can also offer fresh fruit cups. or ice cream which will always be winning dessert options.
Test New Items Out First
Remember that any new item that you would like to introduce to your customers should be tested out first. This can be done in several ways. You can prepare free samples in small quantities and gauge the response. Or, you can have daily specials where a new item is introduced each day or week and kept on the menu if the feedback is positive. As your new items slowly take off, you can either stop there or continue to introduce new items as they get gobbled up by your customers.
As you can see, there are quite a few different options to choose from when it comes to adding new items to your menu. Choose wisely and go slowly are you are bound to find successful additions to your menu that everyone will enjoy.