Benefits to hiring a menu consultant
A menu consultant can help you navigate challenges of crafting the perfect menu for your restaurant concept. The menu is the key element from which all other details revolve and the focal point of your business. As a new restaurateur, your menu should be unique, authentic, and memorable to set your restaurant apart. As a seasoned veteran, hiring a menu consultant to provide a fresh perspective is critical to keeping up with your competition.
Don’t be all things to all people
As competition in the restaurant business continues to heat up, it is important to keep your menu fresh, innovative and enticing to consumers. New ingredients and unique pairings create interest and keep diners coming back. If a dish isn’t working, no matter how much that one loyal customer loves it, you must ditch it and replace it with something that does work. Being all things to all people is a mistake that restaurateurs commonly make. Do the food that you do well and let someone else do the rest.
The menu psychology
There is a psychology to menu design that only those experts with in-depth experience fully understand. An entire restaurant can be completely re-launched simply through the re-design of the menu. It’s not merely as simple as replacing a grilled chicken breast with a confit chicken leg. Care and thought must be put into the display and description of each dish. First impressions are everything; even before a diner receives the meal they visualize the experience through reading the menu.
Whether or not you use dollar signs on your menu can have a psychological impact on a diner. If a dollar sign is used in the price, diners are more likely to shop for cheaper options. The size of the menu is also important. Guests prefer to be able to see all the menu options at once. If there are too many options, a diner becomes overwhelmed, often giving up and ordering something they don’t necessary want. Every single detail of your menu matters from the dishes to the adjectives to the font size. Hiring a menu consultant can help to ensure that your menu is designed for lasting success.
