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Special events have become a big reason for going out, making unique dining experiences more important than ever. Special events have become a big reason for going out, making unique dining experiences more important than ever. While the ways we order and dine may have changed, the reasons people choose a restaurant haven’t.
Amid these potential disruptions, operators need a fresh approach to managing food costs. Extreme Weather: By 2035, experts predict that higher temperatures alone will push up worldwide food prices by between 0.9 To keep food costs under control, real-time insights are key. percent annually. Think of it as an adaptable tool.
Create a SpecialMenu. Design a prix fixe or specialsmenu that’s festive for the holiday. Customers are looking for something to celebrate and be excited for, so making your menu reflect this will help mark the day and add to the specialness. Why not offer your specials for the weekend or a week?
Successfully navigating fluctuating food costs, especially with volatile ingredients like eggs, requires a multi-faceted approach, Mike Stasko Jr., What are the best practices for dealing with food costs for recipes when necessary items are fluctuating in price? How can you avoid rising prices on egg-focused menu items?
Many restaurant operators have misconceptions about average order volume (AOV) and how it works, making statements like: I need more customers to make more money. For example, lets say you have 50 orders in a day that total $2,000 in revenueall you need to do is divide the total revenue by how many orders you have for the day.
Menu pricing isnt just about covering costsits about finding that sweet spot where profitability, customer perception, and operational reality meet. Somewhere in between is the number that makes sense for your food costs, your market, and your restaurants unique position. Set prices too low, and youre leaving money on the table.
"As awful as it was, the pandemic pushed restaurants to completely rethink their operations in order to survive, and some of the changes they made during the pandemic have continued to be beneficial to those restaurants and industry at large." The pandemic made speed, accuracy, and seamless ordering non-negotiable.
Improve Seasonal Menu Offerings When it comes to the holidays, consumers love to tuck into festive favorites. It’s the perfect season for experimenting with new menu items that align with previous seasonal trends. On the other hand, no restaurant wants to risk overordering.
Keeping menus updated across various online ordering systems and third-party delivery apps can feel like a never-ending game of catch-up. Manually updating menus across multiple online ordering channels is tedious, time-consuming, and prone to mistakes. What is Menu Management Software?
This "Super" special edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup has a Super Bowl theme. 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. Toast analyzed data from restaurants on Sunday, Feb.
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. That’s where the NEXT Flavor Report comes in.
Remember when guests used to walk in, grab a menu, and browse through every page? Now, they're on their phones before they arrive, checking your reviews, looking at food photos, and getting recommendations based on their past orders. Let's put this in restaurant terms.
Nowadays, running a successful restaurant takes more than great food and good service. Another way to get local backlinks is from local news articles, food bloggers, or restaurant directories to boost your visibility in search results. Make sure to add high-quality photos of your food, interior, and staff.
Many restaurants shifted to online ordering, curbside pickup and delivery during the pandemic to stay afloat, and they adopted new safety protocols for guests onsite. Even before the pandemic, it was a best practice to sanitize menus because they are so frequently handled. Those processes are now fully integrated into operations.
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.
In this column, Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine looks at newly introduced menu items from top brands. Sweetgreen launched Green January, an opportunity for customers to jumpstart a healthy routine in the new year through real, fresh food. SONIC® Drive-In is introducing a new Under $2 Craves menu. Golden Menu.
While there was a brief dip in consumer awareness of menu price increases in late 2024, the spring of 2025 has seen a moderate rise, affecting dining habits and consumer perceptions of value. “With rising prices tied to eggs and imported goods, restaurants will need to think creatively about their menus,” Fink said.
Restaurants continue to face labor and supply chain issues, plus rising food costs. Review and Revise Your Menu Offerings. Before Restaurant Week kicks off, craft a menu that is friendly to both your bottom line and your customers. Offer Easy Online Ordering. And that’s not different during Restaurant Week.
In this guide, youll learn how to use ChowNow tools along with a handful of other effective strategies to increase order volume, boost your current customer traffic, and grow your overall sales. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay top-of-mind with customers and remind them its time to order again from your restaurant.
The survey covers how diners discover new restaurants (plus what sources they trust for recommendations), what diners want to get out of the experience of dining out (including pictures for social media), how inflation has affected dining, approaching dining abroad, and what food trends may currently be on the rise.
Are you doing all the right thingsserving amazing food, delivering top-notch service, crafting perfectly balanced drinksbut the tables still arent filling up like they should? The problem isnt your food or serviceits visibility and customer engagementand were going to help you fix that. Upload high-quality photos.
If youre one of the thousands of restaurants that added online food delivery in recent years, you might be wondering: is it actually helping my business grow? These metrics give you a clear picture of your delivery performancefrom order volume and customer retention to delivery speed and profitability.
Independent restaurants have always been cornerstones of community, providing anything from comfort foods to places to unwind, but despite their vital role in society, adapting to the challenges continues to be a struggle. Embracing innovation without losing the personal touch that makes independent restaurants special. The challenge?
A well-crafted email can remind a past guest to stop by again, encourage reservations for a new seasonal menu, or even boost online orders with a limited-time discount. A well-timed email with a special offer, new menu item, or exclusive promotion can be the nudge they need to place another order.
Introduction Hey there, fellow food enthusiast! Ever noticed how ordering your favorite meal has become as easy as pie? That’s the magic of online foodordering systems. The benefits of online foodordering system go beyond convenience. No more waiting on hold or repeating your order multiple times.
Every online order, email sign up, and reward program interaction generates valuable insightsbut if that data just sits there, youre missing a major opportunity. Think about it: What if you could automatically send a special offer to a customer who hasnt ordered in a while? Restaurants collect a ton of customer data.
If this means deleting menu items, don't be afraid to do it. Maybe the menu item needs a better menu description. If there is a menu item listed as "Roasted Turnips," it may not be a top seller. Good words sell food. It's incredible how quickly a menu item sells simply by changing the location.
Efficient Seating and Ordering Process Minimize wait times and ensure smooth transitions from arrival to seating. Provide digital menus or physical copies that are clear and well-designed. Personalization, such as remembering a regulars favorite dish or celebrating special occasions, can leave a lasting impression.
By analyzing customer preferences, dining habits, and feedback, AI chatbots can send personalized messages to engage customers with new menu items, exclusive offers, and meal recommendations. Automated Ordering AI-powered chatbots can handle customer orders, reducing the need for human intervention.
Whether that be via restaurant operations, menu improvements, or services, there are quite a few criteria that restaurant owners constantly juggle to create the perfect balance. Below are six best practices to implement so you can improve the efficiency of your restaurant or food service operation: 1. Reduce Your Food Waste.
With the Super Bowl and March Madness coming up, restaurant owners should be preparing now in order to capitalize on the influx of online orders. Use data to identify popular menu items and promote them during the Super Bowl to drivesales. This can help increase sales and also encourage repeat business.
A bar is a profitable business option if you’re looking to enter the food industry. Start by tracking all the income your bar generates, including sales from drinks, food, and any additional services. On the other hand, for lower-cost items like beer, you can bundle or offer happy hour specials to drive more volume and profit.
Are your regulars ordering the same drink and entree every time they come in? An easy way to collect customer emails is through your online ordering system. 1) Pop-Up Collaborations Partner with other local businesses, like a bakery, brewery, coffee shop, roastery, or food truck, for exclusive menu items or drinks.
2020 threw unprecedented challenges our way, causing chaos throughout the food and beverage industries. In order to survive, restaurants needed to rethink the way they do business with many turning to technology to keep them afloat. Go All Out with Online Ordering. Digitize Your Menu. Build Strong Virtual Relationships.
The magnetism of the kitchen dates to those early days of growing up in a home where food played an important role, not as much as some, but enough to leave an indelible mark on my life. I think, even if these items weren’t on a menu, I would find a way to bring them into the fold.
Everything from food to labor is getting more expensive, which means restaurant margins are tighter than ever. The right marketing strategy helps you get the most out of every dollar by increasing customer retention , boosting order volume, and encouraging repeat visits. Even if your food is incredible, youre not operating in a vacuum.
Have you ever walked into a restaurant, excited for a great meal, but the server can’t answer your questions about the menu? Without the right training, even the best menu or ambiance can fall short due to poor service, leading to dissatisfied customers and lost revenue.
While there are clear benefits to an all-digital menu system, to get the most out them, you must first take a step back to re-examine what your menu means to you. Your menu: Part love letter, part manifesto, instructions for use and a bill of goods, all rolled into one. Should your menu move to the cloud?
But as we enter 2020, it’s important to recognize how digital technology drives our society and its major impact on consumer reactions and ordering habits. If the food looks good, they are more likely to drop some hard-earned cash on it. Custom Menus Like Never Before. Reduce Turnaround Time.
Online ordering has transformed the restaurant industry, turning what was once a convenience into an absolute necessity. In 2025, the US online food delivery market is expected to reach $424.9 Customers expect to browse menus, place orders, and pay for their meals with just a few taps of their phones. billion in revenue.
Customers on average will order more menu items, resulting in a larger bill for the restaurant and a larger tip for the employee. One major area of improvement we noticed when it came to management: menu costing research. During this interview, some light was shed onto an often-overlooked time sink, management.
Increasing your restaurants online order volume doesnt have to feel like an impossible task. In this guide, well walk through seven practical ways to boost your restaurants online order volume. Optimize Your Website and Online Ordering Experience If your restaurants website isnt easy to use, youre probably losing out on online orders.
Two weeks later, Stieber was spending the $2,000 Little Bear had earned in profit on takeout boxes and disposable cutlery, trying to figure out if menu items like beet egg drop soup or catfish okonomiyaki would travel well. The couple agreed Gado Gados food wasnt fit for takeout, so instead, they tried something new. But it didnt!
By Bailey Ramsey, Contributor Food waste is a critical issue in the restaurant industry. To put this in perspective, restaurants waste anywhere between 4% to 10% of the food they purchase. Predicting Customer Demand Accurately One of the leading causes of food waste in restaurants is overproduction.
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