Take the Fear out of Decision-Making with Informed Insider Advice
Fishbowl, Inc., the leading provider of marketing and analytics solutions for the restaurant industry, has shared their expert advice for crafting a menu to boost sales and maximize profit. The announcement is especially timely for those struggling to initiate the process of full menu redesigns in preparation for the upcoming holiday season.
“We recognize the struggle many restaurants face to manage the moving parts involved in menu changes. Daunting though it may be, outlining your menu wisely is critical to brand success,” says Tama Looney, Fishbowl’s SVP Research Analytics, Customer Development. Looney developed a best practice list after speaking with leading experts who guide menu and pricing decisions for some of the biggest restaurant brands in the industry. These include:
- Ensure that add-on items are clearly visible to promote an upsell.
- Consider slightly higher priced new menu items to improve sales and margin.
- Avoid leading with the highest-priced items, increasing prices at a time of year customers are likely on a budget – such as after Christmas – and adding or removing menu items without proper research.
- Make sure you don’t lead with highest priced item in any category – even if it is a top seller
“Many restaurants lose money by haphazardly striking items from their menu or introducing untested items that trade share from more profitable ones,” says Jayne Strickland, SVP and head of Enterprise Analytics at Fishbowl. As a contributor to more than 50 menu redesigns, Strickland stresses the importance of brands doing their due diligence to identify the combination of products and services that will appeal to the greatest number of customers.
“Relying on survey or POS data alone is a thing of the past,” Strickland adds. “A much wiser option for restaurants is to partner purchase data along with survey data when making menu decisions.”
Fishbowl empowers restaurants to succeed by delivering unique solutions developed specifically for the food-service industry. The Fishbowl Platform, expert analytics and industry-leading services leverage data-driven insights gained across thousands of our restaurant clients. Through these solutions, we enable restaurants to make enlightened decisions, engage guests, increase brand loyalty and accurate same-store sales. For more information, please visit our website or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
