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Adapt & Optimize Your Menu In a Changing Market

As if you did not know, you are in the restaurant business. And first and foremost, people come to your restaurant to eat. And it has all changed overnight.

As much as your guests loved your full-service menu last year, you might question whether it is practical and sustainable in this current crazy market, particularly as you hustle to drive business via curb-side and delivery.

Which items should you keep and which items should you 86? What if your most popular menu item is a hot mess when it arrives at your guest's doorstep? The restaurant trade news says pizza and wings sales are soaring. Do you need to add them to the menu just to drive sales?

The challenges confronting independent operators in the wake of the pandemic are ever-increasing. Cost control, financial management, boosting curb-side and delivery sales, sanitation and social distancing, and -- oh yeah -- the menu.

"The pandemic is challenging for independent restaurants," says food and beverage (F&B) industry veteran Maeve Webster, president of Menu Matters. She quickly adds, "Concepts shouldn't be blowing up their menus right now."

Webster's wheelhouse is F&B trend analysis, opportunity assessment, consumer behavior, and operator issues. She believes independents need to leverage their primary advantage over the chains -- flexibility.

"Chains have to make menu changes across a national footprint," says Webster, who encourages operators to focus on solving problems locally, and "think less about adding to the menu, and more about how it is packaged and promoted."

Maeve Webster, President of Menu Matters

Keep your finger on the pulse of your market, she advises. Where the infection rates are high, you might put more emphasis on your menu items that travel well. Where infection rates are lower and guest are willing to venture out, consider your on-premises offerings that might be popular during tough times, including comfort foods. In any event, now is the time to "keep the menu tight and consistent," she says.

The Pandemic Sales Cycle

Webster retraces the steps restaurant operators had to take when the bottom fell out of the industry mid- March. You likely know them as well as anyone; however, it is an astute review of what worked as the crisis unfolded.

The immediate challenge imposed by COVID-19 was aligning consumer demand with what operators needed to stay in business. While guests could no longer dine in your restaurant, they still ate three meals a day, if they were lucky.

People were adjusting to fewer supermarket trips and government closure of on-premises dining. As the pandemic ravaged the economy, consumers sought value for their food dollar. On the consumer side of the equation, notes Webster, "we saw family meal bundles, larger portions, and meal kits," says Webster. This also opened up "subscription service" dining, through which customers could sign up for a number of affordably priced meals.

Among the immediate issues facing operators including having "to blow through stock," says Webster. Perishable items were sitting in walk-ins and pantries, while guest traffic evaporated overnight. While operators applied for government- backed loans, they had to figure out how to keep cash flowing into rather than out of the business. "This led to expanding retail operations," says Webster, referencing to restaurants-turned-grocery stores.

This brings us to September 2020. While your inventory management is likely stabilized at this point, you still need to be looking for additional revenue, and preferably not selling toilet paper or competing with Trader Joe's. Like many operators, you might have your own dressings and sauces guests are willing to take home for a price. Irregardless Café in Raleigh, North Carolina long sold its popular lemon-tahini salad dressing to carry home. Goode Co. an independent multi-unit restaurant company in Houston sells its Brazos Bottom Pecan Pie on site and even ships it all over the U.S.

As a consultant and operator, Webster understands this process well and encourages operators to consider it. "There are health department handbooks for retailing products," she says, advising operators to stay within the rules and regulations governing these transactions.

On its face, selling these items makes sense. "They have the space," says Webster, referring to underutilized kitchens during the pandemic. The operator needs to decide whether to bottle and sell these products onsite or give the formula to a co-packer. "My recommendation is to look at all these avenues," she adds. "Not to be cynical, but things are likely to get tougher. Operators need to be fis- cally strong to get through this -- and nimble."

Have Food, Will Travel

Like many full-service operators, your menu is designed for on-premises dining. That said, even before COVID-19, many concepts had to build third-party delivery into their business model. The pandemic accelerated demand for take-out and delivery and turned it from a nice-to-have service to a critical revenue stream for many operators.

Be true to your concept and be mindful of what made you successful pre-pandemic. Look for ways to continue to bring it to your customers; however, 'now is the time for every operator to take a hard look at what's selling, at what's working on the menu, and what is not.' If it's not making you money and supporting your brand strategy 'get it off the menu'

This is the time for serious menu-engineering, says Webster, referring to the process of determining which items are driving sales and profit and which items need to be removed from your menu. "All independent operators need to look at their menus with a critical eye. Which items are selling and reaping a profit margin? Which items travel best? Is [an item] worth having on your menu?

She notes, many operators understand they don't have to have the same number of items on the take-out and delivery menu as they have on their on-premises dining menu. Nevertheless, this is the time to keep inventory tight and expand cross utilization.

Whether your food is served at one of your tables, carried home, or delivered, your reputation will prevail or suffer based on the quality of the food. If your popular eggplant parmesan becomes a big mess en route, you are losing a customer. After one or two complaints, you might very well decide to 86 it from your takeout menu, in spite of your menu engineering analysis that tells you it is both popular and profitable.

When the pandemic emerged, says Webster, "consumers were more accepting and patient as restaurants tried to figure out a new way of operating with patchwork solutions." She adds, "Consumer patience has ended. Operators need to make sure their menu items are high quality. Consumers still want to support independent operators, but the food needs to be consistent."

As for the eggplant parmesan that doesn't travel well, Webster would advise you to reconsider "how to make it more portable" rather than remove it from the menu. She cautions operators not to make changes to their menu that will erode their "brand strategy."

In other words, if the item brought customers to your door pre-pandemic, they probably want it to be on your menu now.

Consider "how you build it and how you reconstruct it for delivery," she says, asking if the sauce can be "packaged separately from the pasta. What can the consumer assemble at home for the best result?"

While consumers have lost patience with sub-par quality food, says Webster, "they are far more open to having to do some assembly."

Menu Trends

We've all seen food trends come and go. And while Webster doesn't advise tampering with a successful brand strategy, she keeps an eye on what items are becoming popular in the current market. "Certainly there is some innovation," she says, "but not as much as we saw pre-pandemic." Webster has seen consumers "retrench and seek comfort foods," she says, noting "comfort food" crosses over to a variety of concepts. For an Indian food concept it might be samosas. For a Vietnamese concept, it might be Pho.

This is not atypical of difficult times. "Consumers are pulling back a bit from looking for new experiences. Consumers don't want to worry about things."

And while consumers reached for burgers, pizza and wings to comfort them in first few months of the pandemic, Webster believes a shift is on the horizon toward more healthful options. Just as the pandemic accelerated third-party delivery, Webster predicts it could accelerate demand for plant-based and vegan menus items. And not simply fake meats, but vegan and vegetarian items that are "fun and delicious."

Again, she cautions operators not to abandon the menus that put them on guests' radars pre-pandemic. "If you are a barbecue concept, you aren't likely going to have much in the way of plant-based items." For other concepts, she proposes they consider more plant-based options to which proteins can be added. This would help keep the number of menu items and inventory manageable.

Lighten Up

Be true to your concept and be mindful of what made you successful pre-pandemic. Look for ways to continue to bring it to your customers; however, "now is the time for every operator to take a hard look at what's selling, at what's working on the menu, and what is not." If it's not making you money and supporting your brand strategy, "get it off the menu," says Webster. During a time when we are all weighed down by concern for our economy, our health, and our businesses, says Webster, "you don't want to be weighed down by extra items."