Most restaurants create their menu according to theme, demographics and functional abilities. This year the industry is facing external challenges unequaled in near term history. Many think we are either in a recession or close to one with spiraling inflation that has hit food costs harder than other business segments and less discretionary cash available to consumers that has reduced their restaurant visits.

It’s time for a menu makeover that includes more than just raising prices.

When uncertain financial times sweep across the country, several things, both consciously and unconsciously, alters the average person’s thought processes. Conserving disposable income becomes a forethought rather than an afterthought. While studies show that people may spend more time at the local pub, they also tend to change their eating habits to varying degrees. Upscale white tablecloth eateries will probably be hit the hardest, but all types of restaurants will feel the crunch.

Menu’s will be scrutinized more carefully than normal. People will look for perceived bargains and items they can’t possibly reproduce at home. At the same time, they will revert to feel good items - like comfort food.

To adapt your menu to uncertain financial conditions, here are a few tips;

• Bargains in the guest’s mind make take the form of smaller portions, a sirloin instead of filet mignon, a sandwich instead of a full meal or even split plates of larger portioned dinners.
• Comfort food may include classics from their childhood and foods they wouldn’t normally eat do to health concerns. There will be the tendency to be less adventuresome in their dining habits.
• Hard to find ingredients that cannot be purchased economically by the average customer may tempt the guest frequently. Examples include fruits like fresh red cherries and green tomatoes , vegetables like red peppers and Vidalia onions and meats like fresh turkey and pork tenderloin.

In every cloud there is a bit of silver lining. There are opportunities for the restaurateur to increase margins while catering to the guest’s whims in a difficult economy. Comfort food can offer great latitude for interpretation. Smaller portions need not mean lower margins and selective purchasing can offer unique specials that may not sell in other circumstances.

Get creative and add your flair and theme to old classics. When was the last time you saw hamloaf on a menu? How about potatoes au gratin? A green bean casserole doesn’t have to be served just around the holidays. If there is anyone who didn’t have some type of beans and cornbread while growing up, they missed part of their childhood! Who can forget the apple crisps and strawberry short cakes before fake sponge cake? Have you thought about mixing old favorites like spaghetti and pork chops? And, of course, there about a thousand ways to be creative with meatloaf. I can’t think of anything more comforting that corned beef hash with a poached egg on top. Macaroni and cheese has become a mainstream menu item that includes everything from truffles to tea leaves.

Now if you read the paragraph above and your mouth isn’t watering just a little bit, you need to move along to another site. The comfort food and ageless classics may be an opportunity waiting to happen for your restaurant trying to meet the customer’s expectations. Do you need to change your entire menu? Absolutely not. You only need a few creative items that gives the customer an alternative - nothing more.

Part two to Restaurant Menu Strategies will deal with a new way to look at profitability and pricing for this economy.

Larry Edger, Author

The Restaurant Ebook 

The Internet is a beautiful thing! Behind the keyboard you can be anything you want. There is even a song that tells the tale of a guy who becomes 6 feet 5 inches tall, dark and handsome - online. He becomes a millionaire with big fancy cars and expensive habits - online. His fantasies become reality - online.

When it comes to finding help for ailing restaurants, its amazing to me that websites, blogs and articles hype the achievements of the fabulous marketing gurus who become magicians - online. They apparently have crystal balls, taro cards, boiling pots of potions and withered skulls that produce overnight results for anyone willing to pay. There are so many of them that I have to believe someone is believing their hype.

I may be a little naive when it comes to Internet marketing, but are there really restaurant owners who are hiring these online marvels? Are there really business people who believe there are quick fixes for sales, marketing and operational problems? What happened to knowledge, experience, learning and planning?

Visiting other websites and blogs have become my daily humor exercise. How can anyone not be amused by someone selling the restaurant “W.O.W. Factor” for $29.95 and offering a guarantee that if it doesn’t work, they will work for free (by email) until it does? More belly laughs can be had by the people who offer thousands of new customers by purchasing their mailing lists of people who are moving into your area. I don’t know where you live, but the real estate agents in my state are looking for jobs. I am wondering if these “thousands” are homeless and all the mail is going to shelters?

Of course, then there are the “marketing experts” who just came out of a national restaurant chain who were responsible for “397 multi-unit operations”. This person is now offering their “coaching” skills for as little as $25 per hour to give you the “secrets” of restaurant marketing. Now if you are sitting in Podunk, Idaho with a restaurant that just lost $10,000 last month, what do you think some character out of a public restaurant chain based in Atlanta can do for you?

Restaurateurs who fall for these voodoo, knee jerk pitches online should walk out the door, go to the closest McDonald’s, spend five bucks on a burger and shake and then just watch, look and listen for about an hour. You will learn more about marketing, service, cost control, customer expectations, operations and training in an hour than a $25 an hour witch doctor will teach you. There, I just saved you $20! Send me a fee.

To survive in the restaurant business you need knowledge, not quick fixes. You need to learn what marketing really is. You need to know what your customers expect. You need to know the differences between cash flow and profits. You need to find how to develop a marketing plan while tweaking your customer service system. You need ideas that work for your restaurant, not the chains. You need to know about analyzing you demographics. You need to find out why you have advantages the chains can’t match.

There is no substitute for experience. Of course, I am kind of fascinated by the thought of becoming a witch doctor. Might be fun concocting these quick-fix potions in some 40 quart pot. Maybe I can get the staff to do a little dance around the kitchen at the same time.

Larry Edger, Author

The Restaurant Ebook