24 Get crafty with your menu and signage
After you have been through your food costing process you’ll
discover you have a number of high margin items on the menu. As
long as you can stand over these items as being excellent you need
to push them just a little bit harderthan the low margin
alternatives. A good example of this is the difference between a
properly made brownie and a scone. The brownie could cost three
times more to make and you’re unlikely to have a price premium of
more than 50%. So this gives you an opportunity to push the
scones and make them part of your “story”.
At its most simple you can just highlight these various items in red
on your menu. Or pick them out in bold or with a slightly larger
font. You don’t need to explain why you’re picking them out since
the customer will automatically assume that they are “special” and
will be more tempted to try them.
Another alternative is to highlight these items on table talkers or
little A5 card holders beside where you merchandise your product.
“Have you tried our......?” is an enormously effective way of
drawing attention to whatever item it is that you are promoting.
Beware of treating high percentage margin items as the Holy Grail
though. At the end of the day it’s all about moneyand your goal
should be to achieve as high a pound note margin per customer as
possible and not just a high percentage margin.
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