12 mind-blowing, moneymaking menu moves to steal from commercial restaurants

At the recent Menu Directions conference in Atlanta, FSD’s gathering for onsite foodservice professionals, sister publication Restaurant Business Editors Jonathan Maze and Pat Cobe shared some insider tips and food trends so you can use your menu to make money in these trying financial times. Many of the ideas are surprisingly simple and make use of what you’ve already got on hand, so it’ll be easy to give them a try, from engineering the menu itself to repurposing items into snacks to swapping in chicken, adding signature sauces, shareables and more.

 “One of the guiding principles of menu engineering is to list your most profitable items on top,” Cobe said. “Those are the ones your customers will most likely order. If you have a special LTO, you can highlight that in color or bracket it off to draw people’s eyes to it, and that could be at a higher price point. And introducing new items does bring traffic.”

“It’s kind of a balance when you’re offering these new items,” Maze said. “You want them to attract a customer base. How do you treat a new item from a profitability standpoint? In restaurants, they’re engineering a menu item to ensure that it is profitable, but there will be times they’ll have to accept lower margins to get customers in the door.”

“Bar Louie overhauled their whole menu,” Cobe said. “A lot of their customers are cautious about trying new flavors, so one salmon dish was very straightforward—citrus grilled with roasted asparagus and potatoes—while  the second one was more chef-driven, with Cajun blackened seasoning, shrimp and a pan-sauce with beurre blanc. They charged more for the second one than the one that was more tame. The added spices don’t cost a lot. You also see this a lot on restaurant menus, where you can add shrimp and make this a surf ‘n turf and maybe charge an extra five dollars.”

Maze offered the example of Starbucks, where “adding a flavor shot to that latte, and charging 80 cents; they make billions doing that, just encouraging customers to play around and add things. There are lot of little things like that on the menu that can help build the average check with relatively low cost.”

“First Watch opened a new restaurant in Nashville, which is very popular for bachelorette parties, so they decided to do a brunch board with pancakes and different toppings, and there’s a more savory one with biscuits, eggs and breakfast meats,” Cobe said. “This doesn’t have a high cost—pancakes don’t cost that much—and the presentation is so good that you can charge more because shareables are so on-trend right now.” On the topic of brunch, Maze agreed that “what’s going on in that space is really interesting … brunch is an incredibly popular gathering for friends.”

“Value is geared toward getting people in the door,” Maze said. “You essentially encourage customers to order more at a price point that will get them in the door. Ever since Subway’s 5-dollar footlong campaign more than a decade ago, that seems to be the magic number. It’s getting harder and harder to do; you have to make sure you can still get money and give customers value. It’s a really difficult balancing act. McDonald’s is introducing a new value meal with low-cost items. To customers it’s a really good perception of value when you offer these bundled deals. Customers have to believe what they’re getting is worth the money.”

“I think beverages are a really good potential sales engine and what’s going on with beverages is absolutely fascinating. The idea you can survive with a soda fountain of just eight choices is gone.” Cobe introduced the trend of dirty sodas, which are regular sodas with something mixed in, like milk (any kind, but often coconut) or just other flavors. Even though “dirty sodas” sound gross, they’re really popular,” she said. “You can upcharge for it because it looks like a fancier drink and it’s trending on social media right now. You could also just add watermelon juice to lemonade and charge a dollar or two more.

Energy drinks also continue to be popular, Maze pointed out, going by the example of kids needing a pick-me-up after school. “Dutch Bros. gets a lot of sales in the afternoon,” he said. “The innovation we’re seeing on the beverage front is a source of high-profit sales.” Other examples include boba tea and lavender flavor, which has been second only to pumpkin-spice for Starbucks sales.

Bojangles, after noticing people making their own snack items from existing menu items, created Bo’s Bird Dogs: a regular chicken tender with sauce on a new smaller bun, “and now they have a whole new menu category,” Cobe said.

“People really like snacking,” Maze said. “Auntie Anne’s is just killing it right now because people look at the price point on these items and it’s really easy thing for them to buy, and it’s recession-proof. People see it as a low-cost way to treat themselves. Snacking is a bigger daypart all the time. You can take a chicken tender and put it in a wrap.”

“Farmer Boys uses the same sauce across the menu,” Cobe said. “You don’t have to limit it; you can repurpose it. Not just on a chicken sandwich, but as a dip for fries and zucchini sticks (pictured). Sauces continue to multiply on menus. Technomic found 34% of diners choose a restaurant because of their sauce. And 41% are tempted to order a menu. You can even use plain ranch dressing—which everyone loves—and make it spicier or citrusy, and you have a signature sauce.”

Maze said he’s a fan of Raising Cains’ sauce: “That sauce is phenomenal; you can use it for fries, tenders. And Chick-fil-A is another one. You can take that chicken sandwich and make it a spicy chicken sandwich. You should always be thinking sauce right now if you’re selling food. Your customers are thinking about sauce all the time.”

Chicken stars in an unlikely place, pictured here: A poke bowl at Island Fin Poke. “Chicken sandwiches, chicken wings, it’s just all taking off in the restaurant space,” Maze said. “It makes a ton of sense. Chicken, in the U.S., is the most popular protein. You can do all kinds of different things with it and you can make it delicious. Beef is probably in a two-year inflationary cycle, so you’ll have higher prices.”

The Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao butchers meat in-house and saves the trim for an appetizer of empanadas at Bar Fogo, filled with ground beef trim. “While everyone is paying attention to waste, it pays to get creative and turn it into a shareable or sandwich or other chef-driven item,” Cobe said.

Wellness-boosting ingredients to add on or “boost” a menu item can add up nicely for your operation. “Protein powder or yogurt is a smart way to add protein to a smoothie or bowl and charge a dollar or two extra,” Cobe said. “You can also add a boost with antioxidant-rich ingredients, like spirulina.”

“The most popular of these was a Popeye’s chicken sandwich in 2019 and supplies ran out,” Maze said. “They brought it back in the following November and basically kicked off the chicken sandwich wars. That FOMO (fear of missing out) is really powerful. If you find a way to capture that, it can really generate some strong interest.”

“At Lazy Dog, the menu describes how the cheddar cheese curds are made with Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery’s all-natural white cheddar curds,” Cobe said. “They’re located in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, which is also known as the Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin.” Reportedly, the dish is a crowd pleaser that pairs well with beer.