6 Questions to Ask Yourself When Planning Your Restaurant Week Menu

Pro-tips to maximize profitability from Sysco’s Ricky Webster

You can begin uploading your Inlander Restaurant Week menu NOW. To have a super successful event that impacts your bottom line during Inlander Restaurant Week and beyond, Sysco Spokane’s Business Resource Consultant encourages you to ask these six questions.

1. Does your menu tell your restaurant’s story? If this is a diner’s first experience with your restaurant, does your three-course menu help them understand what to expect when they return? 

2. Are you thinking about seasonality? Taking seasonality into account can have a big impact on profits. For instance, heirloom tomatoes are expensive in the winter. Could you replace tomatoes with roasted beets, instead? 

3. Is your menu labor intensive? You know labor costs are going to be a huge issue this year, so think about the prep time each dish is going to take. If an item is going to take an excessive amount of time from your staff, maybe it’s not the right item to put on your Restaurant Week menu. 

Inlander Restaurant Week is about providing a broader taste of your menu.

4. Are your portion sizes correct? Three courses is a lot of food. Keep in mind Inlander Restaurant Week is about providing a broader taste of your menu. You can likely take portion size down to remain profitable, while still managing diner satisfaction. 

5. Can you make a big impact? Look for concepts or items that your staff can consistently prepare that are very impactful and flavorful. 

6. Are you providing opportunities to upsell? Consider including add-ons to your menu. For instance, give diners the option of adding prawns or anchovies to their first course salad for an additional charge. Allow diners to upsize their protein portion for an additional charge, or add 3-ounce wine pairings with each course for an additional price. 

More Sysco Tips and Tricks

for Inlander Restaurant Week

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Restaurant Week is always a hectic time, when your team is stretched in the front and back of house. A nationwide labor shortage and increases in minimum wage and employee benefits this year can add to the pressure, making saving time and labor in the kitchen even more critical to have a successful and profitable Restaurant Week and first quarter.

Farm Fresh Spotlight: Sackmann Cattle Company

The Sackmann’s roots in Eastern Washington run deep, going back over a century. Owners Jeff and Jaime Sackmann both grew up on farming and ranching homesteads settled in the 1900’s. While ranching is in their blood, the Sackmann’s have continued to develop a contemporary, and successful breeding philosophy. Jaime holds a Masters Degree in Animal Science with an emphasis on ruminant nutrition and meat science.

Wine Service 101

Tips and tricks for serving wine with your Inlander Restaurant Week menu

Profit Pitfalls to Avoid During Inlander Restaurant Week

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Offsetting Rising Labor Costs

With Washington’s minimum raise increasing in January and employee benefits expenses on the rise, restaurants are under more pressure than ever to manage their bottom line. “As restaurants are asking themselves how are they going to manage the increases in labor costs, we’re hearing from a lot of our customers that they don’t want to jack up menu prices,” explains Sysco Business Resource Consultant Ricky Webster. “But how do you do that?” Managing your food cost is a good place to start. Here are three tips from Ricky to keep your food cost in line, and drive profits up.

Farm Fresh Spotlight: Carlton Farms

When you order Carlton Farms pork or beef, you’re ordering quality you can see and taste. What you’re also getting with each order is five decades of experience raising animals naturally and humanely– without hormones, animal proteins or growth accelerants.

A Better Bottom Line

Running a profitable restaurant has never been easy. And it’s not about to get any easier, as new wage and compensation laws kick in for Washington State. So how can your restaurant absorb higher labor costs?

“Keeping a close eye on your food cost is critical,” says Sysco Business Resource Consultant Ricky Webster. In our last Prep for Success newsletter, Ricky offered three tips to keep food costs down through inventory control, goal setting and consistency.

3 Reasons to start creating your Restaurant Week menu right now

We just made it through Thanksgiving. The Christmas season catering madness is about to start. But it is time to start thinking about your Inlander Restaurant Week menu. Here are three reasons to get started now, to make sure you have the most successful Restaurant Week possible.

Farm Fresh Spotlight: The Royal Dairy

While Washington State may better known for its apples than its dairy farms, its milk producers are certainly worth celebrating. Royal Dairy, nestled in the Columbia Basin in Grant County is leading the nation with its commitment to becoming a zero-waste dairy.

Why Powerful Menu Descriptions Mean Profits

As you are putting the finishing touches on your Inlander Restaurant Week menu, make sure you pay as much attention to your written descriptions, as you do to developing the delicious dishes you’ll feature.

Research shows that a restaurant can increase sales by up to 30 percent just by utilizing enticing menu descriptions. Thirty percent! “Powerful descriptions are particularly important during a Restaurant Week promotion, because many diners are actively comparing your menu to other restaurants and selecting eateries solely based on menu offerings,”

Cashing in on Restaurant Week All Year Long

Tips for turning Restaurant Week customers into regulars

Research from Cake, a tech-solution division of Sysco, shows restaurants typically see a revenue boost of about 23 percent during an average Restaurant Week promotion. That can be a nice boost to your first quarter bottom line. Even better — how can you turn those first time customers into loyalists?

We asked Sysco Business Resource Consultant Ricky Webster for his tips for bringing those Inlander Restaurant Week customers back.

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