Menu merchandising

Is an art to sale the product  by menu car. for example in a restaurant food and beverages items are mention along with prices and menu is designed according to customer type ,demand etc. this type of sale Technique are called menu merchandising.
Having a great product or a restaurant full of customers doesn’t mean you’re making money. As restaurateur “Diamond” Jim Brady is alleged to have said in 1901: “You can have the best product in the world but if you can’t sell it, you’ve still got it!”

 The fact is, people don’t “buy” things, they are“sold” things. Don’t be shy about “merchandising your menu.”

A long time ago, Grandpa Sullivan (a salesman so good that he could sell you a dead horse and when you came back to complain, sell you a saddle to go with it) pointed out  that

There are only Four Ways to Grow A Business:
1. Acquire More Customers (of the kind you want to serve)
2. Improve the process
3. Increase the price
4. Increase the average value of the transaction

Here are some strategies and tactics to improve profitability via service-driven selling:
Goal: a buck per guest.
Focus on raising your sales one buck per customer. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Not until you do the math:
Write down how many customers visit your operation in a year.
Now, let’s assume that you can increase the average spend of those customers by one dollar per transaction.
Add a dollar sign to the left of your annual customer traffic.
Example: 150,000 guests per year equals a$150,000 in higher gross sales without raising prices or spending one more penny in advertising.
Plus, your fixed costs (labor, utilities, rent) don’t change, so your profitability rises the more you sell. Wow! That’s almost like “found” cash, isn’t it?
And since servers are tipped on gross, not net sales, a dollar per person increase just added another $22,000 to the collective tip pool.
And maybe the best news of all relative to encouraging your team to collectively raise your sales a dollar per person? What generates an extra loony in gross sales? A side of sour cream? A small soda? An iced tea? A slice of cheese? A$1.95 cup of soup shared by two people?

Endorse the choice.
Whenever a guest buys a product or orders a particular dish or drink, always respond “Good choice,” or “You’re gonna love that”. This reassures the guest and adds value to the transaction every time.

 Shotgun Selling.
This means fire at everything and something’s going to fall down. Suggest an appetizer, dessert or a sample of whatever you sell to every customer and the likelihood of more sales rises dramatically. I can assure you that every time you don’t ask they will say no. Every time you do ask there’s a 100% possibility they’ll say yes.
The less money you spend on training, the more you’ll spend on advertising.

The key to merchandising any menu successfully is training, teaching, coaching and incentives. Don’t let turnover affect your commitment to training. “But what if we train our people to sell and then they leave?  ”you may ask. My response? “What if we don’t and they stay?”

Menu Design

The first impression is always important, the entire menu should complement the operation- Theme- Interior Decor- Design (Merchandising)- Creativity- Material- Color- Space, Menu Layout
Format:
Menu’s size
General makeup Typeface:
Printed letters
Font size
Typeface
Sequence:
Appetizers, soups, entrees, desserts
Depends on the operation (side orders, salads, sandwiches, beverages)
Depends on popularity and profitability
Placement:
artworks; space; boxes; clip-on; etc.

Typestyle and/or lettering- Names of food items- Description- Popular items are at the top of a list- Clip-on, inserts (daily specials)- Operations address- Beverage service notice- Separate menus for each meal period- Separate menu for host/hostess and guests
The first question operating managers must ask themselves is very simple:”How many guests will I serve today?”- “This week?” – “This year?” The answer to questions such as these is critical since these guests will provide the revenue from which the operator will pay basic operating expenses.

Importance of Forecasting Sales

Forecasts of future sales are normally based on your sales history since what has happened in the past in your operation is usually the best predictor of what will happen in the future.
A sales forecast predicts the number of guests you will serve and their venues they will generate in a given future time period.

Sales Histories

Maintaining Sales Histories
Sales history may consist of revenue; the number of guests served, and average sales per guest. You may want to use even more detailed information, such as the number of a particular menu item served, the number of guests served in a specific meal or time period, or the method of meal delivery (for example, drive-through vs. counter sale).
1. By operating period, such as one week or month, so that all sales records for an entire operating period can be viewed together on one page, card, or screen
2. By the day of the week, so that all sales records for a given day (Tuesday, for example) for a period of several weeks can be compared.
3. By entrée item, so that the degree of popularity of a given item can be seen over time.
Sales Histories are likely to be arranged in one of three ways:
Effect of weather
• One of the most common of these conditions is the weather. Most foodservice operators find that weather conditions have a noticeable impact on sales volume. In many establishments, bad weather has a clearly negative impact on sales volume.
• Hotels and motels in major metropolitan centers often find the impact of weather on sales to be the opposite: Bad weather seems to increase food and beverage sales in these properties, probably because it discourages guests from going out to nearby restaurants.

Other Information in Sales Histories
• Special events can decide sales and are often included in sales histories. The occurrence of a national holiday on a particular day or the presence of a particular convention group in a hotel can affect sales considerably. So can such varied conditions as faulty kitchen equipment, a torn-up street in front of the restaurant, or a major sale at a nearby store.
• Whenever a portion is returned, authorized individual, such as a kitchen supervisor or chef, record it on the void sheet, indicating the name of the item, the number of the check on which it appeared, and the reason for its return. These entries can be most revealing to an alert manager or food controller.
• If the number of returns is consistently high and evenly distributed among job classifications, an investigation may indicate general understaffing. This finding may suggest a need for additional personnel to Void Sheet
• There are other important uses of the void sheet as well, particularly when efforts are being made to control portions by a certain method such as control of preportioned entrées.
• If all returned portions must be recorded on the void sheet and attested to by a member of the management team, it is more difficult for kitchen personnel to be careless with food.
• The recording of returned portions makes possible the reconciliation of kitchen records of portions produced and records of Void Sheet
• It is important to note that sales histories, regardless of how well they have been developed and maintained, are not sufficient alone to accurately predict future sales.
• Your knowledge of potential price changes, new competitors, facility renovations, and improved selling programs are just a few of the many factors that you must consider when predicting future sales.

Menu design factors

• Menu MUST be legible and easy to read
• Menu Cover is a symbol of the restaurant’s identity
• Typestyle, size, color, style, and background affects it legibility
• Types of material on which menu is printed should be in keeping with a restaurant’s image Color gives menu variety
• Use type 10-12 for menu listings, size 18 for headings, Vary type size to prevent monotony.
• Menu heading should be in capital letters and bolded with larger type
• Lowercase easier to read, Words such as or, the, a, in, and, with are usually not capitalized
• Additional emphasis by drawing box or border around menu items
• Menu items are often put in large, bold caps to stand out, and lowercase type used for descriptive material below the name of the item.

a. A good menu “grabs” the customer and attracts them to the items
b. Slightly more than 52% of space on the printed page has print on it, 47% of space is margins
c. Line length should be 3-4 inches (Too wide causes the reader to lose place)
d. First and last items in a column are seen first and best. (Put items on the menu in these areas if want to sell)Readers tend to skip items
e. Don’t arrange items in columns with highest to lowest prices
f. Eye focus goes to right or center of the page or to the upper right-hand corner and then counterclockwise to right bottom
g. Use of black on white read 42% more rapidly than white on gray
h. Too much color can distract attention from menu
i. A heavy paper, cover stock best for menu covers
j. May laminate to resist soil
k. Menu cover shape and form helps create interest and sales appeal
l. Restaurant’s address, telephone number and hours of operation should appear on the menu
m. Replace menu rather than scratch out old prices, or indicate “market price”
n. Get rid of out-of-date, dirty, worn, unattractive menus
o. Use odd cents pricing – $7.29
p. The picture menu good merchandising tool, in that people, eat with their eyes