Imagine this, you sit down at a new restaurant, look at the menu, and select a dish. When it arrives upon first bite you think “ I should have ordered the chicken”.  Let’s face it when we’re presented with an array of delicious menu choices, and a grumbling belly deciding what to order is no small feat.  In theory having a menu that appeals to a large spectrum of taste and preferences seems like a recipe for a profitable menu however too much choice can actually be leaving your customers less satisfied and hurt your bottom line.

In 2000 Psychologist Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper conducted the Jam study that explored the dynamic between the number of choices and sales. In a nutshell, less is more. When presented with fewer choices study participants where 10 times more likely to buy and more satisfied with their selection. (Too Many Choices: A Problem That Paralyze New York Times )

Know What Your Customers Actually Want.

By knowing which menu items are your “greatest hits” (popular and keeps ‘em coming back) or your “one hit wonders” ( people buy a lot but never return) allows you to make calculatedmenu decision that increases your chances of repeat customers.

Tracking the performance of individual menu items has never been easier with Upserve’s Menu Intelligence. Knowing which menu items are under performers is the key to simplifying your menu without second guessing. Ultimately this allows you to spend more energy and effort on the dishes customers are actually ordering (and enjoying).

Focusing menu offerings means less choices, an increased chance that they will pick the perfect dish that will keep them coming back, and less food waste on items that aren’t selling. Win-win-win.

Quicker Service = Increased Table Turn Over

Quicker service isn’t just for quick-serve or fast casual restaurants. Faster service impacts the bottom line for all restaurants ( yes, even fine dining benefits from faster service). When patrons can be served sooner table turnover is faster and new patrons can be seated sooner.  Being able to serve more patron per night increase your potential gross sales.

Simplified Menu = More Knowledgable Staff

Overcomplicated menus are a recipe for confusion in the kitchen, an uninformative wait staff and frustrated customers with unanswered questions. With fewer items for your wait staff to memorize and your kitchen to keep track of service naturally becomes quicker and smoother. 

So how does all of this impact your bottom line?

As you can see when it comes to your menu less is more. It’s more satisfied customers, it’s more tables served per night, and more sales of the dishes that perform best. All of this opens up your potential for more gross sales and hidden money savings by avoiding the cost of too many choices.

Try a free demo today to see how menu intelligence can keep your customers happy and your bottom line even happier.