With many states considering additional COVID rollback lockdown measures once more, it is important that restaurants position themselves to serve guests in whatever capacity is permitted.
One such option is to think outside the menu. While take-away and curbside ordering keep your regular customers happy, it isn’t as convenient for families or groups looking to pick-up food. Many restaurants have begun bundling menu items (or even non-menu items!) into meals for pick-up.
For example, take a look at Gunther Toody’s a Colorado restaurant that has been in business for nearly 35 years. Gunther Toody’s family-sized meals-to-go take as much as 40% off the regular menu prices and provide enough food to feed a family of four—a much more appealing option to parents who have been working and homeschooling all day and may not want to take individual orders from two or three kids.
Another Colorado-based restaurant, Blackbird Café in Kittredge, normally a roadside stop and local favorite, began offering family meals earlier in the summer. Each week, there is a theme. Guests pre-order the meals which come complete with an entree, salad, side, and dessert.
There are other ways to work around the limitations of a set menu and appeal to the changing needs of potential customers. Gunther Toody’s provides ready-to-heat grocery items, such as soups and sauces, which make for easy at-home meals. A mountain-area establishment, Willow Creek in Evergreen, Colorado has, since the start of quarantine, created grocery boxes with produce items, pastas, and some of their housemade favorites.
“Thinking outside your traditional menu can and will give your existing customers and reach to new customers something new to think about your restaurant. This will provide all your customers that you are meeting their busy family mealtime needs. This includes taking the time to not only look at bundling offers, curb side and delivery but look at your storage shelves in your walk in coolers/freezers and pantry utilizing your existing ingredients in your kitchen to make a new flavorful and enticing menu offering. ” says Richard Weil, CEO of National Restaurant Consultants.
We must continue to navigate this moment in history with flexibility and creativity, and our restaurant consultants, with decades of experience, are trained to exactly do this.
