Having a variety of different food items available on your menu will allow you to draw in more customers to your café. If you are worried about it complicating your day, here’s how to introduce these foods to your café menu so that it will go as smoothly as possible.
Don’t Introduce Too Many New Foods at Once
Many café owners make the mistake of introducing too many foods at once. They get so excited about their new menu offerings that they forget that a lot of work goes into utilizing new foods in their café. This can slow down service times, increase employee confusion, and decrease overall quality. This is why it’s best to only introduce one or two new foods at a time. Let everyone adjust to smaller changes rather than blow them over with sudden changes.
Get Fresh Bread Delivery
The food you might want to introduce for your café probably uses a lot of bread. After all, sandwiches and toast are common café offerings, and bread is also offered on the side of salads and soups, which might make up your lunch menu. Using fresh bread can give your food a great boost, but making bread is time consuming.
If you are worried about how you will find the time to bake bread every single day, you can utilize fresh bread delivery. This will allow you to have fresh bread whenever you need it without having to complicate things by trying to make it yourself.
Prepare What You Can The Night Before
Many people likely visit your café first thing in the morning for coffee and breakfast. However, delays in food prep can make them late for work or appointments, leaving your customers upset and unlikely to return. To prevent long wait times, do as much food prep as possible ahead of time. This might include cutting up fruits and vegetables, marinating ingredients, or preparing condiments. So that you don’t have to get to work too early in the morning, try to do food prep the evening before.
Talk to Your Staff First
One of the biggest struggles that a lot of café owners face when introducing new foods is their staff not being sure how to prepare these new items. This is why you should talk to them about these new offerings beforehand. Show them how to prepare each item, and make sure they have the chance to make these dishes on their own as well. You can also provide recipe cards for the kitchen for any new employees or anyone who might need a reminder.
While introducing new foods to your café menu can make it more diverse, you may find they also can make your day more complicated if you aren’t thoroughly prepared ahead of time. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do beforehand that will save you time and will allow your staff to be fully prepared to work with these new food offerings.