Menu development tips from Find My Rice CEO Dominic Cain
Menu development is an integral part of the hospitality industry. No matter the size of your business, if food is an element it deserves attention and innovation. With over 20 years in the hospitality industry, many spent developing new menus, Dominic Cain, CEO of Find My Rice shares his top tips.
It takes time.
Depending on the size of your organisation menu development may take a few weeks to half a year. In larger companies or franchises, 6 - 12 months is a typical development period for new menu item covering concept to ingredient supply, testing and finally consumer launch. Particularly in the QSR industry menu decision are based around campaign period and the need to regularly differentiate themselves in the market place.
In particular, allow time for sourcing new ingredients. Sites like www.findmyrice.com.au can help that process by having a lot of suppliers in one place that you can access at will. When you are not confined by lack of information you can move when inspiration hits.
Always have ideas on the boil
In my 20 years in the food industry I found it a beneficial practice to have a portfolio of new recipes on hand that could be rolled out anytime. Be it in response to competitor movement or just a need for change internally the only way to speed up the process up is to have ideas at the ready.
Generally, the easiest way to come up with ideas is to play on the two main seasons- summer and winter. The alternative is to play on ‘what’s hot’ at the time in regards to popular ingredients in the market place, or hero existing products and make them ‘new’ again. What subway has done with avocado is a great example of this menu planning strategy.
Many companies particularly in the QSR space have also started to look at partnerships with other brands to freshen its offerings. For example Pizza Hut has worked with many options including Doritos and Four and Twenty Pies to create not only new menu items, but strong marketing opportunities. The industry is fast paced and competition is strong, so if someone moves in next door and offers the same as you but for 20 percent less the best way to deal with that is to introduce something new. If you are not prepared timeliness will be lost.
Don’t forget the logistics
The fun part of menu development is being creative and trying new things but once that part is finished there is lot that has to happen before it lands on a customer’s plate. You have to consider training for your team, menu reprints, signage changes and point of sale amendments to name a few key elements. Particularly in the QSR world where brands are rolling out new menus in hundreds of locations, planning and development time is crucial and lead time can be years. The longer you have an overall strategy in place the better because then it can be as simple finding the right product to fit into a predefined idea. The more time you can allow for planning and execution the more successful a menu rollout will be.
Never serve an untested dish
When passion is at the heart of what you do, it’s quite hard to assess something objectively. You may love it but what about your potential customers? How will you determine if the market will also like it? The easiest way around this is to always test a dish and receive constructive feedback. It can be as simple as using your internal team; what do they think? If your own team don’t like it, that’s a good indication of what customers might feel. I don’t believe our industry does this step of the menu development process enough but it really is vital.
In saying that, every company needs to be prepared to move and you can test it with 100 people who all like it but once it hits mass market things might change. You just have to ensure you go into the menu planning process with as much due diligence and testing as possible but be flexible enough to understand it’s still a promotion and will potentially be hit and miss sometimes.
The world is your oyster
Always look outside of your own kitchen; what are the trends around the world? Who’s doing what and where? What is popular, what combination of flavours are other chefs playing with? It’s not about copying it’s about inspiration. FindMyRice.com.au aggregates industry news from 50 different sources from around the world to enable quick access to information and ideas. Expanding your horizons will not only improve your offering but work towards improving the entire industry.
It is also vital to remember though that your popularity will ultimately be based on what your core customers love about you and sometimes making too many changes can be detrimental.
It a constant process
The best chefs in the world are constantly thinking about their food and what they can offer. They experiment for the sake of it. A perfect example of this is the cronut. It wasn’t a planned menu item but the result of an experiment that was extremely successful. Even if you have a standard menu you need to keep trying ideas and pushing the boundaries. Consumers today, want and need change to remain loyal. QSRS managing this process well are winning in the food game.
