Innovative menu ideas to attract and retain customers

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With so many products, brands, and ideas competing for attention in the hospitality industry, capturing – and keeping – customers’ attention is increasingly difficult. Plus – when you add that, through technology like online ordering and delivery apps, this abundance of culinary choice is more accessible than ever – this reaffirms that staying the same isn’t an option.

Fortunately, one of the most effective ways to retain and attract customers is periodically changing your menu. By adding new menu items and putting a creative twist on others, you get to surprise your current customer base (as well as having a great reason to engage with them), while constantly devising new ways to capture the attention of your target market.

In this post, we look at the benefits of creative and unique menu ideas for restaurants and how they can help better retain customers and attract new ones.

Researching and Analysing Consumer Preferences

Now, coming up with creative menu ideas, it’s wise to look into current consumer preferences and trends. This will help guide your creativity, inspire, and steer you toward what will best attract current and prospective customers.

Examples of menu additions based on current consumer trends include plant-based options, as well as gluten and dairy-free items. Similarly, lots of consumers are demanding more variety in the way of non-alcoholic drinks, and restaurants are obliging by adding mocktails and premium soft drinks to their menus.

Sources of information when conducting your research and consumer analysis include:

Looking at your competition: this includes popular eateries in your area as well as the most famous restaurants that offer similar cuisine as you
Social media: look at what’s trending on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest
Industry news: read trade publications and food blogs to learn about emerging trends
Consult your staff: you may have invaluable sources of information right under your nose – as we’ll discuss more in the next section

Creative Menu Item Ideas

Now comes the fun part – creating a range of creative menu ideas. Fortunately, there are many ways to approach this, and you’re only limited by your imagination, but here are a few ideas to get your innovative juices flowing.

Focus on unique ingredient combinations

Basing new menu items on unique flavour combinations is an excellent way to create delicious food and beverages that will have customers returning in droves. A fun way of discovering distinctive ingredient combinations is to consult the Flavour Thesaurus, a nifty, yet indispensable, book that details which flavours complement which and why. Alternatively, you could ask the fledgling AI app ChatGPT for ideas for ingredient combinations.

Unconventional dishes

Another strategy is to look for interesting dishes and drinks to add to your menu. This will not only pique the interest of existing customers but will attract people looking for new and exciting dining experiences.

You can find unconventional meal ideas by going back over your favourite cookbooks and looking up prominent food bloggers and YouTubers in the same culinary space. Conversely, you can take inspiration from other types of cuisine and develop ideas that might work as fusion food.

Seasonal produce

Basing new menu items, or even completely basing your menu, on seasonal produce, provides several benefits. Firstly, you can source seasonal ingredients from local producers, resulting in fewer food miles and increased environmental sustainability. With sustainable menus becoming increasingly popular, as consumers grow more conscious about where their food comes from, this can effectively retain and attract customers.

Plus, as your ingredients don’t have to travel as far, they’ll be fresher, resulting in better-tasting food and drinks – and lower transportation costs.

Allow your staff to shine

Arrange a weekly innovation meeting where you ask your staff for their ideas. Chances are, your employees, especially those in the kitchen, will have lots of ideas they’re like to see come to fruition.

Better still, you could hold competitions, where you set aside a small amount of budget and allow staff to come up with any culinary creations they choose. Not only could the results be incredible – resulting in something customers love, but it will motivate staff by creating a greater sense of ownership.

Menu Engineering Strategies

After revamping your menu, what’s the best way to present the new items to customers? This is where menu engineering strategies to improve customer retention come in. However, different menu engineering specialists have different ideas about the psychology of menu design for customer retention:

Some specialists have found that a customer’s eyes usually start in the middle of the menu, before moving to the top right, and then top left –called “The Golden Triangle.”
Other experts say that a customer’s eyes are immediately drawn to the top of the menu or its top right corner
However, a Korean research study revealed that 1/3 of customers are likely to order the first item they see
Conversely, a San Francisco State study surmised that customers tend to read menus like a book – from the top left.

How can you benefit from these different opinions? Put your most exciting items in your menu’s middle, top left, and top right and see which works best.

Another important menu design consideration will be whether it fits on a single page or is presented across multiple pages. Keep in mind that it’s essential to leave blank space on your menus to optimise their design and ensure it’s not too overwhelming to look at. On the other hand, redesigning your menu could be a case of removing your least popular items, while reimagining others.

However, there’s no better menu engineering strategy than adding online ordering functionality for your restaurant if you don’t have one. As well as significantly increasing the number of customers who can view your menu, an online menu gives customers all the time they want to get acquainted with your food and beverage offerings. Subsequently, an online menu helps remind existing customers of why they love your food, while showing off new menu items, and is a crucial way to compel new customers to try your restaurant.

Pricing Strategies for Customer Retention

Now that you have your creative menu ideas, who should you price them to maximise the retention of current customers and attract new ones? Here are a few ideas:

Happy hour deals: offering a range of happy hour specials is an excellent way to re-engage existing customers and attract new guests to your venue, including “2 for 1” and “3 for 2” deals, and food and drink pairings.
Special value menu: a menu on which all items are a set, lower price; this is also a great way to test items before putting them on the main menu.
Loyalty scheme: a points collection program is an effective way to not only retain customers but reward them as well. However, make sure your rewards are generous (consider it a marketing cost) so customers are motivated to collect points.

Marketing Your Innovative Menu

And lastly, after carefully crafting your new and exciting menu, you need to tell people about it. Here are a few ideas for spreading the word about your creative menu items:

Social media: promote your menu on social media, especially image-heavy platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, where you can pair posts with mouth-watering photos.
Email: make use of your email subscriber list if you have one. Make sure to offer generous discounts and deals, so customers are motivated to open your emails – and even look forward to them. Also, incentivise people to sign up to your email list – through a discount code, for instance.
Competitions and events: promote your creative menu ideas through giveaways and events. Why not launch your updated menu with a free, tasting event? Which both promotes your new menu and allows you to collect feedback on it.

To summarise, ways of revamping your menu to better retain and attract customers include:

Researching and analysing consumer preferences to see which ideas are most appealing
Devising creative menu item ideas by drawing inspiration from others in the industry and encouraging your staff to innovate
Engineer your menu for better customer retention
Create different pricing strategies to attract and retain customers
Marketing your creative menu ideas to raise awareness.

Experience the magic for yourself and watch our demo to discover how our product can transform your business

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Grafterr’s online ordering platform enables your customers to order menu items for delivery, schedule them for collection, or make reservations online. Best of all, adding online ordering functionality is made easy with Grafterr – as you can add your online menu to your existing website – or create a brand new one with our interactive website builder. Better still, our online ordering platform can be integrated with your restaurant’s marketing strategy, allowing you to reach your customers through email, text, and social media.