The Consumer Argument for Menu Reduction

Simplifying your menu requires more than a financial motivation. Do it for your consumer. If your menu counts more than 4 pages, your consumer's will interest will wane and suddenly your restaurant is inflicting yet another pressure on their already burdened day. Simplify is a word that most people embrace as a path to peace, but many businesses contend that variety maximizes potential and worry that deletions generate complaints in an environment where we’re fighting for every guest. Why should a restaurant limit their menu? While there are multiple benefits (focus to training, less inventory to manage, reduced menu costs, simplified transactions), the answer is simply quality.

Most full-service restaurants have fewer consumers today than they used to. They’re selling fewer menu items but haven’t cut their menu count. That means that product is rotated less frequently, which impacts freshness. That means that items are executed less frequently, which impacts consistency and accuracy. A menu item that averages 10 sales per day translates into 2-3 on a Monday to balance the 18-20 on a Friday, so your Monday AM cook may go weeks without receiving an order. Infrequent sales also negatively impact FOH knowledge, comfort and confidence.

Menu simplification is therefore solving a consumer problem, not a business problem.

• Simplifying the menu to make it easier for consumers to identify what they’ll order so they can get back to the social experience most brands are promising

• Simplifying the menu will focus operations on doing fewer things more often to elevate the quality and consistency of the experience

• Simplifying the menu means there will be fewer things for the business to manage, translating into tighter inventory control and reduced waste… providing we don’t get greedy and turn the menu reduction exercise into a labor savings initiative

This last point is critical and a tough sell with margins as tight as they are in a negative sales environment. We have older kitchens, rising labor costs that the consumer will no longer shoulder, increased Franchise and private equity ownerships, and thinly-stretched talent across our systems. We need every penny to ensure our future. That attitude concedes defeat in the long game.

I know of a concept team that built a menu to accomplish their simplification goals. When looking to partner with a franchise to test the tightened menu, the concept team sought to validate that base operational standards were in place so that variables outside the menu were held relatively constant: all equipment fully functional, smallwares in place, labor appropriately deployed, and core menu items consistently executed. It was at this point that the proposed menu fell apart because the concept’s operational leadership would not require the enforcement of its everyday standards for every restaurant.

What future will a concept have if faulty equipment and short labor is accepted as the norm? The tail cannot wag the dog. Leadership must have the vision to see the way out of the downward spiral and the inspiration to bring the entire business along. Simplification must be championed through the consumer lens if we’re to create a new future.

Simplifying without alienating consumers is possible. The enterprise needs to be informed by their preferences, framed as a quality initiative, and executed with a brand revitalization effort including focused innovation. All of which I can assist with as a menu consultant. The financials will follow in the form of reduced waste, improved margins, and decreased menu costs but those aren’t the objectives. Improved quality delivering increased visitation is the point. Our future depends on reversing the negative traffic trends. It’s time to simplify the consumer proposition and give them something worth coming back for.