The roaring inflation affects the rising cost of goods, services, and ingredients. It leaves you with not much options to keep your restaurant afloat other than to boost your price.
It’s a risky action to increase your prices when you’ve built a loyal customer base. And if you’re dreading to inform your customers about price increase at your café or restaurant, you’re not alone!
Now that you’re certain that a price increase is needed, it’s time to gear up your menu pricing strategy without losing your loyal customers.
- Identify your best selling menu
- Don’t make surprises, do it slowly
- Transform your menu
- Be transparent with your customers
These steps will help you to increase your menu price in a smooth way without risking their loyalty.
1. Identify your best selling menu
Before you proceed with new pricing in your restaurant, identify your best sellers first. A best selling menu indicates what your customers come for at your restaurant. Hence, changing its price might upset them.
If math formula is not your forte, your Point Of Sale (POS) system will help you to identify the best and low selling menus from inventory management and sale data analytics. With this information, you can decide whether to remove the item, adjust the portion size, or increase the price.
2. Don’t make surprises, do it slowly
The trick to increasing prices: go slow and steady. You can increase the price gradually without causing shock to your customers.
If the menu price needs an increase by a dollar value from $10.30 to $11.30, don’t be surprised if you receive complaints from your customers about the spiking price. Instead of raising the price drastically, it’s highly suggested to put small increments to the price: such as $11.25. A minor change between 0.30 and 0.25 will less likely to surprise your customers compared to a total change from$ 10 to $11.
3. Revamp your menu
Apart from updating your prices, revamp your menu list by describing your dishes. Use enticing copywriting by highlighting unique ingredients and cooking methods to generate your customer’s interest and make them feel the dishes seem more special.
Use this opportunity to rearrange your menu by positioning the dishes that make the most money with visual cues such as stars, highlight boxes, and appetizing images. Adding labels such as “Chef’s Picks”, “New”, or “Most Popular” will catch guest’s attention and pull them to order your high yielding menu.
4. Be transparent with your customers
Customers appreciate transparency in businesses. Just briefly let your customers know that due to your reasons such as supplier increasing costs, you need to “change” the price to keep the restaurant viable.
You can hint about the changes around 30 days in advance. Announce the news with full courtesy by placing notice on your cashier counter or guest tables to keep them informed about the incoming price upgrade. Not to forget, your social media also helps to relay the news faster and portrays a positive image of your branding.
