MAKING THE NAME OF A SINGLE AND MEMORABLE DISH

Some think that the MENUENGINE Method - or its "cousin" Engineering Menu - are just numbers, cost analysis, sales data and, in general, is the sum of many mechanical and repetitive activities.

Nothing could be more wrong. In fact, both disciplines also contemplate creativity, inspiration and inventiveness.

This is not reflected, however, in most Italian menus.

Not so much for negligence on the part of operators in this sector, but for a question of "priority". After all, in the magnum sea of the problems faced by the restaurateur of 2018, something can and must go into the background.

That's why you need to provide some suggestions to make their dishes unique and memorable.

These simple stratagems will allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition, encourage word of mouth and encourage the sale of some dishes, simply by using the attractive force of their name.

In particular, I have identified three, which have proven to work well and please everyone: both the restaurant owner who proposes them and the public to whom they are proposed.

METHOD 1: "Old dish makes good soup"

Italy is dotted with family-run restaurants, handed down from generation to generation, with a long history behind it.

Very long, like the permanence of some dishes on their menus.

Why not transform this "antiquity" into a strength?

That's why I have proposed to some of my clients to transform their "Spaghetto allo scoglio - € 10.00" whose recipe was the same since 1940 in ...

"Lo Scoglio 1940 - With the best of local fish. The secret recipe has been the same since 1940,

and is jealously kept in our cellars - € 12.00 "

When it became the best-selling seafood dish in the restaurant and helped to reinforce the perception of tradition and historical identity associated with the restaurant itself, we did not astonish ourselves at all.

METHOD 2: "Count the ingredients"

It is not uncommon to find dishes with many, perhaps too many, ingredients.

This aspect, which can annoy customers, can be transformed into a strong point.

I happened to turn a "Vegetable soup - € 8.00" in ...

"Thirteen vegetables plus one - Minestrone of the house, with thirteen fresh vegetables,

directly from our garden, and ... a surprise - € 10.00 "

It sounds better, no?

METHOD 3 - "Be Surgical"

As part of the industry, we tend to overestimate the technical knowledge of our customers. In fact, we tend to think that what is obvious for us is also for our customers.

So it is not, and indeed, the facts show that many customers appreciate that they are told as much specificity as possible about the dishes they are about to consume.

This consideration was realized when, finding myself working with a restaurateur who cooked his steaks on wood-burning embers, instead of on electric plates, I transformed his "Fiorentina - € 4.00 ect" in ...

"Fiorentina 450 ° C - Three-finger steak of Chianina, only available in blood,

seared natural at 450 ° C on oak embers - € 5.50 per hectogram "

In short, to specify, with surgical precision, the cooking temperature of the steak characterized it and created its perception of quality. Being "surgical" is too important a parameter to be underestimated!

As proof of this, consider that in all three examples above-mentioned, the sales price has increased by 20%. And what did you read, did you notice? Not even your customers will notice.

And, even if they noticed, they would be willing to spend a little more to enjoy a dish with a story, identity and appeal so "powerful".

Incentive to test these methods and not to consider them "too simple to be effective", because their simplicity is also their strength. Good job!