The leaves are beginning to fall from trees and they remind us we should now be addressing the time of needing to change from summer menus and décor, for seasonal changes to present our Autumn and Winter food offerings.
To preset your patrons’ mood for menu changeovers décor is often used with an autumn like eye-appealing table centerpiece to replace the attraction used earlier with bright sunny day like flowers. This seemingly insignificant suggestive item contributes to the impact of your customers recognizing the new, now available, abundance of new seasonal items available on your menu.
Other aids include different menu covers, staff uniforms, and linens. It has been a time honored and vintage thought that adopting a more subdued menu cover, similar to the suggested centerpiece flower change, provides a special trigger to signal change. Therefore a darker cover may be appropriate to introduce the fall menu changes. Similar motivation of persuading patrons happens when staff uniforms contribute to the theme of seasonal changes.
The really important changes however occur in available items on the menu. Offering a hearty soup as a first course is thought to be an obligatory action since its intent is to establish a sense of comfort for the diner. Some restaurants even go to the extreme of displaying a cauldron of their “always ready” house specialty soup to assure diners they are ready to provide an expanded atmosphere for comfort. This is another form of subtle selling to engage during a change of seasons.
Root vegetables become major contributors as sides with your selected centers of the plate. Promoting hot beverages finds its way onto your menu. Heavier sauces appear, rolls replace bread, a larger variety of starch vegetables become apart of your offerings. Roasted and braised meats become popular as centers of your plates, often followed by suggestions of warm cream desserts.
Your menu should be enticing your customers to relax, get comfortable with a nice warm, yet tantalizing, meal. The fact that you are providing such a repast reminds them where they need to return with friends and loved one. It also serves notice that as the next season approaches they should again be coming back to stay abreast of the remainder of the local restaurant market.
It is also prime time on having your chef, dressed professionally and equipped with a supply of business cards, making the rounds of tables confirming customers’ pleasure and listening to suggestions they would like to see added to the menu. The importance of presenting business cards cannot be overstated. It confirms your patron’s contact with your chef, while allowing them to develop a sense of intimacy with the property.
Let nature’s gift of change contribute to your well being. Also, let it bring cash to your coffers.
GOOD COOKING!
Best regards,
Harry Brockwell, Chef
