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New menu

post #1 of 4
10/3/09 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 
Sooooo.....This job i am at now has a very easy menu. The owner wants a new menu as of the first of the year. The menu right now is very simple(and not mine). This place has been selling some of the same items since 1931. I have started some new specials throughout the week and made some very nice sides as well to go with them. I also as of last week started to make in house fresh soup every day as well. The first soup i made was a cheddar and broccoli with smoked red brats in it. I called it cream of bratli. People loved it and could not get enough of it. I sold ten gallons of it that same day. I had planed on using the ten gallons of soup for two days lol. One of the very things that makes this place so special is the alumni that come their time after time cause things are still the same and remind them of days past. Which brings up a time old saying don't fix something if its not broken!I am wondering if just a few little things should be added to the next menu without adding allot of things? Obviously allot of things will remain on the menu that has put this place on the map! As they should. Just watching food cost, waste, ordering smart, and keeping loss to a min will make more money for the place. Times have changed allot and people know good food, and they want good food! That opportunity to make so much more is their, but could be costly if done wrong. Any advise you have will be thought about so feel free to share.
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post #2 of 4
10/3/09 at 9:29pm
Since the menu is so old, there are going to be clear favorites. Keep them! Your current patrons will love you for it. Aside from those few staples, you could come up with several ideas every week and invite the local police or firemen in for a tasting.

I did this in the first kitchen where I was made Sous and learned a ton about the local palettes. The first thing I learned was that, in the pate for a Wellington, goose liver was found to be too rich and they preferred chicken liver. Had I had my chef fiends over for a tasting, they would have loved it with the goose because that's how they have always had it.

You'll make your menu fit local tastes rather than trying to teach people to like new things.
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post #3 of 4
10/4/09 at 11:04am
work on the menu items that don't sell well. That's where you can experiment and eventually move the direction of the menu. As you said, don't fix what's not broken.
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post #4 of 4
10/4/09 at 11:34pm
Thread Starter 
i Made 10 gallons of cream of potato soup. Called it fully loaded cream of baked potato. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream rough chopped bacon and Wisconsin cheddar cheese. Also made a lentil bean dish cooked in a beef stock with tomato's and red onion for a side on the special. I am loving this job! The first Menu not my own where you can only go up. Love it!!
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