How can we sell more desserts?

I know you've probably posted it before, but what is the theme/cuisine/style of your savory menu?

 

Seeing that again may trigger some ideas.

 

Guessing, from what you listed, it sounds like a diner/cafe type place.

I'm with Pete.

It is a very standard dated dessert menu. Pretty hard to sell bought in pie and ice cream when customer can stop at the store and get the same thing.

I don't know your wine consumption,

You could pair your dessert special with wine.

Nut Torte comes with a free glass of a late harvest Riesling.

need to see menu.

tincook,

 your dessert menu is boring, boring, boring!...no one in their right mind is gonna pay for brought in hackneyed desserts. why ruin a nice meal? my thinking is that the last taste in your customer's mouth better be a good one, whether it be just a good cup of coffee or dessert, hopefully both. that's what they will remember. people will spend money on dessert if it is interesting without being snooty, expensive or both. suggesting splitting is great for first time customers to get familiar with your desserts. your waitstaff needs to be good at selling...selling = tips = higher revenues...it's a win-win for all...and happy customers which in turn means return customers, which in turn means more revenue etc. etc. etc...  in my joint the waitstaff know what an extra $40 bucks worth of desserts for a table can do for their tip pool. if its a large table, the waitstaff suggests one of each dessert, and then they get passed around. 99% of the time its what happens..... please don't give your desserts away...even if they are free, people really don't want  to eat crap(well, at least some don't)...plus, it just makes it harder for the rest of us when joe blow down the street is giving his desserts away......here is my dessert menu....all made by moi...not fancy, but nice, i think

~ frozen strawberry margarita pie

~ ginger cognac cremem brulee with fresh raspberries

~ classic key lime pie with mango coulis

~ chai chocolate mousse with vanilla rolled cookie

~ colorado peach crumble with granola topping and vanilla bean ice cream

~ chocolate ' sin'..flourless cake with baileys, kahlua and raspberry liqeuer with raspberry coulis

 even if you have only a few dessert offerings, make them nice.....flan or creme caramel, perhaps homemade ice cream or sorbets, something chocolate for sure and something fruity or comforty like cobbler(blueberry?) with good ice cream....

joey

Ya know Joey, you're always so PC.        Why don't you tell us what you really think.

 

margarita, cognac, Baileys, Rasp liqeuer, Kahlua, We see why the chef make all the desserts.

brulee

OMG  chai!  I'm getting queisy

TTBOMK, no, not in California. Take a look at ABC homepage for details
 

 

color me stupid  but what exactly does PC stand for...i don't text, twitter(i heard ii can get you into trouble!), facebook or anything really other than here..did i make a boo boo, offend somehow and don't know it. i can always count on all  you to educate me and call me out if i indeed did ..thanks...of course, if its a rub that i don't understand, please inform me as well....thanks....happy father's day all..

joey
 

 

PC in general refers to politically correct, i.e. avoiding anything that might be construed to be offensive, disparaging, straightforward, etc. Often used satirically when someone IS straightforward and speaks (writes) what they really think without regard to what might be construed as politically correct.

 

PC is often though of as beating around the bush or using euphemisms to communicate criticism.

 

OTOH, PC is also short for personal or private chef

You have pizza on your menu - what about a dessert pizza using standard pizza dough, nutella and fresh bananas or strawberries, then topped with nuts or sauce.  I am stealing the idea from a local pizza place, but it certainly doesn't require any pastry skills, and is quite delicious if your dough is good.

When I want a dessert in a restaurant, I don't want something that the place bought from someplace else to plate and call their own. I ask the server if there's anything house made. To me that would be a good selling point. You site ice cream, apple pie, and strawberry shortcake, all easy desserts with a low plate cost. You can transfer that cost to home made items just as easy. The down side of that is consistency and prep time.

There was a large local chain  of Deli,s here in Florida that I did some work for that wanted to sell more dessert like you. Most were house made. I told all wait staff that at end of month whoever sold the most desserts would win Dinner for 2 at a local restaurant , or 2 tickets to Disney.. Their dessert sales climbed 50%. Well worth the cost of prizes. Best way to get any thing accomplished is thru the pocket. You have to spend a little to make $

tincook, 

guess my point is that i am certainly not a pastry chef, but there are a myriad of desserts that do not require many special skills. sometimes just refiguring your plating can do the trick...for example, for your cake du jour, cut into pieces and put in a parfait glass with fresh fruit and whipped cream..kinda like a shortcake in a glass....loose the pineapple and coconut though. most people like something lemony in the summer...lemon ice box pie or a lemon meringue perhaps.. a simple cheesecake with fresh berries, mint chocolate mousse in a martini glass, a really good carrot cake...that kind of thing...instead of buying pie or fruit fillings, maybe just buy straight frozen fruit...raspberries, sliced peaches etc. it really takes nothing to make frosting. anyway,just a few more thoughts rattling around...what size operation is this?... a hotel?

joey

tincook,

excuse the nosiness but may i ask....so what happened? did you see this coming? are you okay with it? to me, change is always good in the end.... i dunno, seems like the whole place was a bit 'stale' and dated.....

fyi, not that it really matters...lemon ice box pie, although a bit dated from the 50's i think, but i prefer to think of it enjoying a renaissance, is basically a no bake pie(hence the 'icebox'). its most like a key lime pie but  lemon juice and lemon zest replacing the key lime and some added cream cheese...done in a graham cracker crust......

press on regardless!

joey

Joey,

ignore me most of the time.

I run an ice box once in a while. We do a margarita. We use Nelly and Joes real key lime juice,SW and Conden milk, taquila, triple sec we get it pretty high with cream.

for the crust we grind up salted pretzels, some coarse salt and butter. Just a thought for you

Tin,

Are you drinking?

N @ J have been a staple in the bakery both regular and upscale.

Mexican Key Limes are good for ceviche. That's about it. Well, maybe put-put golf.

A real Key Lime, if not an impersonator, tends to be inconsistant in juice volume and pulp.

N&J's fresh squeezes in large volume and is usually consistant. It's bottled in gallons and sent out fresh.

If someones claiming their squeezing fresh for a volume product, I'd snoop in the coolers.

Oh, no have never gotten bottles. It's a fresh pak plastic gal. or larger.

You're not being snobby. It's something to store in your soft drive for future use.

What you gotta do is get to the point where the servers are whining and moaning to the owners about "lost sales" (waitron-speak for lost tips).  Servers bring in the cash, so the owners will usually listen.

 

In order for the Chef to buy in, everyone has to be able to put out the menu, from the salad guy to the Chef hisself, and there shouldn't be more than 4 or five new items to purchase.

 

Then, ya gotta have a "show and tell"

 

Say you come up with a dessert menu.  You arrange a time with the Chef, the owner's, and Maitre'd, all together.  Then you trott out your deserts with only the ingredient cost attatched.  It's up to them to figure out a sales price, and once they start throwing around figures for items, then you know they're hooked.

 

If you don't have the manpower for a kick-a. menu, slow down and think a bit.  Standards are:  chocolate, fruit, creme brulee, and some kind of cake. 

 

Some of the better bakeries in town can supply you with a good cake that doesn't look or taste like it fell off the back of a Sysco truck.

 

Chocolate mousse is fairly straightforward to make, can be made in large quantities and frozen, and can be used on you bqt menu. Scoop it, pipe it, mold it, dress it up or down any way you want.  This one should be a signature dish. 

 

Fresh fruit?  Whatever's seasonal--combine it with a decent bought-in sorbet, make you own version of a bannana split. 

 

Hope this helps

 

Sorry about your current problem, Tin.  Good luck moving forward, I hope you can move on to brighter pastures quickly.  

 

What worked for me in the past was to set up a dessert display. We have a nice spot at the front of the DR where we could set 3 to 4 four plated desserts & have every customer walk by it as they where being seated. For this to be most effective interesting & attractive plating will catch peoples eye so that they notice & think about it for their entire meal. We would do this Thurs-Sat & our dessert sales were about double what we would sell rest of the week. 

now why exactly would i want to do that? we're paisanos!!! i love your warmth and colorfulness.....as for the n&j's...i used to use it, but now i get fresh lime juice in quarts that freeze well from my purveyor....i use to do a marg pie with a pretzel crust as well, but now i use a graham cracker crust...already made!....you know how it is...sometimes you just gotta cut back on the steps or you bury yourself!  recipe sounds about the same though i add strawberries and serve it frozen. a customer the other night complained that her dessert was frozen, even  though the menu stated it and the waitress told her it was frozen when she was 'desserting' the table...go figure! haven't had my butt handed to me like that for a long time....unbelievable that it was over a dessert! think maybe she was off her meds or something..... oh well....che sara...

joey
 

 

Couple of suggestions.

I'm coming from a customer's point of view.

Have only a few choices. Perhaps 5-8

Instead of calling something Apple Pie Ala Mode, call it for eg. "Grandma Opal's Apple Pie" if you're a cas restaurant or "beef" up your recipe and call it "Apple Pie with Cider-Bourbon Sauce" ....The idea, to me at least, is to make yourself and each of your recipes, including their names, unique so that you will set yourself apart. Be sure to describe simply but lusciously on menu.

You could run a special on a different dessert each week. This week is Chai spiced Cheesecake. If you order any entree, get a slice for only $5. This way, they have at least tasted your incredible creation and if delicious enough you'll hook them and they'll want to order it each time they come, whether or not they have to pay $9 next time or not.

Perhaps during the same week, you could offer that 1 dessert as a Whole Pie, Cake or Cheesecake at a lower-than-normal price as a Special. This way, if they loved it, perhaps they'd be encouraged to take a whole one home.

Just my thoughts.

Tell all your service staff "whoever sells the most desserts at end of month receives a cash prize. I INCREASED MY SALES BY AT LEAST 40 % YEARS AGO.

 

Tell all your service staff "whoever sells the most desserts at end of month receives a prize...they get to keep their job!

 

Actually have the wait staff present the dessert menu as they are clearing and taking coffee orders etc. After a couple of minutes, ask which desserts they have decided on. The key is not to ask if they want dessert, which gives them a yes or no answer and is to simple to say no to, keep the question more complicated. Same basic idea works to increase wine sales as well.

Does not take the place of telling crew sell  more Desserts  make more $. Dollars talk to both the owners and staff as well/