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Did you know that adding appetizers, and following a few simple steps in marketing and upselling, can add big profits to your restaurant’s bottom line? Because your customers come to your restaurant hungry, it is imperative to begin the dining experience by offering something to eat, not something to drink. Suggest an appealing appetizer first, and then offer a drink. The bulk of appetizer sales will depend on your wait staff and how suggestive they are to your customers. Simply asking a customer if they’d like an appetizer may not cut it in today’s market, but offering a specific item to customers will help make the sell one in three times. Consider establishing an incentive program to your wait staff to reward them for the most sales. Not only are they increasing your ticket order, they are also increasing their tips for each ticket they sell.
Appetizing Trends
Today’s market for appetizers is much larger than it was just a decade ago. Now, we’re seeing more deep-fried vegetable offerings such as jalapeño peppers stuffed with cream cheese and cheddar cheese, tempura-style green beans, fried zucchini sticks and many others. Even the standard chicken wing is now offered with multiple variations in flavors and sauces, indicating that today’s objective for most chefs is in finding something that’s been around for a while and putting a new twist on it as an appetizer offering. Cheese sticks and chicken wings can be found most anywhere, so the key to success in appetizers is to put some thought into something different that your customers can’t find in every other pizzeria. As a matter of fact, simple yet unique appetizer options can improve sales without a dramatic increase in food costs and set your restaurant apart from the run-of-the-mill pizza parlor.
Leslie Lynn, director of culinary development for Quantified Marketing Group in Heathrow, Florida, said cultural emergence is starting to make its way into the mainstream—especially in the appetizer sector. “We’re seeing across the board this huge migration towards trading up, bolder flavors, more healthful ingredients, and more ethnic influence…and people are willing to pay more for premium items.” In one pizzeria Quantified Marketing is working with, they wanted to bring back a more authentic Italian feel to the restaurant’s menu. In order to do so, Leslie said they had to look through the traditional scope and bring those items into the 21st century. “The main goal is to bring traditional in and present them in new ways. Layering in different cooking techniques, such as grilling or open flame or smoking using exotic woods.”
CEO and Founder of Quantified Marketing Group, Aaron Allen, said taking this more unusual approach to traditional offerings is happening all over the foodservice industry. “Inside of the pizza and Italian category, that offers a real opportunity to take that negative perception of just pizza, spaghetti and lasagna out of the typical mindset and provides a great opportunity for innovative restaurant operators.”
Practice Makes Profit
The key to positive profits with appetizers is in the pricing. You don’t want your appetizers to be more expensive than your entrees, so it’s smart to price them around half the price of your average entrée or, in the case of a pizzeria, about half the price of a large pizza. Your appetizer’s price shouldn’t exceed more than 30% of the food cost for that item, restaurant consultants say. Also, you want to be sure you’re offering enough options, but no more than seven or eight appetizers should be on your menu. It’s also a good idea to change up your appetizers every four or five months, or with changes in the season. This keeps your menu fresh and keeps your customers coming back to see what’s new.
Marketing appetizers can be as simple as using table tents to showcase your products, and are often available from your distributor. “The best way to promote new appetizers is through four-walls marketing, inside the organization,” Aaron suggested. “Usually there’s enough traffic coming through the stores and that’s a good way to find out if this is a good item to promote further.” Aaron advised using no less than professional quality photography, and also using your staff to your advantage. “The hostesses and greeters in your restaurant are the first point of contact for your customers, so they’re the best ones for selling that suggestive message.”
Part of practicing for appetizer sales comes in the form of providing accurate product descriptions to your staff. When the customer asks, “What’s good?” your employees shouldn’t simply say, “Everything.” That will result in a lost opportunity to sell a product with a high profit. Instead, your employees should know exactly how to answer this question more vividly. For example, the server should offer up the highest profit appetizer by saying something along the lines of, “Can I get you an order of our crispy, award-winning chicken wings while you look over the menu?” It’s much easier for a person to say yes than it is to say no, and with a description like that, it’s an easy decision and makes perfect sense to the customer. Plus, it makes their overall experience better, so it’s a win-win situation. Aaron also recommends using multiple communication channels such as your website, newsletter, box toppers, and menu to help spread the word about your new products.
Getting Started
Most pizzerias and quick service restaurants will probably want a deep fryer for fried appetizers such as onion rings, chicken wings, and cheese sticks. If you decide you want to start serving fried appetizers in your restaurant, the first thing you will need is a fryer. Fryers come in all shapes and sizes, so choosing the one that best matches your pizzeria’s needs requires some thought. If you were to buy a traditional fryer, you would be required to buy a hood, ductwork, and the fire suppression system—and then you have to get it all installed. Going the traditional route could end up costing thousands of dollars. However, there are fryers out there, such as the AutoFry, that are fully enclosed, ventless, automated deep fryers that require no additional ductwork or fire suppression systems. These types of systems are great because, since everything is enclosed, there is little risk of your employees getting burned by hot oils. Simply drop your product into the hopper, and it’s dispensed once it’s fully cooked. These types of fryers have a wide price range, but a small unit can be purchased for around $5,000.
Offering Ideas
Lead Development Chef Cassandra Mas, also of Quantified Marketing Group, prepared some wonderful ideas to help get you started on your new appetizer menu. “Our goal in this example was to create rustic dishes that have a gourmet appeal because they are handcrafted, not because they are expensive. We added an assortment of terra cotta baked appetizers and Antipasti that we feel fit well in this current trend,” she said. “We looked to Italian farmhouse kitchens for inspiration. None of the dishes have more than a few ingredients, and are really simple to execute—and taste delicious!”
- Garlic rubbed Crostini with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and mascarpone
- Spinach gorgonzola-stuffed dates wrapped in pancetta
- Pizzette with cranberry bean , roasted tomato tapenda
- Antipasto Platter: assorted salami, aged cheeses, and house-made pickled vegetables
- Brick oven roasted chicken wings with balsamic agro dulce glaze
- Four cheese fondue served with foccacia and roasted potatoes to dip
- Terra Cotta-baked scampi with garlic and white wine