If you want to learn how to make your frozen dessert menu work for your ice cream shop or frozen dessert store then you've come to the right place.
No matter what type of frozen dessert or ice cream shop you have, the menu plays a vital part in the success of your store. Your menu can help drive sales and work as a branding piece as well. When it comes to creating your menu you want to be careful not to just throw words and images on the paper but rather approach it strategically.
When it comes to reviewing your menu, use our four-category system to figure out which products are the best fit and most profitable for your store.
You can rate your menu using these four categories.
Champions
Showoffs
Challenges
Chumps
The champion section showcases your high popular and high-profit items. Showoffs are highly popular items that you sell a lot of but you don't make a lot of money off of them. Challenges refer to items that are highly profitable but you don't sell a lot of them because they are not very popular. Lastly, there are the Chumps, which are items that are not profitable and not very popular. Look at your menu and analyze which products fall into which category. Once you have your menu items categorized, develop a plan to attack each quadrant. This system is all about improving your menu and profits so you have to get a real grip on the profitability and popularity of your items to really create a strategic plan.
For instance, in the challenges section you know you have profitable items but you're not selling a lot of them. Figure out why they're not popular or try to make them more popular through promotions or samples. The showoffs aren't making you a lot of money but you're selling a lot of them, so the goal would be to figure out how you can make this item more profitable.
Keep in mind that people read left to right so putting the right products (high profit, high popularity) in the right spot (upper left) on the menu can help drive sales. Get creative and make the menu look visually appealing. Use pictures and clever adjectives to describe your champions, showoffs, and challenges. You want to make your best items stand out and draw people's eyes. Don't be concerned with littering the menu with dollar signs and prices as that may hinder a few purchases if it's the dominant thing they see.
For more...watch Rob Romarino from Sentry Equipment discusses more tips on how to make your frozen dessert menu work for your store.
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY