Hi, Friend,

Writing an OK menu or developing an outstanding one can be the difference between struggling to survive or thriving.

Menus develop organically over time and tend to become bloated. With too many products and, perversely, all the choices, they often miss items your guests will look for before coming over the threshold.

So, what are the elusive factors that a fabulous menu possesses? We cover all this and more in our Start Up A Coffee Shop Club and specialize in developing the perfect menu for our private clients.

Let's start with ABCDE - Attractive, Balanced, Costed, Deliverable, and Exciting. 

Attractive - Do your menu items attract your ideal customer? Do they meet their dietary needs for vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, healthy eating, and indulgence options? (If you ever go out with a group, it's always the ones with the dietary requirements who choose where you will go, and statistically, every group of four or more will include someone with one.)

Balanced—Your menu should cover all the day-parts that you are open, typically breakfast, lunch, and afternoons. It should balance sweet and savoury and offer plenty of upselling opportunities, like side dishes or items to take away and consume later.

Costed - You must know how much everything you make costs to produce so you can price them to achieve your gross profitability target. 

Deliverable—To prevent service bottlenecks, each menu item should be produced quickly, ideally in less than 3 minutes. If you use a third-party delivery service, the dish needs to survive a trip on the back of a bike and be profitable enough to cover the delivery fees.

Exciting - Every menu item should bring your guests joy through its presentation, taste, or emotion, be a feast for their eyes and be Instagramable. From the plates you serve on to the garnish, there are unlimited ways to make even the most mundane of menu items look a million dollars. Remember that what you name a menu item will significantly affect its taste and worth. 'Grandma's delicious handmade chocolate fondant cake' will always taste better and sell for more than 'Choc Cake' even though they are the same.

This is just the start. You should check your menu against the ABCDEs today and see what you can improve using the framework.

This is just the beginning of crafting the perfect menu, as there are many other elements to consider, including hero lines, pricing psychology, font selection, font size, color, photos or no photos and hot spots.

If you are in the start-up or recently opened phase, then joining the Start up A Coffee Shop Club is the smart thing to do. The ABDCE framework is just a very small percentage of what we cover in the club. Your membership is guaranteed to save you a ton of money in the set-up and make more profit for you when you open the doors.

If you have an established cafe or coffee business and want the perfect menu, reply to this email, and we can get started.

The sooner you fix your menu issues, the quicker you will increase your sales and attract more guests.