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Kelly Hogan | April 12, 2023 |
The restaurant industry is notoriously competitive, with slim margins and more consumer choice than ever. To survive, restaurateurs must stay on their toes to develop fresh new ideas and dishes to entice diners to visit.
One of the easiest and most effective tactics for driving diner traffic is the prix fixe menu. A multi-course meal for the price of one is undoubtedly attractive to diners. For restaurant owners, it can be a huge lifesaver.
So when should you use a prix fixe menu, and how do you create a fixed menu for your brand? Here are some tips and tricks to get you started.
A prix fixe menu (meaning “fixed price menu” in French) refers to a multi-course meal with fixed menu items and a set price per person. This contrasts with an a la carte menu, where diners pick dishes priced individually and are left to their own devices for coursing options.
If you’re not familiar with the French term, you’ll probably recognize it by its other names, such as “set menu” or “tasting menu.” Different cuisines also have their versions of a fixed menu, such as the thali in Indian cuisine or the teishoku or kaiseki in upscale Japanese restaurants.
A common feature of fine dining restaurants, a prix fixe meal is often offered during special occasions like Valentine’s Day as a special menu. It’s composed of a minimum of three courses, sometimes more than ten, but always includes appetizers, a main course, and a dessert.
Most prix fixe restaurant menus limit diner decisions while still offering them some choice, such as picking between two different entrees. Some even leave the choice up to the chef without telling the diner what each dish in the menu is until it’s served. One example of this dining style is the Japanese omakase menu (literally translated as “I leave it up to you”).
There really is no “right” or “wrong” time to create a menu that has a set course and price. This practice is not limited to fine dining establishments during special occasions, and many casual restaurants have used it successfully year-round.
The biggest advantage of a set menu is that it streamlines and simplifies kitchen operations. If your kitchen staff struggles to keep up with the demands of the dining room during peak hours, introducing set food menus can help ease some of that burden.
Instead of having prep for the entire menu, the kitchen can alternatively focus on a few items off the prix fixe set. This speeds up cooking and serving time. It can also lower your food costs because you’re ordering only stocks you know you can sell.
Set menus are also great alternatives to a buffet setup when your restaurant caters a private event. Buffets require you to allot some buffer portions on your food. The food on a prix fixe menu, on the other hand, is in fixed amounts, thus simplifying costing and procurement with minimal waste.
They are also an excellent way to offer seasonal ingredients or get rid of overstocked items. For instance, let’s say your steak dishes are moving slowly for the past few weeks, such that you have a large surplus of steak in storage. To help finish off this overstock, you can create a menu with a steak dish as the entrée to encourage diners to order it.
Because diners often perceive prix fixe as a great deal, it’s a fantastic promotional tool as well. You can devise creative retail promotions that you offer specifically on slow days to help bring in more business. You can even change every season to keep the menu fresh and encourage patrons to come back.
Coming up with a prix fixe menu is a chance to be creative. For some entrepreneurs, this can be a refreshing process, but it can be daunting to others. Fortunately, it’s not that difficult to create one. Here are some tips to get you started.
Having a theme for your prix fixe meal makes it easier for you to come up with dishes. It also ensures that the different components and flavors in the set menu complement each other to create a more cohesive dining experience.
A theme can also be a promotional tool in its own right. For example, you can develop a “Lobster Night” menu during weekdays, which can attract lobster lovers who don’t usually frequent your restaurant. Or you can come up with a seasonal vegan menu to accommodate people with this dietary preference.
The thing with people is that they always want to have a choice, but not too much of it. Even in a food menu with fixed prices, it’s still a good idea to let people make some decisions about their selections.
For example, you can have an option between a three-course meal or a more premium five-course meal. Or, you can give guests the freedom of going with the fish entrée or the steak main course. It’s also important to offer options that cater to dietary restrictions, like vegan or dairy-free, if a large segment of your regular patrons have those needs.
Options increase the chances that more people will opt for the fixed menu because it can cover a broader range of food and budget preferences. Of course, you should be careful not to go overboard or lose the benefits of simplicity that a prix fixe gives.
When putting together a fixed restaurant menu, try to include one or two of your best-sellers. This is a good idea for two reasons.
One, it can help entice your loyal customers to try something new while not missing out on their favorites at the same time.
Two, it can help introduce new diners to your proven dishes so that they hopefully come back in the future.
Expensive items on your menu, such as steaks and lobsters, are great centerpieces for when you are creating a menu.
Grouping these with a lower-cost appetizer and dessert might make them a “great deal,” enough that customers who don’t typically order them will.
An excellent fixed restaurant menu is where the guest leaves satisfied knowing they had a wonderful meal at a discounted price. Sure, you might be charging them more in the long run, but diners should never feel that. Prix fixes are all about value perception more than anything else.
Price fixed menus are a fantastic chance for you to upsell drinks on your menu as well, as most set menus don’t include beverages for each of the food items. For instance, you can offer a beer or wine pairing to go with the meal for an additional price.
Diners consider a fixed menu as a curated meal, so you should consider the entire experience when you plan to implement this tactic at your establishment(s). The amount, flavor, and weight of each dish matters when making a menu.
For instance, you don’t want to start with a heavy appetizer if you have a rich main course because it will wear out a diner’s palate. The frequency at which each dish comes out of the kitchen is essential, too.
Here are some examples of what a three-course and five-course prix fixe menu might look like.
Three-Course Fine-Dining Fixed Food Menu for $80
Five-Course Mediterranean-Inspired Fixed Menu for $120
Fixed menus in restaurants are often not inserted together with the main menu food options. They’re usually printed on a separate sheet or possibly written on a blackboard somewhere on or outside the premises. All the food items are neatly listed on the menu, with options on each component if you offer that one.
While fixed menus prices are often priced per person, some occasions (often Valentine’s Day) are priced per couple. In this case, some of the dishes, such as the appetizer or salad, might be in sharing portions.
A prix fixe carries with it the expectation of value. The reason patrons might order it is to either get a discounted price on the meal or to try out something new. It gives people the chance to try out a lot more dishes in smaller portions.
Set menus also eliminate the burden of choice, as a long menu can overwhelm some customers. This was the motivation for Georges Escoffier, who first devised the set menu in 1846 so that even inexperienced, non-French speaking diners could order a superb meal at this restaurant.
One of the best foundations for creating a prix fixe meal is the data you have on your customers.
Knowing all of these allows you to plan and price your set menu intelligently. One of the most effective ways to gather and assess that data is to have a robust POS platform.
Revel’s cloud POS platform includes customer relationship management (CRM) features that put your customers’ eating and spending habits at your fingertips at all times. And with a database of your loyal patrons, updating them on your latest fixed restaurant menu is next to effortless. Contact us today and see how our POS platform can work for you.
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