On the importance of streamlining the menu in coffee shops! Coffee shop menu shorter business is better?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

Starbucks has always been known for its wide variety of beverage choices, but recently, Taiwan's Starbucks has quietly adjusted its product mix, starting from 1x23 hot drinks will no longer offer small cups, leaving only five long-selling drinks to retain small cup options. such as latte, American style and so on.

Starbucks has always been selling "Short"-sized drinks with a capacity of 8 oz, according to its website, but clerks don't say that they need to ask for it. However, this option will be cancelled later, and only five popular drinks ordered by consumers will be retained.

As early as last spring, Starbucks in the United States has greatly changed its menu, leaving only the price and calorie content of large cups for each drink in addition to reducing the types of products, while there are some billboards showing new seasonal products. Starbucks drinks come in three sizes: medium, large and extra large (Tall, Grande, Venti). )

Why did Starbucks decide to do this? Will simplified menus become a trend?

In fact, all the items and sizes of drinks you used to drink at Starbucks are still available, except that the detailed menu must be viewed on the phone's app, and Starbucks app accounts for 14% of the store's total performance. The purpose of cutting the storefront menu is to "make it easier for customers to order." A Starbucks spokesman said.

To be honest, for loyal customers, they may be able to order the drinks they want with their eyes closed, and this change has little impact. On the contrary, for the general public, "I think it is easier for guests to understand if it is a little more concise." A super complex menu can be overwhelming. " Said Ashley Rodriguez, editor of Barista Magazine, a San Francisco coffee magazine and barista. "even if it is printed full of words, it does not mean that the guests can understand it."

For example, many people may not know how many espresso are added to medium, large and extra large lattes, or even that the word latte refers to coffee with a high proportion of milk. So Rodriguez thinks it might be better for both parties to list only one size and allow baristas to communicate with guests so that they can have the coffee they really want.

In addition, a simple menu is also good for revenue. "if the menu is easy to read, customers will tend to order more items. And if you need to spend too much effort on research, or even get confused, you usually only order basic, error-free meals. " It has been a menu consultant in the United States for 36 years, and its clients include dozens of well-known operators, including the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Disney, TGI Friday's and SUBWAY, said Gregg Rapp.

In an interview with BBC about how to plan menus, Rapp mentioned that long menus can hinder consumers from making choices. "if there are more than seven dishes in the same category, there are too many. Five courses are the most ideal, and three courses are surprisingly good." Rapp said. Scientific research confirms this, too. A study by the University of Bournemouth (Bournemouth University) in the UK found many years ago that consumers thought only six meals in the same category would suffice in fast food restaurants; in the case of high-end restaurants, each category wanted about seven to ten dishes.

Looking back at the Starbucks case, another benefit of simplifying the menu is that Kanban has more space to promote special drinks, especially higher-priced items. According to Rapp, strong promotion of a product can often have a huge impact on consumption habits. "the more carefully you describe it, the higher the sense of value of the product in the minds of consumers, and you will feel that the price seems to be less expensive."

What is mentioned above is the deletion of "visible on the menu" meals, and from an expanded point of view, there are also many advantages in reducing the number of dishes actually served. The American restaurant chain Silver Diner, for example, cut the menus of its 14 stores in the middle of this year for the first time in nearly a decade, the Washington Man reported. Traditionally, American restaurants (diner) have so many choices that it may not be easy to reduce them to 100, but Ype Von Hengst, executive chef of Silver Diner, believes that cutting dishes is necessary to control quality as the company grows. "because every chef must be familiar with recipes, if the variety can be reduced by 20%, it will be much easier to learn." He said.

Not only traditional restaurants, but also the new type of fast leisure restaurant (fast-casual). For example, Chiko, a small restaurant combining China and South Korea in Washington, D.C., runs counter to the practice of offering dozens of meals in traditional American Chinese fast food restaurants, with only 16 dishes to choose from. "I call this the Aaron Silverman effect." Partner Scott Drewno said. "the first time I ate at Rose's Luxury, I thought everything was great, and then I realized there were only 12 dishes on the menu."

Rose's Luxury is Michelin 1-star 's restaurant in Washington, D.C., and Aaron Silverman is the head chef. When it opened in 2013, Rose's Luxury served 19 dishes, but now the menu is still updated frequently, but there are only 10 to 15 dishes left. This not only helps chefs to flexibly use ingredients that are short in season and run out quickly during the shelf life, but more importantly, menus are like resumes of chefs and restaurants, making it easier to convey a personal image than complex and flashy.

At the executive level, if you can focus on cooking a small number of dishes, the quality consistency may be much better than the need to deal with multiple dishes at the same time. Similarly, for outfielders, the less information they need to recite, the more they can learn more about each dish, whether it's flavor or allergens. In Washington, D.C., in addition to Rose's Luxury, local restaurants such as Bad Saint and Casa Luca have recently made their menus more concise.

In fact, as long as you study the menu carefully, you will find that there is a lot of knowledge behind it. From the number of meals, the choice of words in the names of dishes, and even the various details of typesetting, such as fonts, pictures, placement, and so on, they affect consumers' decisions everywhere. And first of all, maybe start by streamlining the menu?

Article reference: nommagazine

END