Strategic menu pricing can have a positive effect on a restaurant’s brand identity and customer retention. When creating a pricing strategy, it’s important to remember that diners will pay for the value they receive. But how can you define that specific price?
Restaurant managers can look at key factors of their business to determine fair and appropriate prices for their food, service, and ambiance.
Let’s take a look at the factors restaurants consider when developing a competitively priced menu:
Determine Costs
The first step in developing restaurant menu prices is figuring out the exact cost of your product. Keep in mind not only the cost of the raw ingredients, but also delivery fees, wages, and overhead costs.
To bake a dozen blueberry muffins may cost your restaurant $6 for the ingredients, but your eggs may have had a $50 shipping charge and it took your employee two hours to bake them.
Food Service Warehouse also suggests factoring in indirect costs, such as the aspects of the restaurant that add to the perceived value or quality of your dishes.
Factor in Restaurant Type
Once restaurants have determined the cost of actually producing each menu item, they need to determine the type of service and ambiance they’ll offer customers. Quick service, fast-casual, casual dining, and fine dining restaurants will all have different pricing strategies because they offer different dining experiences.
For example, a fine dining restaurant can sell a hamburger at a much higher price than a fast-casual restaurant because of higher quality ingredients, more attentive service, and an upscale setting.
Look at Competition
Evaluating your local competition is an important part of developing a competitively priced menu. Research the prices of similar dishes offered by other restaurants in the area and use that to set an appropriate price point for your own offerings. You should also look out for any special deals or promotions being offered by your competitors so you can plan accordingly. Additionally, paying attention to customer reviews can also provide valuable insight into what people are looking for from a restaurant like yours.
Managers should also review purchasing trends of the neighborhood’s demographics to get a sense of which prices would be too high. This tactic can help restaurateurs determine pricing barriers or the point that most of your customers will not pay above to dine at a restaurant.
Pricing Strategies
Once you’ve researched cost and expectations, you can start setting actual prices.
Many restaurants choose an ideal cost pricing method, which means the raw cost of the food item is divided by the desired food cost percentage. This percentage typically lies between 25 – 30%. For instance, a menu item that costs $4.25 to produce with a 25% food cost percentage would be priced at $17.00.
Other restaurants will price items based on the competition – usually either at the same price, slightly lower to appeal to bargain hunters, or slightly higher to show quality – or based on supply and demand. Airport restaurants, for example, benefit from the supply and demand pricing because they are the only source of food or alcohol in the near vicinity.
Final Thoughts
Establishing a competitively priced menu at your restaurant can help to reinforce your brand identity and improve the customer experience. When customers have a consistent, branded experience from the ambience to menu items and pricing, they are more likely to visit again and again.
Check out our blog post about tactful ways to change your restaurant menu and prices!
