How to Create a Coffee Shop Menu

The best coffee shop menus offer a limited selection of the breakfast and lunch foods most Americans crave. That doesn't mean serving up dish after dish of calorie-laden, high cholesterol grub, as it used to. Today's successful coffee shops know how to prepare lighter versions of the timeless classics without compromising great taste. The tips below offer some sound guidelines on how to create a coffee shop menu.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Decide whether to limit customer selection to a standard menu that does not change or whether to offer more selections with daily specials that change everyday. A standard menu allows for more advance ordering. A menu with daily specials provides greater variety for the customer.
2. Offer a free coffee with some of the breakfast specials. Regular coffee shop customers quickly grow accustomed to a place where they don't have to pay for coffee.
3. Rely upon the standard egg platters to make up the bulk of the breakfast menu. Offer variety by creating seasonal, gourmet-style omelets and hot breakfast wraps. However, breakfast remains the most traditional meal. Most people still think of breakfast as scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast and coffee.
4. Specify on your menu that breakfast prices remain in effect only until 11:00 a.m. Increase those prices by at least $2.00 after that time. Otherwise, your pricier lunch dishes don't have a chance of selling if people can get a breakfast sandwich and free coffee for $2.95 at lunch.
5. Prepare at least two from-scratch soups each day. Use the soups to create soup and sandwich combinations that cost less than if purchased separately. This prevents leftover soup and offers the always appreciated discounted prices.
6. Limit hot luncheon items to fresh burgers, real steak and freshly grilled boneless chicken. Offer these as specials with the purchase of either fries or a side salad.