If your restaurant is struggling to come up with ideas to increase traffic and revenue, think about the bread you're serving. Offering high-quality breads and baked goods to your customers is one of the key ways to keep your guests coming back for more.
There are 3 ways you should pick up your bread game to increase your customer base:
Don't save the best for last.
Most people who walk into your restaurant are hungry and ready to eat anything to quell their stomach pangs. When you offer a complimentary plate or basket of sliced artisan bread or warm, buttery rolls, those delectable treats are appreciated and win you a guest's approval right away. The memory of the bread's enhanced flavor—owing to their hunger making it taste delicious—will be indelibly seared in their minds. They will tell their friends about how wonderful the experience was and how delectable and fragrant your complimentary bread is.
Don't make the mistake of serving any old bread to your fresh arrivals. Stale, off-tasting or cheap bread will turn guests off right away and make them question the quality of your other ingredients. Choose crusty artisan rolls, soft potato rolls, or a dense but chewy honey-grain loaf as your first course.
Or take artisan pizza dough, drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle on some seasoning, and pop it in the oven. When browned, use a pizza cutter to slice long, thin strips and serve them in cups or small pails.
Make breakfast classier and tastier.
If your restaurant opens early, use baked goods to entice that growing number of morning diners. Bread and baked goods are staples of breakfast, and the wrong bread choice can ruin an otherwise delicious early-morning meal. Don't use any old sliced bread for regular or french toast. No one wants a soggy, breakable french toast slice, and no one wants toast that crumbles to bits when they spread their butter on it.
Use a brioche or similar rich, sweet bread for french toast and bread puddings. Use a salt-rising or sourdough bread for white toast. Offer your customers other choices for toast as well, including rye bread, whole wheat bread, and gluten-free bread.
Scones, muffins, and biscuits should also be fresh, well-made and served with good butter, cream cheese, and jellies. Your guests will pay a little more to have more high-quality menu items, and when word-of-mouth goes around about your fabulous breakfast breads, they'll be lining up outside the door every morning for a taste of them.
Enhance your sandwiches.
A sandwich is only as good as the bread on which it is served. You can pile on the most expensive, rare fillings in the world, but if the bread is dry or cheap, the sandwich fails.
Pick the right breads for the right jobs. A meatball sub needs a hearty sub roll, not a glorified hot dog bun. A reuben needs to be served on authentic pumpernickel, not on plain white bread. You might be thinking, "Everyone in the restaurant business knows those things," but it's amazing how many dining establishments ignore these facts in the mistaken belief that cutting corners on their bread will increase profits. Stale, inferior bread does just the opposite, though.
Serve the best bread your restaurant can afford to order. Wholesale bakeries are wonderful sources of quality breads and baked goods. They have so many great choices, you can create signature seasonal sandwiches to delight your guests and order the perfect bread items to compliment your newest menu offerings all year round. Click here for more information about wholesale bread.
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