The Downfalls of Daily Lunch and Dinner Specials for Restaurants

Many restaurants offer lunch and/or dinner specials in addition to their static menu. Each restaurant has their own set of guidelines to follow for implementing a system to manage special dishes. By taking a closer look into these systems, problems can be recognized and addressed quickly and easily to dramatically improve the system.

One decision to be made is the frequency of how often a special item will be offered. Will the special be run once each week on a set day, will the special be offered simply for one day, will the special be offered until all portions have been sold, will the special be run only once? One approach is to offer the same specials each week on a set day. Perhaps setting one day aside for a special that is something different each week. Another approach is to offer a different special every day, or offering one special after the other until all portions of each special have been sold.

Some issues to keep in mind when deciding upon your approach are time, cost, and shelf life. Extra time will have to be invested by your cooks to make preparations for serving the dish, as well as extra time to prepare the dish at the point of sale. If offering each dish one time, your cooks will become accustomed to working with many different ingredients, however, their unfamiliarity with a dish may create a difficult situation from time to time. If offering the same dishes each week on a given day, your cooks will continually improve their ability to offer the dish and with a good level of consistency week to week. If offering a different special each day, the consistency must be the same for each of the dishes served that day. Perhaps the dish was a success and was prepared very well throughout the day. Conversely, if the dish was not prepared correctly because of the unfamiliarity of the dish to the cooking staff, even if prepared consistently, the special could be a failure.

Keeping special ingredients in stock adds extra items to inventory, and complication to placing orders with your distributor. Extra items will be needed to offer the specials in the days ahead, also, these items may not be familiar to your staff, meaning there is a possibility they could be overlooked, or one ingredient not ordered. A system should be in place to ensure that all of the stock needed for the specials is ordered and in correct pack size. Double check with your sales representative that the size package of each special ingredient will be appropriate to your needs. Many times, the representative will suggest a split case size for ingredients like these.

Consider the shelf life of items ordered to offer each special. How many specials do you have to sell to completely exhaust your stock of the ingredients for a given special. If stock is leftover, chances are good that your specials are contributing to your food waste. It is imperative that stock for special items is ordered such that all of the items can be used before their shelf life expires. As serving fresh ingredients is always important, the less time the items spend on the shelf, the better. For this reason, some establishments offer a special until all portions of that special are sold. The cons of this approach are serving the same special two days in a row, and having to have the next special prepared such that it can quickly be served at the time the previous special is over.

One strategy that can alleviate some of the complications concerning shelf life is to derive specials using stock already on hand, that only require a small contribution of extra ingredients, preferably spices and other ingredients with a comfortable shelf life.

Common problems with your specials can contribute to food waste, consume storage space unnecessarily, and take away from the cleanliness of storage areas. If an item sits in a container on your shelf exhausting it's shelf life, it will then have to be removed, disposed of, as well as the container needing extra cleaning attention. In extreme situations, the remains of a case can go bad, adding large amounts to your food waste. Furthermore, these items consume space in your storage area that may be needed to store normal stock. The more crowded and cluttered your storage area becomes, more errors in rotation and expiration of shelf life will occur. Simply put, a storage area in this state of affairs can even make it difficult to find stock, and add time to normal duties such as putting away stock, cleaning the storage area, or simply making a trip to pick up an item.

When considering the cost of a special dish, your sales price must reflect the cost and complication of its offering. Careful calculation must be made to ensure that the cost of the dish is correctly figured. The price set must make the dish profitable to offer, as well as be an appealing and valuable purchase for the customer.

Once a system is in place that is running smoothly, it is a good move to advance the advertisement of your special dishes. Posting a schedule of your specials, faxing and emailing this schedule to local businesses whose employees frequent your establishment, also to individuals who frequent your restaurant, and posting the schedule on the internet are great cost effective methods of advertisement. In the case of corporate restaurants, they go as far as to purchase television and radio advertisements, and advertisements in publications to showcase their promotions. If your food is as good or better than a corporate concept, why should you short change yourself in the advertising department. Surely once restaurant goers sample your cuisine, they will be rushing back for more.

The majority of systems in place have pros and cons, and generally have room for improvement, even in corporate restaurant environments. Taking another look at how you prepare and offer your specials is never time wasted, and any improvement made will be one that will improve the operation of your restaurant in various areas. By creating a very good special system you can reduce food waste and improve storage, rotation, and cleanliness. You can offer your customers a fresher dish, perhaps at a better price, with higher quality.