Millennials are looking for a wide variety of flavors and dining experiences when they eat out at a restaurant, and you might be surprised at how easy it is to tailor your operation so that it appeals to their cravings. The best part? These restaurant menu ideas can be easily added to your menu, without reinventing it.
Your Menu’s Magic Words: Restaurant Menu Ideas
Sometimes all it takes to win a diner’s heart is a mouth-watering description. Millennials say that these words speak volumes:
Unprocessed
Millennials are willing to pay more for a menu item if the item features ingredients which are antibiotic-free, organic, or unprocessed and natural. As this generation continues to emphasize clean, healthy eating habits, they continue to ask for transparency in dishes which ultimately helps drive sales of these menu items.
Local
Locally sourced ingredients are not only good for your menu, they’re good for your community as well. Not only do these items imply freshness, they also show that there’s money going back into local farms, continuing to create a positive relationship between restaurants and their food suppliers. Additionally, 48 percent of all diners, regardless of generation, said that foods described as local comes across as being tastier.
Fresh
According to Technomic, Inc. more than 87 percent of millennial diners said they’re more likely to order a menu item if its ingredients are labeled as fresh. And this is more than just fresh fruits and vegetables, this can include everything from freshly caught seafood, to fresh roasted coffee beans.
Grass-Fed
45 percent of all diners, in all generations, said that their restaurant choice was influenced by whether or not the restaurant served menu items which include free-range poultry and/or grass-fed beef.
Millennial Restaurant Dining Experience Ideas
You don’t have to be a flashy gastropub to be appealing to millennials. They visit a variety of restaurants, and the attributes that they’re craving are well within the grasp of your operation. Simply find your brand voice, stick to it, and let your customers know that you’re speaking to them.
Customization
60-70 percent of millennials say that appealing taste and flavor are the most important factors when selecting a restaurant, but you can ensure that your dishes are the most craveable by providing them with opportunities to customize their meal.
Better-For-You Options
Having healthy options available on your menu might bring diners into your foodservice operation, and a lack of better-for-you dishes might actually keep them away. Make sure you provide a solid menu of salads, meatless options, and gluten-free meals to keep your millennial diners happy.
Prepaying and Online Access
Prepaying and buying food at kiosks appeal to millennials more than any other generation. Nearly 60 percent of them say they would use call-ahead or online ordering for delivery or takeout, and 45 percent of them would like tools which let them see the progress of their order.
Make sure that your millennial diners are satisfied each and every time they dine at your restaurant by serving craveable dishes and using desirable technologies. By providing a menu filled with new or unique, better-for-you and customizable foods and flavors, they’re sure to find the foods that they’re craving.
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