Introduction:

I’m not going to name any names but a couple of weeks ago I went to visit a client and learned that they had struggled a little bit with the new menu roll-out. This is something I see happen often. If you have ever struggled with rolling out a new menu or you’re about to make some changes to it, I’m going to share with you four ways to make sure that your menu rollout goes smoothly.

How to Roll out a New Menu?

The first thing that I want to share with you is this task really falls on the owner, manager, kitchen supervisor, kitchen manager, chef or whatever you want to call it. I think when restaurants roll out new menus, they rely too heavily on their staff and the staff members don’t know what’s going on a lot of times with this new menu.

When you roll out a new menu:

1. You have to update the checklist. Before you roll out the new menu, it’s your responsibility to provide your team with a new checklist so they know what does and does not go on the station because things change. 
2. Provide them with a new preplist, There’s new items to prepare and some items you’re not preparing anymore. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into restaurants where staff don’t know a product isn’t being used anymore because it’s still on the preplist.
3. Update the recipe book. I’ve had cooks walk up to me when I’m consulting and say, “Hey, I think there’s some new recipes today, but I don’t know what they are!” Or they tell me, “They’re not in the recipe book.” Owners, on the other hand, tell me that they did a new menu roll-out but the cooks are still preparing it the old way…they didn’t make the sauce or last night was a disaster because we were out of things. Then I ask them, well did you update the checklist, preplist, and recipe book? 
4. Build sheets. Have you updated the build sheets to make sure they know what this new item looks like and how to prepare it? Do your managers and staff know if the item is correct or incorrect when it comes up on the window? Can they compare it to the picture?

Summing it up:

You’re probably saying to yourself, “I don’t have checklists because if I do, the staff is probably not using them or don’t like them.” If you don’t have a preplist, never had a recipe book, or you don’t have build sheets, then get to work! Why? Because it’s about managing the system and developing the people. If you’re sick and tired of managing people in your restaurants, it’s because you don’t have systems in place. 

Everyone says “I want systems, I want systems!” Here are the first four systems that you should create as they are the most important things in your restaurant: 

1) A checklist to make sure that everything is on the station.
2) A preplist so everyone knows what to prepare.

3) A recipe book so there’s no questions about how things are prepared.

4)The build sheet so there are no questions about how to turn all the products into a menu item and so that everyone’s on the same page of how it should look when it goes out.

If you need more information and want to learn more about how to implement systems like this in your restaurant, go to a website called https://scalemyrestaurant.com. It’s an amazing training program that we’ve created that will walk you through how to build all the systems and so many more, step by step. You can also check out my free videos by going to my blog and doing a search for checklists or preplists. 

GIVEAWAY:

Our video sponsor, Guardian Drain Lock, is generously giving away 5 of their drain locks to one lucky winner. Simply fill out this form and we will randomly pick one lucky winner. But in order to win, you have to be a subscriber to our YouTube channel. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s video, subscribe to our channel, get yourself the Guardian Drain Lock, and make sure your next menu roll-out is awesome. Next week we got another great video coming up for you, have a wonderful day!