Eggs, bacon and French toast are about to get even better
After a tumultuous year of opening, closing, restricting diners, masks and QR codes, you’d be forgiven for reassessing what your venue is going to look like in 2021. Many business owners are considering changing up their offering, and one trend we’ve noticed recently is the uptick in venues opening for breakfast, many for the first time. It’s a smart move. No matter if you operate a high-end restaurant or a local corner-shop café, breakfast can be your most profitable time of service. So whether you’re a first-time brekky venue, or you’ve been doing it for years, here’s how to make your breakfast menu your most profitable…
Low-cost ingredients
Most breakfasts require just a few cheap ingredients. Unlike other mealtimes where cheap ingredients may make for a lesser meal, breakfast enables venues to create something delicious out of just a couple of good quality eggs, toast and extras. Considering a dozen eggs can sell for around $6 on average (that’s 50c an egg) savvy venues can poach a couple, add spinach, feta and some sourdough and sell for upwards of $14. On top of this, labour costs are low as they are quick and easy to whip up and if you have a couple of leftover poached eggs at the end of service it’s not going to break the bank.
Versatile ingredients and limited menu
Breakfast menus are often more limited than other mealtimes and strong breakfast menus use the same ingredients in many different ways. Have we mentioned eggs? Poached, scrambled, fried, omelettes, frittatas, eggs can form the foundation of your menu. But aside from the mark up on simple items like these, profitability also comes down to making sure you have engineered the right menu. When looking for items to add, ensure all elements can be versatile and used in multiple dishes to minimise waste and maximise profit. Things like English muffins can be used for eggs benedict, bacon and egg rolls and also on your kids’ menu. While some sliced sourdough is the ideal base for any egg offering.
Alternative offerings
This is where things start to get interesting. Once upon a time breakfast menus were 100% traditional with staples like eggs and pancakes (which are still very popular today). But in recent years there has been more demand for options like breakfast burgers. A few years ago, Technomic found that 38 percent of diners between the ages of 18 and 34 “enjoy eating breakfast foods that are often associated with lunch or dinner, like pizza, burgers or grilled chicken sandwiches that have breakfast ingredients added.”* And this trend has certainly taken off. We’ve even heard of a café in Melbourne serving breakfast pasta. It’s these Instagram-worthy offerings that do the marketing work for your breakfast menu. People will visit because they have heard about the breakfast pasta, but more often than not, their dining companions will still order the basics like eggs on toast. Ensure you have a balance. Try adding a breakfast burger to your menu alongside your decadent pancakes perhaps.
Quick turnover
One of the best things about breakfast service is that tables turn over very quickly. People tend to be starving in the mornings and this means they order quickly and eat quickly. Then they are paying the bill and on their way for the day (but hopefully back for lunch!). This is a stark contrast to your typical dinner service where diners can sometimes sit for long periods after eating, ordering more drinks. Customers generally won’t feel rushed if you are attentive and offering them the bill when they finish their meal – they have things to do too!
If you’ve been considering opening for breakfast for the first time, or revamping your current breakfast offering, get in touch with our team. We can organise samples or talk through our most versatile options to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck at breakfast.
*Technomic Foundations Forum, 2017
