Food is commonly the most event when dining out but placing equal importance on your drinks by carefully matching them with food can boost your sales whilst setting your venue aside from others. By expanding your drinks menu and investing in some staff training, you’ll give your team the tools to form the foremost upselling opportunities. We’ve done some research on what guests want when it involves matching food and drinks. Are you able to re-think your offering?
Upselling
Upselling doesn’t need to be a tough sale. Guests are visiting order a drink with their meal regardless, so making a drink suggestion to travel with their dish of choice will feel natural to the guest. Don’t forget desserts. When it involves quantity, 56% of guests consume just 2 drinks throughout their meal when eating at an informal dining restaurant – perhaps because the standard tea and occasional offering don’t entice today’s guests? Today’s consumers, trying to find unique experiences, can acquire a matcha tea leaf frappuccino in their local eating house, so are they really visiting spend on a filter coffee? Possibly not. Providing an unexpected hot drink to enrich each dessert will really give guests something to speak about.
Team training
84% of guests think it’s important or important that staff have good knowledge of their drinks menu. Your team is the face of your business, so if they don’t know your food and drinks menu inside out, this could be a clumsy experience for both the guest and also the team member. 96% of guests say that effectively trained staff can even have sway on what they spend when eating out, and knowledge of the menu is one among the clearest indicators that staff are well-trained. Pairing food with drinks could be a good way to showcase this, so it’s essential to take a position within the training of your team.
Premium Drinks
Introducing more premium drinks to your business could be lucrative thanks to keeping taste buds happy. 71% of guests are very likely or quite likely to get a premium beverage, and 47% are very likely or quite likely to get a premium non-alcoholic beverage, so going premium may be a no-brainer. But a way to promote premium? Guests are way more likely to get a high-end drink if it’s been carefully paired with their food, instead of selecting it from the bar. With well-trained staff ensuring guests that premium will complement their selected dish, guests will want to pay the additional cost.
Promoting soft drinks
As a result, the nation’s thirst for soft drinks continues to grow, so it can be wise for operators to expand their selection. Our research shows that 59% of guests would actually have an interest in trying a restaurant’s homemade drinkable – providing venues with a chance to square out from the group.
When it involves pubs, 80% of guests feel that low sugar/sugar-free drinks are poorly promoted. With sugar consumption becoming an increasing concern, 78% of guests think it’s important or vital that sugar and calorie information is displayed on soft drinks – something involved in mind when it involves promotion.
Handcrafted drinks
Our research shows that 68% of guests prefer to try new drink options, and profitable thanks to up your offering is by creating your own handcrafted drinks. We already know that 59% of our guests would have an interest in trying a restaurant’s own beverage, and in step with Datassential, ‘homemade’ beverages have increased by 46% since 2012. An excellent thanks to launch new beverages that guests might not think to do is by promoting them with food pairing offers, this really is a wonderful thanks to provide a private and unique guest experience.