With rising food costs and tight profit margins, increasing your average quick service restaurant check size is essential for maintaining a healthy bottom line.
According to a survey of over 600 restaurants, 58% cited food costs as their primary financial strain. Additionally, profit margins across the industry have fallen an average of 1.6% compared to the previous year. Boosting your average check size can help cover increasing food costs and keep your restaurant profitable.
But, as a restaurant owner, it can be tricky figuring out how to increase average quick service restaurant check size and boost overall revenue without dramatically hiking up prices for your individual menu items.
The good news: There is more than one effective way to bridge the gap without relying on sky-high menu prices. Let’s dive into 6 sure-fire methods to increase average check size without scaring off your customers.
6 Ways to Increase Average Quick Service Restaurant Check Size
1. Train Staff to Thoroughly Know Your Menu
It’s not enough for your staff to memorize menu items; each customer-facing employee needs to thoroughly understand each item and your overall menu. This means being able to anticipate customer needs, answer questions confidently, and make informed recommendations.
When staff are well-versed in your menu, they can suggest items that complement each other, enhancing the customer experience and encouraging customers to order more.
2. Upsell and Cross-sell to Increase Quick Service Restaurant Average Check Size
Armed with in-depth menu knowledge, your staff can play a significant role in increasing average quick service restaurant check size through upselling and cross-selling. But what’s the difference between the two?
- Upselling: This involves encouraging customers to upgrade their current choice. For example, suggesting they go for the double-stack burger instead of the single-stack or adding cheese and bacon to their fries.
- Cross-selling: This involves suggesting additional items that complement their current order. For instance, adding a half-sandwich to a salad order or recommending a refreshing strawberry lemonade to go with a smoky BBQ platter.
Simply asking, “Would you like to add fries or a drink to your order?” can significantly boost average check size.
3. Encourage Online Ordering
Customers tend to spend more when they order online compared to ordering in-house — this is a good way to increase quick service restaurant average check size. With Table Needs, commission-free online food ordering system and QR code solutions are built into the POS system, making it easy for you to encourage online orders without needing additional hardware, software, or apps. Promote online and QR code ordering to your customers and watch your average check size increase.
4. Offer Easy Add-ons to Popular Menu Items
People love to customize almost everything these days, and food orders are at the top of that list! By offering simple modifications or add-ons to popular menu items, customers feel like they’re placing a special order made just for them, while you’re reaping the benefits of boosting your uick service restaurant average check size.
Examples include adding bacon to a burger, protein to a salad, or extra flavor pump to a latte. These add-ons enhance the meal without drastically increasing the price, making it easy for customers to say yes.
5. Design Your Menu to Sell
Your menu design plays a crucial role in driving sales. Keeping the golden triangle and price anchoring in mind when designing your menu.
The golden triangle concept refers to the three areas of your menu that customers’ eyes are naturally drawn to: the top right, the top left, and the center. Place your most profitable items in these spots to increase their chances of being ordered.
Price anchoring is another effective strategy to increase quick service restaurant average check size. This involves including a high-priced item near your more moderately priced items. The high-priced item serves as a reference point, making the moderately priced items appear more affordable by comparison, and therefore driving more sales of those profitable items.
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6. Promote a Loyalty Program
As humans, we love camaraderie and being part of a pack, which is why loyalty programs work wonders for quick service restaurants. A well-designed loyalty program makes customers feel like they’re in a special club and – more importantly for your quick service restaurant average check size – keeps them coming back and encourages them to spend more.
For example, offering a program where customers receive a free item for every 10 items purchased can motivate them to buy more than one item per order, therefore increasing their check size. Regular customers are likely to spend more to earn their rewards, creating a win-win situation for both parties.
Boost Average Quick Service Restaurant Check Size and Discover Your Path to Profitability
Increasing your average check size is essential for covering rising food costs and maintaining a healthy profit margin. By implementing these six strategies, you can boost your revenue without raising prices on individual menu items.
Ready to learn more about designing a profitable restaurant menu? We’ve got you covered! Download The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Profitable Restaurant Menu for free today!
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