Prix Fixe Menus: Why Restaurants Should Add Them In 2024
Restaurants remain in a period of flux, adapting to the ever-changing behaviors of consumers who demand fast service, top-quality food, the perfect atmosphere and more ordering options than you can count.
If you’re struggling to retain patrons or attract them to begin with, a prix fixe menu may be a way to lure in guests.
What Is a Prix Fixe Menu?
Pre fixe menu, meaning fixed price menu — if you couldn’t guess — is a concept that helps drive traffic into your restaurant. Diners love prix fixe dinners (breakfast and lunch, too) and are:
- Multi-course meals
- Priced per person
Diners don’t have to scour large menus to piece together their meals. A fixed menu example may be:
- Wine
- Cheese platter
- Steak
- Potatoes
- Chocolate cake
A better example of price fixed menus is near Valentine’s Day. You’ll find eateries offering a whole three-course meal for $70 per person. You can build your own prix fixe menu example as long as it has:
- Multiple courses
- Meal offered at a fixed price options
The term comes from France and in different countries and cultures, the name may be slightly different.
You can have a three-course meal or a ten-course meal and everything in between, but the meal should have the following components:
- Appetizer
- Main dish(es)
- Dessert
Are There 0 Options With a Prix Fixe Menu?
No. You have many options available to you, but you limit them. For example, you may offer a selection of chicken or steak as an alternative. The goal for the restaurant is to offer little flexibility.
A person may be able to select lemon or chocolate cake, but that’s it. You don’t want to overwhelm the person with too many options or have the options impact your profit margins.
At most, you’ll offer two options for:
- Appetizers
- Main dish
- Dessert
Chefs may also decide to “wing it” and create an on-the-fly menu for the day. Let’s assume that you have 20 pounds of chicken nearing its shelf expectancy, it will be made into a delightful dish for the Pixe fixe menu.
You can get rid of inventory rapidly using this tactic and reduce the risk of spoilage at the same time.
When Restaurants Should Use a Prix Fixe Menu
Prix fixe menus are exciting and fun for restaurant owners and patrons alike. You can always offer one of these menus, whether you’re an upscale eatery or a low-cost one. Many restaurants will offer a fixed price menu for:
- Special events
- Holidays
- Large parties
However, there’s been a major shift in the use of fixed menus because it’s a great way to:
- Simplify your kitchen’s menu
- Reduce overhead
- Maintain ingredients that you absolutely need
- Reduce waste
- Streamline operations
Let’s assume that your restaurant is in the busy season and offers 20 entrée options. If you have five fixed price menu options instead, you’ll have the opportunity to:
- Prep all of the food ahead of time
- Rapidly go from orders to meals on the table
- Alleviate stress on your kitchen staff
Of course, the chef will not prep entire meals at one time. Instead, certain parts of the meal are prepped while others may be cooked to order. Steak cannot be cooked without the person ordering it telling you how they want their steak cooked.
You can certainly cut up the potatoes or vegetables, especially if they can be used in other dishes on the menu.
Consider Theme Night Menus
Not sure if your guests will like a Prix Fixe menu? Try it out. Theme nights allow you to create a menu that you can test and see if your guests like it. What do you have to lose? A night of orders?
Let’s assume that it’s Superbowl weekend, you can then decide to create a football theme dinner with:
- Large portions
- Comfort food
You can also have fun nights, such as Phantom of the Opera, where guests need to come into your establishment and dress up. If you don’t want to have one of these theme nights, you can also opt for:
- Lobster night
- Vegan night
- Seasonal goodies
Theme nights are a good way to promote your restaurant, generate buzz and bring in patrons of all ages. You’ll want to discuss themes with your chef and any stakeholders. Waitstaff may have an amazing idea for a theme night that you never thought of before because they have a pulse on what patrons like better than anyone else in the restaurant.
If you find a theme night that resonates with guests, you can hold a weekly, monthly or annual event with the theme night.
Fixed price menus are a great way to drum up excitement about your restaurant.
Creating a Profitable Prix Fixe Menu
Prix fixe menus can be extremely profitable because you have the option to control profit margins for an entire meal rather than each singular item. For example, when you allow guests to pick anything from the menu, profit margins may be:
- 10% on dessert
- 7% on the entrée
- 15% on the appetizer
- 10% average margins
However, since you’re offering a fixed price menu, you can opt to purchase more inventory in bulk, reducing operating costs and allowing for higher profit margins. You select all courses of the meal, so you can confidently set your profit margins.
Be sure to consider:
- High-profit margin items
- Lobsters
- Steaks
- Wine
You can pair low-cost appetizers in the course so that you can continue to maintain profit margins while focusing on what matters most: value to the customer.
If you’ve been in business for years, the last thing you want to do is change to a prix fixe menu that doesn’t include your top sellers. The top-selling dishes should never be taken off of the menu unless you can source the items to be profitable.
Review your receipts and determine which dishes are most popular and see if you can create a menu that is perfect for your guests.
Prix fixe menu options don’t need to be an all-or-nothing venture either. You can have one of these menus and another where guests can choose each item on their own.
Source: https://mcdonaldpaper.com/blog/prix-fixe-menus-why-restaurants-should-add-them
