Top Tips for Restaurants Starting a Takeaway Service
Updated: 8 May, 2024
Top Tips for Restaurants Starting a Takeaway Service
Updated: 23 February, 2024
Across the country, restaurants have been turning to takeaway and delivery in order to keep the cash flowing during lockdown.
At JJ Foodservice, we have been supplying restaurants with quality food, drink and packaging products for more than 30 years. We care passionately about takeaways being tasty, so our team have pulled together a few top tips to help your service run as safely and successfully as possible.
Crispy Chilli Beef. (New Ruby, Belvedere. A FOODit customer)
Step 1. Less is More on Menus
Too much choice can confuse consumers – that’s why many successful menus have been tailored by menu engineers to be short and simple.
The magic number is seven items per food category (starter, main, pudding), according to some experts.
Dishes should maximise on taste and margin, without being overcomplicated to prepare.
Cyprus Style Cheese (CHE181) is the perfect veggie option
Here’s a few other important things to consider:
  1. Tasty images can increase sales by 30%
  2. Kids’ options will help to increase basket spend
  3. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes will satisfy a wider audience
  4. Healthier options can make takeaway an every-day occasion
Step 2. We Eat with Our Eyes
The colour and design of your menu can be just as important as the images you use. Have you ever wondered why red and yellow is used by the world’s biggest fast food chain?
Red whets your appetite, while yellow makes you feel happy, according to some colour psychologists.
Red and Yellow is a popular combination for the Award-winning Nana Jans
Step 3. Use Dishes that Travel Well
Not every dish on your restaurant menu will lend itself to travelling in a warm bag or box. That’s why it’s useful to stick to popular takeaway staples, which include:
  1. Pizza
  2. Meaty sauces, soups and stews
  3. Grilled meats
  4. Burgers
  5. Fried chicken
  6. Deli sandwiches in hearty bread
  7. Rice and noodles (separate the broth from the noodle)
  8. Fish and chips (it’s all about the packaging)
TOP TIP: De-construct Moist Meals
No one likes soggy sandwiches so try to keep sauces separate – for a meatball marinara, separate the meat, sauce and bread. That way, customers can reconstruct the meal in the comfort of their own home!
Step 4. Higher Margin Meats
Making sure your menu delivers an attractive margin is critical. In the fish and seafood industry, the price of fish continues to fluctuate, which is why it’s important to consider alternative species to cod and haddock – and even alternative proteins that can offer a more attractive profit.
Check out our chicken products.
Step 5. Put Your Menu Online
The Government has advised that all takeaways should have a safe pre-ordering system in place, which allows customers to place orders in advance. To help your customers place their order as quickly as possible, we suggest putting menus and payments online. Here’s how:
Our sister-company FOODit can put you online in days with NO SIGN UP FEE in May
  1. Get your business online with our restaurant website team.
  2. Let your customers know via social media, email, text message, posters (or all of the above!) that they can now order directly from your website.
  3. Use clear social distancing signage in your shop to help guide customers when they arrive to collect.
Here is a business with an impressive social distancing strategy.
Step 6. Packaging Makes the Perfect Meal
The right packaging is almost as important as what goes in it when it comes to a good quality takeaway. Crispy cod, calamari, tempura prawns and other fried delights can travel well, if carried in a quality box.
The right packaging can help to improve the quality of your takeaway
Here’s a few other top tips:
  1. Include eco-friendly packaging options
  2. Offer customers the choice to remove cutlery from the order
  3. Use strong, good quality, breathable boxes
  4. Personalise your pizza with our plain brown boxes
  5. Keep condiments and dressings in separate containers
Get all your takeaway essentials at www.jjfoodservice.com
For any additional information about this article please contact elit.rowland@jjfoodserivce.com
#Education #packaging #Restaurants #socialdistancing