As pizzeria owners and managers, we often ask ourselves: What can I make that will sell? After many years in the industry, I would argue we are asking the wrong question. Instead of figuring out what to sell, I am more interested now in what I want to sell – or, better stated, what do I want to eat? The best way to ask that question is this: Would I want to eat this as my last meal? If the answer is no, that dish has no place on the menu.
I know that sounds dramatic. But if an item is not something you genuinely would be excited to eat, why would I ask my customers to pay for it? Why ask the kitchen staff to make it? Why dedicate cooler space, inventory dollars and mental energy to something that is just OK?
Leveling Up the Menu
It is easier to be great than it is to be mid. That sounds backwards, but it is true. When you have a menu full of items you believe in, your staff sells them with conviction. Your kitchen makes them with ownership, and the customer base feels the difference. When you have items that are just there because they have always been there – or because you think you are supposed to have them – everything gets harder. It is harder to sell. It is harder to stock. It is harder to care, and it’s way harder to stand out and justify why you are not another cliche pizza place.
Once we have that set, we can lean on data. If we love a menu item but it’s just not working out, so be it. At Andolini’s, we have a rule. If an item represents less than 10% of its segment, it is on the chopping block. That is the quantitative side. But the qualitative side is the last meal test.
‘Last Meal’ Philosophy In Practice
We cut fried toasted ravioli back in the day because it was fine. Not bad. Just fine. Nobody was going to write home about it. Nobody was going to drive across town for it. It was taking up space that something great could occupy. We sold frozen items – the same stuff anyone could sell. When I realized another restaurant could do the same thing, I sold not only the bags of frozen product but the freezer along with it.
Here is what we replaced it with: Instead of buying frozen mozzarella sticks and dropping them in a fryer, we now take fresh mozzarella that we stretch in house, bread it in house, and fry it to order. Would I eat that as my last meal? Absolutely. It is not even the same category of food anymore. One is a thing you tolerate on an appetizer menu because you think you need a fried option. The other is something you actually crave.
When you make a change like that, two things happen: First, your staff gets on board because they want to work at a place that does things right. Nobody got into this business to reheat frozen appetizers. They want to be legit.
Second, your customers who liked the old item will come around. Every single time we replaced something mediocre with something made properly in house, the customers who liked the old version ended up loving the new version.
Go through your menu this week. Look at every single item and ask yourself honestly: Is this last meal worthy? If you are hesitating, you already have your answer. Cut it. Replace it with something you actually believe in. Your food cost might even reduce – and even if it does not, your passion will increase dramatically. And that passion is what is needed to sell better, easier and for the long haul.
MIKE BAUSCH is the owner of Andolini’s Pizzeria.
