First Appearance: Introducing New Menu Items

A classic "Frank & Ernest" comic strip shows the characters as restaurant owners. "We never have to change our menu," Frank says. Ernest adds happily, "Yeah! No one ever eats here twice."

There is nothing wrong with wanting to stay on the culinary cutting edge. Before you introduce a new menu item, here are some pointers on how to do it without disrupting your concept or operations.

Well, certainly your restaurant is different (otherwise reading this article will offer considerably less help than you need). Of course, all restaurants depend on repeat customers. The importance of keeping the experience fresh for those customers can't be underestimated.

The novelty of creating and serving fresh menu items can stir up a lackadaisical staff and give the creative chef a chance to strut his stuff. But making wholesale menu changes can be a major upheaval all around the restaurant. From the kitchen to the floor to the back office, the first day of a new menu can be a hectic event.

With the option of printing menus in the back office, it's easier than ever to tweak menu items and bring about change in more manageable steps.

Change Is Not Always Good

As important as it is to offer new items and shake up the status quo from time to time, many customers who come to the restaurant come for their favorite dish.

Think carefully before changing menu items just for the sake of change.