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There’s an adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But does that mean that offering it will add value to your restaurant?
On the one hand, adding breakfast to your restaurant menu can increase sales, foot traffic, and overall awareness of your business. On the flip side, it means longer hours, more staff, and more inventory to order and manage. That is to say: if you’re considering adding breakfast to your restaurant menu, there’s a lot to consider.
This post poses some important questions that you should ask yourself to determine if your restaurant should offer breakfast. By evaluating these points, you’ll put yourself in a better position to decide if offering breakfast is a good fit for your establishment.
Do you want to offer breakfast? Before you start cracking eggs and frying up bacon, pause for a moment to consider this very important question: do you want to offer breakfast in your restaurant? Even if it sounds good on paper as a way to increase the profitability of your restaurant, you need to consider how it feels on a gut level. If the thought of being open more hours of the day makes you want to break out into a cold sweat, then chances are, maybe it’s not the right time to pursue offering breakfast.
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Will breakfast work with your restaurant concept? If you’re already excited about the idea of offering breakfast, then do take a moment to consider if it will actually fit with your restaurant’s concept. For instance, say you serve family style Italian food. Does this concept really translate to breakfast, or will offering breakfast feel like a stretch, and not-so-natural progression?
But on the flip side, breakfast can be a way to expand your offerings in a thoughtful way. For example, if your restaurant serves traditional French cuisine, offering breakfast could afford you the opportunity to let your pastry chef shine at making croissants and pastries in the morning. Really think long and hard about how serving breakfast will fit (or not) with your restaurant concept.
Will breakfast take away from lunch and dinner checks? Breakfast is one of the highest-profit meals to serve at a restaurant. However, the overall check prices tend to be a lot lower than lunch or dinner bills.
By offering breakfast, could you actually be taking away from people who would otherwise patronize your establishment for lunch or dinner? That is to say, is it possible that customers will decide to come to your restaurant for breakfast instead of lunch or dinner, because it’s a less expensive meal? If so, offering breakfast could actually have the opposite effect. It could keep you from making money by “stealing” your own customers.
Does your restaurant location have traffic in the morning? Is your restaurant’s location conducive to offering breakfast? Even if you carefully chose a restaurant space in a neighborhood that is bustling in the evening hours, that doesn’t mean it will draw crowds in the AM.
Typically, convenient, easy-to-find locations with plenty of parking in accessible places will do well for breakfast service. While an out of the way location might be charming for dinner dates, it might not serve you well for breakfast. Really think about whether or not your location is convenient to customers who would want to come out for breakfast.
Do other restaurants in the area serve breakfast? Take a few moments to consider the breakfast scene near your restaurant. Do other restaurants serve breakfast? If so, is it with great success? Or are there a mere few patrons on any given day? If so, this can inform your decision, telling you whether or not there’s a strong demand for breakfast in the area.
Keep an eye out for popular restaurants nearby serving breakfast. For example, if there is a restaurant nearby that is famous for breakfast but often crowded, you can benefit by offering breakfast and perhaps capturing some of the spillover crowd. Taking the time to consider the “competition” and landscape for breakfast in your area can be very helpful in determining if offering breakfast is a good decision for your restaurant.
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Do you have the proper equipment? Making breakfast requires different equipment and utensils than serving lunch or dinner. Is your kitchen adequately stocked for making breakfast? Do you have industrial coffee makers and an espresso machine? Or will it require a big investment in proper equipment? The necessary equipment can make it difficult to just “dip your toe” into offering breakfast; it really does require careful consideration of whether or not the investment will be worthwhile.
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Can your chefs make breakfast? Are your chefs trained to make breakfast? Even if they are well trained in lunch and dinner service, it doesn’t mean that they’ll be up to the task of making breakfast, which requires different pacing and ingredients. If your chefs are not prepared or trained in making breakfast, this doesn’t mean you can’t add it to your menu; it simply means that you’re going to have to spend a little bit more time allowing the chefs to train and acclimate to the new course. You may need to hire additional chefs.
Will you need to hire additional staff? If you only offer lunch and/or dinner, chances are there’s only one or two “shifts” at your restaurant. Accommodating a breakfast service will mean that you’ll likely have to add an extra shift. Do you have the manpower to fulfill the staffing needs? It will require that you get creative with scheduling, or that you hire additional full or part time staff.
Could you offer brunch instead of breakfast? Some restaurants find that the idea of offering breakfast every day that they are open is just too much to pile on to the day to day duties, staffing, and ingredient requirements. However, there is a solution which allows you to make money with a little less effort: offer breakfast on a limited time basis, such as weekend-only brunch.
People are often willing to wait longer and to spend more money on the weekend, so brunch can be a way to offer breakfast without changing your whole business model. Yes, you will still need to purchase equipment and train your chefs and staff the restaurant, but it’s only for one or two days a week, which can take some of the pressure off while you refine your methods and offerings. If it works out well, you can consider adding breakfast on a more regular basis.
Conclusion: Breakfast can be a high profit way to draw in diners and increase your restaurant’s overall income. But it should only be offered if it is truly an appropriate fit for your restaurant. By taking the time to really evaluate the questions posed here, you’ll be better positioned to decide if offering breakfast will truly prove an asset to your restaurant.
Have you ever considered offering breakfast at your establishment?