Fun fact: 80% of diners are likely to order a dish with local ingredients or seasonal twists.
Why?
Because they’re exciting. The menus change regularly, keeping customers intrigued by what they’ll find when they walk through your door.
Plus, seasonal produce minimises your impact on the environment. 77% of consumers believe sustainability is important when buying food, so minimising your environmental impact is a trick you don’t want to miss.
In this article, we look at these benefits (and a few others) in more detail. We’ll also outline some real examples of restaurants using seasonal menus and offer some tips on how to create a seasonal menu of your own.
Skip to the section you want to read:
- What is a seasonal menu?
- Why seasonal menus are good for business
- Examples of restaurants reaping the benefits of seasonal menus
- How to build your own seasonal menu
- Use Nory to create seasonal and profitable menus
What is a seasonal menu?
A seasonal menu is a menu that changes based on the ingredient availability during different times of the year. Instead of offering the same menu year-round, you create a changing menu that incorporates the freshest ingredients during a particular season.
For example, in the autumn and winter months, you might incorporate root vegetables like pumpkins, squash, and swede. In the spring and summer months, you might focus more on spring greens and summer fruits like strawberries.
Why seasonal menus are good for business
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why restaurants use seasonal menus.
To cut costs
When ingredients are in season, they’re often more plentiful and easier to source locally. This typically drives down the cost of ingredients, allowing you to purchase high-quality produce at a lower price.
Using local ingredients also reduces the need for long-distance shipping and refrigeration, bringing costs down even further. It’s a win-win.
To increase profits
As mentioned, seasonal ingredients are often more affordable due to local availability and bulk purchases. This can lead to higher profit margins for your restaurant.
Imagine that you have a strawberry tart on your dessert menu. In June, the prices for strawberries are lower because they’re in season.
But in December? The prices go up because you have to source strawberries from overseas. This cuts into your profits, so it makes more sense to change your menu to something in season — like an apple tart.
Nory success story 🥳 See how Griolladh lowered costs and increased profits with Nory’s real-time sales insights.
By predicting hourly sales with up to 95% accuracy, Griolladh made smart and informed decisions to optimise spending and boost gross profit margins.
“Nory has been with us every step of the way. It’s been incredibly helpful to the business, and has played a pivotal role in the successful franchising of Griolladh.” – Jacob Long, Co-founder at Griolladh.
To achieve sustainability and environmental goals
Using seasonal and local ingredients is a step in a sustainable direction. For example, buying locally reduces the need for long-distance transportation, which reduces your carbon footprint.
Supporting local farmers also strengthens local economies and farming communities, fostering a more sustainable and environmentally friendly food system.
Some food for thought 🤔 Although buying locally can reduce your carbon footprint, it’s important to know that local ingredients aren’t always more sustainable. Other factors that can influence whether ingredients are sustainable, like how farmers:
- Harvest ingredients
- Rear animals
- Apply pesticides and fertilisers
- Use water and energy
It’s best to spend some time learning about how your suppliers operate to ensure you choose the most sustainable option. The Sustainable Restaurant Association is a good resource.
To enhance food quality and flavour
The fresher the ingredients, the better the taste, right? Well, that’s exactly what happens when you use seasonal ingredients.
When fruit and veg are in season, the quality is better and it has a much more powerful flavour. And when ingredients are at their best, dishes naturally taste better, which enhances the overall dining experience.
Think about if you’ve ever eaten raspberries out of season. They’re either sour or underwhelming. But when they’re in season? They’re deliciously sweet. 🤤
To innovate your menu and boost creativity
Seasonal menus allow you to flex your creative culinary muscles. You can maintain your most popular items while introducing new, seasonally-inspired dishes. This means you’re constantly kept on your toes, experimenting with new dishes using different ingredients throughout the year.
This not only keeps the menu exciting for regular customers, but it also attracts new patrons who are eager to try something different. Plus, it helps to differentiate you from competitors, encouraging more diners to walk through your doors.
Some food for thought 🤔 If you want to identify your most popular menu items, use a restaurant operating system like Nory. Our AI-powered software can track which meals sell the most so you can capitalise on their popularity. For example, updating your menu to place the popular items front and centre.
To increase marketing opportunities
Seasonal menus can be a powerful marketing tool. Limited-time offerings and seasonal specials create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to visit before the menu changes.
Plus, when people know that your menu changes regularly, they’re more likely to want to return to experience your new seasonal items.
You can also promote these seasonal dishes through social media and email campaigns to generate some buzz and attract attention. Take a look at Kol as an example.
On their Instagram, they post updates about their seasonal menu items with high-quality, mouth-watering images to showcase the food:
3 examples of restaurants with seasonal menus
Curious to see how other restaurants are using seasonal menus to their advantage? Here are a few examples.
How Petersham Nurseries reaches a wider audience by hosting seasonal workshops
Petersham Nurseries is a greenhouse restaurant that prioritises home-grown and seasonal food on its menus. The restaurant even has a Michelin Green Star as a testament to its commitment to sustainability.
On top of their dedication to sustainability and constantly changing seasonal menus, they also host seasonal workshops to reach a wider audience. For example, an Autumn Fermentation Workshop.
During the workshop, guests harvest ingredients from the Petersham garden to make fabulous ferments. It’s a great way for the restaurant to appeal to a wider audience, and generate interest in the restaurant.
How Fernery improves sustainability with a seasonal menu
Fernery is a restaurant based in Pembrokeshire, serving elegant, natural, and refined food from its kitchen gardens and local suppliers.
Here’s how Fernery improves its sustainability with seasonal ingredients:
- Harvesting ingredients from its kitchen gardens, including fruit, vegetables, and herbs year-round. Douglas Balish, the Executive Chef at Fernery, works closely with the Grove of Narberth gardening team to plan seasonal menus.
- Partnering with environmentally-conscious local suppliers, like fish and oyster suppliers working out of nearby harbours. These fishermen provide Fernery with sustainable, line-caught sea bass.
By focusing on increasing sustainability with seasonal ingredients, Fernery has established itself as a restaurant that cares about the environment and its local community. This builds trust with diners, encouraging repeat customers and increasing restaurant sales.
How Academy enhances food quality with seasonal ingredients
The Academy is a unique restaurant located within Ulster University. It’s a state-of-the-art educational centre incorporating a restaurant, culinary school, and beverage school for students to learn the ropes in a hands-on environment.
One of its key priorities is showcasing an environmentally sustainable approach to hospitality while maintaining food quality. The menus change regularly to reflect the season, but the quality of food remains top-quality. The combination of sustainability and quality is one of the reasons the restaurant has been so successful.
The restaurant also works with local suppliers, with a strong focus on supporting local economic, social, and cultural development.
The use of these seasonal ingredients and sustainable practices has earned Academy Restaurant the Green Key certificate — an award for its commitment to sustainability and protecting the environment. It’s the first restaurant in the UK and Ireland to receive it.
How to build your own seasonal menu
If you’re interested in building your own seasonal menu, here are some quick tips to get started:
- Find what’s in season. Keep up to date on which ingredients are in season throughout the year. Take a look at sites like The British Dietetic Association (BDA) and The Vegetarian Society for a full list of seasonal fruit and veg that’s grown in the UK.
- Source from local farmers and suppliers. Find local suppliers and farmers that can provide you with seasonal ingredients throughout the year. Visit local farmer’s markets, network with other restaurants, and join farm-to-table initiatives to connect with farmers in your area.
- Involve your staff. Get input from your team on ways to use seasonal items in your menu. Have a collaborative brainstorming session or do some recipe development workshops to let staff taste new menu items and provide feedback.
- Promote your seasonal menu on social media. Generate some buzz and excitement about your new seasonal menu by posting on social media. Provide followers with a glimpse into new ingredients that are coming into season and share updates about new menu items.
- Create a holiday menu. Research what’s in season during the holiday months and create a menu around these items. It’s a great way to attract diners but still ensure you use local, sustainable produce.
- Pair your dishes with seasonal drinks. Seasonality doesn’t just apply to food items! Create some seasonal drinks to maximise produce and make interesting beverages for your diners. For example, a summer berry mojito or spiced pumpkin martini. 🍸
Some food for thought 🤔 Using seasonal ingredients is only worthwhile if your menu is profitable. Use the menu engineering process to break down every item on a menu to determine exactly how much it costs to create each dish.
Nory’s smart engineering can help you with this. Our AI-powered system can automatically track the cost of each dish, ensuring you remain profitable throughout the menu engineering process.
Use Nory to create seasonal and profitable menus
Seasonal menus are good for business. They can reduce costs, boost profits, enhance food quality, and help your restaurant become more environmentally friendly. By aligning your menus with the natural cycles of the seasons, you can offer a better dining experience that increases your bottom line.
To ensure seasonal ingredients and new menus are profitable, use Nory to track prices and costs in real-time. Break down menu items by ingredients to see your exact profit margins. Reach out to the team today for a demo!
FAQs about restaurants with seasonal menus
What does seasonal mean in a restaurant?
In a restaurant, ‘seasonal’ refers to using ingredients that align with the current time of year. For example, using artichokes in the spring and sprouts in the winter.
How would you describe a seasonal menu?
A seasonal menu is a selection of dishes that change throughout the year based on which ingredients are in season. It allows restaurants to serve the freshest produce with the best flavour, which improves the customer experience.
How does seasonality affect the menu?
Seasonality determines which ingredients are featured on your menu. You continually adjust your menu items to incorporate the freshest, in-season produce. This ensures that your dishes have the highest quality ingredients with the best flavour.
Why should menus be changed on a seasonal basis?
Seasonal menus provide a lot of benefits. It allows you to reduce costs, increase profits, and support local farmers, be more sustainable, and enhance food quality for your diners. It also encourages chefs to create innovative and fresh menu items, which is good for morale and it keeps things interesting for customers.
