Exciting spring menu ideas to revamp your restaurant
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Springtime is a time of rebirth and fresh starts. The memories of winter are fading and the warmer part of the year is really getting started. People are generally more inclined to start getting outside and doing things with friends and family. Calling all business owners: Use this time to stand out from the crowd with a new marketing campaign and some spring menu ideas.
In this article we’ll take a look at some simple menu updates that can add a bit of zest during this positive time of year. Leaning into the freshness of spring provides a world of opportunities to include new ingredients, revamp your menu, and please palates for regular and new customers alike.
There’s ample reason to adapt your menu to fit with seasonal changes, and sales can increase as a result. Why? Let’s discuss below, and then jump into menu ideas that can work well.
Why update a menu for spring?
In addition to tradition—spring cleaning, out with the old, in with the new, and so on—a new season gives you an opportunity to try out new dishes, incorporate seasonal foods, and let your chefs’ creativity shine. Updating your menu can improve both customer and employee engagement, since everyone gets bored seeing the same old thing day in, day out.
But going seasonal has measurable benefits in addition to the intangibles. For example, 59% of diners noted that they’d be more likely to purchase a menu item that’s described as “seasonal,” while 49% said seasonal menu items are more appealing and another 39% said seasonal foods are healthier. So, describing your foods as seasonal—and meaning it—can have real appeal.
Additionally, using seasonal ingredients can help keep costs down since what’s currently in season is almost always cheaper than buying imported or out-of-season ingredients. Fresh food tastes good, and the abundance that spring brings provides all sorts of options.
Updating for spring also gives restaurant owners the opportunity to take advantage of any food trends that are popular or growing in your area. We’ve discussed the benefits of offering a seasonal menu before, and the flexibility to adapt to trends is a major net positive.
How to offer a seasonal spring menu
When you’re creating a seasonal menu, there are two ways forward. The first and most common method is to maintain your core menu while either swapping out some items for new dishes or having a spring menu in addition to a core menu that diners know and feel comfortable with.
The other option is to create a brand new menu for spring and ditch your old recipes entirely. Which route you choose depends on your ethos and audience. Fine dining restaurants are better served by using an entirely new menu, since originality and inventiveness are the name of the game in fine dining.
Another option is to have a rotating cast of specials based on high-quality and abundant produce. Got a bumper crop of artichokes you can purchase at a low cost? Go all-out and make artichokes a key player in your menu while supplies last. You can do the same with other springtime vegetables. Creativity is key, so make sure your chefs get a significant say in what your kitchen cooks up.
Spring menu ideas
As a first step, pick a cornerstone flavor profile that fits the season, like herbs, citrus, vibrant spices, and subtle flavors rather than the predominantly earthy flavors of winter cuisine. Look to light, fresh, crisp, and refreshing flavors like buttery scallops paired with white wine or salads with fresh spring greens. Fusion concepts can make a splash in spring, like herby Vietnamese cuisine or spice-forward Thai flavors. Naturally, what you serve should be in line with the genre of cuisine you specialize in, but fusing culinary traditions leads to unique and imaginative dishes that’ll make customers turn their heads and pay attention.
Now that we’ve got our taste buds fired up, let’s look at some menu ideas.
Brunch
As the days get brighter and longer, people are more inclined to enjoy lazy mornings in bed followed by a good brunch at their local restaurant. They may even opt for takeout delivered straight to them so they don’t have to lift a finger and still enjoy a meal from a restaurant.
After skipping breakfast, your diners will be craving something substantial. Focus on farm-fresh spring ingredients that just came in season, adding roasted asparagus, zucchini, leeks, feta cheese, and pesto made with fresh herbs to omelettes or hashes. Add luscious strawberries and rich ricotta to pancakes and make your fruit cup spring-friendly with kiwi and banana.
Smoothie bowls, poké bowls, and other healthy options are popular items and safe bets to place on a menu, as they’re fresh by definition.
For ritzier breakfasts, consider adding caviar to your offerings, as it’s one of the top food trends in 2024. If you’re offering caviar, you’ll most certainly want to offer champagne or Bellinis as well, as they’re classic and classy brunch offerings.
Salad
Since spring is the season of fresh produce and warmer weather, it’s the time of year where you can go wild with salad recipes. A good spring salad should take full advantage of the in-season veggies to create a current dish.
Source the most crispy lettuce you can find and mix in arugula or cilantro for a bit of kick. A chicken salad with a lemony dressing works great as a filling main meal. Don’t forget your vegetarian clientele as well. A traditional Greek salad mixed with olive oil and sprinkled with feta cheese is always a winner. A zippy asparagus salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and radishes can also be a hit with vegetarians and carnivores alike.
There are plenty of other seasonal ingredients that uplift salads in the springtime. Spring means you have the option to add fresh and local ingredients such as radishes, watercress, spinach, apples, strawberries, kiwi, avocado, rhubarb, green beans, peas, celery, mushrooms, lemon juice, and lots more. Try giving hungry diners the option to add more filling ingredients to salads such as chickpeas and goat cheese. Spring is also the perfect opportunity to add a new salad dressing to your rotation, like a strawberry basil vinaigrette or a Meyer lemon, parmesan, and poppyseed dressing.
Salad isn’t limited to greenery, either. Pasta salads and spring are practically synonymous in many places. The pasta salad world is a diverse and vibrant one. Fusilli pasta with red onions, spring peas, arugula, olive oil, and lemon? Get at it! If it works for a salad, it’ll work as a pasta salad, too. As pasta salads are served cold, they can be made in large quantities in advance, which is perfect for catering dinner parties or large gatherings.
In your weeknight dinner menu, lunchtime salads can be served smaller as an appetizer or side dish. This spring menu idea will reduce your chances of throwing out fresh spring vegetables.
Dinner
When you’re thinking up spring dinner ideas, keep this question in mind: “What would I like to eat while dining al fresco with friends and family as the sun sets?” Yes, this notion may be a bit romantic for everyday dining, but it’s the norm in many parts of the world. Look to Italian tendencies for al fresco dining and you’ll get some ideas. The mantra of spring dinner recipes should be fresh, fresh, and fresh.
That doesn’t mean they all need to be light, however. Not everyone wants to be on a restricted calorie diet, so make sure to offer opportunities for customers to leave with full bellies.
A classic example would be a roast spring chicken with a Dijon mustard glaze, served with crusty bread or risotto and a fresh fennel salad. You can play a lot with pasta recipes during the spring as well, from classic penne arrabbiata to garlic parmesan orzo. If you really want to go all-out on pasta, making Bologna-style tortellini in brodo (in broth) can set you apart from the competition since it’s a dish not commonly found in the U.S.
Asian flavors can make a splash in the spring as well, like a classic stir-fry. Stir-fries can be exceptionally versatile because they’re fast to make and can be suited to each customer. Wok operators in Thailand, for example, can churn out an amazingly large variety of individual dishes in minutes flat due to their mise en place, variety of ingredients and flavorings, and the fast cooking technique due to high heat being applied to the pan.
This one-pan (or should we say one-wok) recipe gives your chef free rein to be as creative as they like with their farmers market-sourced vegetables. Add vegetables such as scallions, shallots, snap peas, cabbage, zucchini, and mushrooms to a hot wok and cook quickly. This spring dinner idea gives you the option to serve with rice or noodles. A stir-fry is an easy menu item that helps out a struggling kitchen on a busy weeknight.
Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention and strongly suggest tacos if they’re at all congruous with your restaurant’s offerings.
Spring marketing ideas
Designing a fresh menu can do wonders, but you’ll need some spring marketing ideas if you want people to actually come in to try it. We’ll share some no-fuss methods to take your promotion ideas to the next level, so you can get those potential customers through your front door.
Promoting your restaurant with a solid marketing strategy is something you should be doing throughout the year. But spring is the perfect time to come up with a new marketing plan as the seasons change and you implement a refreshed menu. Read on for promotional tips and spring-themed marketing opportunities.
Spring sales
From big spenders to penny pinchers, everyone loves a good bargain. By using social media to build up hype to share your new spring menu ideas, you can release deals on the first day of spring. Make sure that your marketing materials include the spring theme and give potential customers incentives with an expiration date. This will create a sense of excitement that can make diners want to rush to your spot.
You can create giveaways by giving customers exclusive coupons that could give them free drinks when eating new dishes full of spring produce on certain weeknights. Also, don’t shy away from some of the classic offers. You can rebrand BOGO and Happy Hour deals to coincide with the spring season.
Social media
A solid spring marketing campaign starts and ends with well-thought-out social media posts. Your followers already have a vested interest in your brand, so the ball is in your court. Now, all you have to do is make promotional posts that are relevant to the spring holidays.
You could create Easter egg hunts for the kids, mention that your patio is the perfect place to celebrate more light for Daylight Saving Time, give away a prime Easter brunch reservation, or host a photo competition for all the spring blooms. Create a spring-centric hashtag and ask your followers to use it to enter, like #SpringAtSallysDiner.
Try out TikTok and Instagram Reels if you haven’t yet. Short videos under one minute perform the best on social media. Maybe you highlight your new spring dishes, show the blooms bursting forth around your restaurant, or feature all your restaurant neighbors in a sunshine-filled collaboration video to boost foot traffic for all. TikTok users love authentic or funny content from small businesses and often eat it right up.
Email marketing
Far from an outdated marketing method, email is on your customer’s minds: “99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking 20 times a day,” according to HubSpot.
Take advantage of that captive attention by offering subscribers an incentive such as $10 off their next order or free kids meals during your local school district’s spring break. You could use this spring marketing strategy to let your subscribers know about an upcoming Mother’s Day promotion, offering attractive deals for early bookings.
Email marketing gives you a chance to promote your new spring menu ideas with customers who have already indicated their interest by opting in to your list. Unlike Twitter, there’s no character limits and unlike Instagram, you can fill your email full of backlinks to your website. Revive that stagnant email list today.
Spring into action
Sometimes working in the same four walls can get quite tiring. We all need to press the reset button sometimes. Using the spring as an excuse to breathe new life into your restaurant could do wonders for you, your staff, and your guests.
If you really want to start fresh this springtime, you can gain better control of your front-of-house (FOH) by trying out Yelp Guest Manager. It allows you to handle reservations, let customers check themselves in during busy periods, plan custom floor plans, and much more. Upgrading your software helps your staff do their best jobs and puts a pep in their step, just like extra sunshine. Customers will take note, too: Restaurants that start using Guest Manager experience up to 2X the traffic on their Yelp Business Page.*
Looking to upgrade your FOH as well as your menu for the spring? Look no further—you’re already here! Reach out to us for a free demo and we’ll get you going in the right direction. With a dedicated onboarding manager on call to help you with the learning curve, you’ll hit the ground running and get that fresh feeling in software as well as your kitchen. It’s a good feeling, we promise.