Tips to Upgrade the Dishes and Customer Satisfaction in Your Restaurant

If you run a food business, even if your customers generally love your food and what you have on offer, there is always room for improvement and always more that you can do to ensure that your restaurant excels both now and in the future. Then, rather than being complacent about how your food tastes, here is a guide that can help you to upgrade this extremely important aspect of your business.

Train Staff

Although your staff might have a lot of experience and be excellent cooks, this does not mean that they can start work with you without any training. Every chef has a different background, and they might not even have cooked the type of dishes you want from them before. This means that it is important that you offer them training and even think about sending them away on external courses to ensure that your dishes are always at a high standard. This training should not stop the moment that they enter your kitchen, though. You should consider buddying them up with a mentor figure who can help them excel, and you should consider providing training days throughout their time with you to allow them to maintain and spruce up their skill set.

Focus on Presentation

Although presentation might not impact the taste of your dishes that much unless the elements of the meal are left to mix with each other, it can influence how customers perceive your meals. You might find that they subconsciously find your dishes tastier if you can present them well. You should be careful about how you plate up your food and ensure that there is a standardized way for your staff to do this rather than just dumping each element of the meal on top of each other. You might also choose to add garnishes and salad on the side to give your meals that extra flourish.

Get the Food Out Quickly

Your chef might have cooked the meal to perfection. However, if it is left out on the counter for a long time, it might start to go cold and congeal. This can affect the flavor and can leave your hungry customers annoyed and dissatisfied. This can also increase your restaurant’s waste as you might have to cook them a whole new meal. You should try to get your food out as quickly as you can by ensuring that you have enough staff on hand at any one time and by checking that they are trained to handle busy periods. You should also keep dishes under heat to help them stay warm until they reach your customers’ tables. 

Think About the Containers

You should also think carefully about the containers in which you will be serving your food, as they can also influence the taste of your meals. For instance, if the containers are metal, your dishes and drinks might taste slightly metallic, and if you use cardboard takeaway containers, you might find that your customers notice pieces of soggy paper in their meals. This means you should look around for sturdy and easy-to-clean containers and plates that look good and are extremely functional. =This will ensure that the crockery does not diminish the taste of your dishes that they are served with.

Add Spices

If you are looking to upgrade your dishes and cannot work out what is missing, you should consider what spices you are using in your meals to add to the flavor. Although your meals should not be overwhelmingly spicy, adding subtle secret ingredients can make your meals stand out and keep your customers coming back to your restaurant, and spices are the best way to do this. However, rather than buying small batches of these spices at once, you should consider looking into bulk orders that will allow you to fill your storerooms in an instant. For instance, you can easily order wholesale products such as dried chopped onion on the internet and get these delivered straight to your door. This means that you can always sprinkle a little bit of pizzazz into your dishes.

Think About Complimentary Flavors

When you are trying to upgrade your dishes, you should also think carefully about what flavors complement each other. This can be in the dishes themselves, or you might consider recommending certain sides and drinks to go with specific meals. By focusing on what flavors work well together, you can make matches made in heaven and ensure that your customers can make the most out of the food they are ordering. You should also train your front-of-house team on these pairings to ensure that your guests can get the right recommendations. You might even be able to make this a part of your upselling strategy.

Clean Your Equipment

To check that your meals taste as good as possible and are not tainted by any other substances, it is vital that you clean your equipment, plates, and cutlery thoroughly in-between guests. This will ensure that meals are not contaminated and that your guests do not feel as if they are eating off a dirty dish. Not only this, but if you do not clean or look after your equipment, this can leave a lasting tang on the meals that you are serving, which might be noticeable to your visitors. This means that you should invest in an industrial pot washer for your company, and then task a few employees to polish up your utensils before they make their way to guests.

Use a Food Thermometer

There is nothing worse than serving your customers cold food, especially as this can leave them at risk of food poisoning. This means that you should implement the services of a food thermometer, which you can place into every dish you create to check that it has been cooked all the way through. This is especially important as you cannot always tell when certain meats are cooked, especially if their skin has started to brown.