Winter Comfort Food
Your restaurant needs to focus on food that is popular not only for your region, but also for the weather. This means as the temperature starts to drop, you want to incorporate winter comfort food into your menu. There is no reason to create an entirely new menu – you can always add specials for the day.
Soup & Sandwich
Particularly for lunch, the soup and sandwich, or soup and salad, is a great combination. A hot soup may be just what is needed to warm the spirits of your customers for the day. Some of the most popular soups to have during the winter include tomato bisque as well as chicken and wild rice. This is when you may also want to pay attention to your region and choose something that is especially popular.
Casseroles
This is the time of year where people look forward to different casseroles. While this may sound like a pretty straightforward meal, there are restaurants all over the country that are putting their own twist on what would be an ordinary casserole. Think about using different vegetables, such as Swiss chard. You may also want to create aromatic gravies and use fresh herbs in order to change up the flavor profile and make something that is unique for your restaurant – and create a new winter comfort food that guests will love.
Gnocchi
You may want to add an Italian comfort food to your daily specials as well. Instead of choosing pasta like so many other restaurants, consider offering gnocchi, which is made out of potato. What you serve all along with the gnocchi is entirely up to you, and can range from mushrooms to sausage, depending upon whether you want to make vegetarian or not.
Macaroni & Cheese
Everyone loves a good serving of macaroni and cheese, and you can choose to put your unique spin on it. Maybe you choose to make it with different types of gourmet cheeses, such as gouda or aged cheddar. You can also add a variety of different proteins on top, including bacon, lobster, chicken, or anything else. Get creative and people may enjoy the special so much that you decide to add it to your permanent menu.
Lasagna
It doesn’t matter whether your restaurant is Italian or not. You want to focus on winter comfort food that people are going to want to order as a way of staying warm. You can choose to incorporate all sorts of delicious ingredients into the lasagna so that you can make it your own. You may want to create something that is vegetarian, Mexican, or even Indian. It’s also possible to make it entirely vegetarian, using such ingredients as lasagna, eggplant, and spinach.
Once you decide some of the additions you want to add to your menu, market on social media as well as through local sources so that people have another reason to come into your restaurant throughout the colder weather.
