Our Soup….Your Sandwich

Yesterday I wrote a post about the negative effect the number of brown baggers is having on lunch at restaurants all over North America.

I included a couple of ideas for independents, one of which was admittedly ‘tacky’ as one of my readers called it. I’m referring to the idea of actually serving a lunch special, that you might call the “brown bag special” in some form of glorified or exaggerated brown bag at the table….just as an eye-catching concept. I was trying to have a bit of fun with this idea of “brown bagging it”.

OK, I admit, it might seem a bit odd, if not genuinely tacky. Heck, I’m just trying to help out here.

However, Len Hansen, (http://www.lenhansen.com) had a couple of really great ideas, that put that tacky one of mine to shame.

”…If the restaurant can handle a faster turnover while, perhaps, more customers are brown-bagging it at work, I suggest "hit it where they ain't." There are two meal items that may not do well in a brown bag…beverage and dessert, both high margin items for the restaurant.

If the restaurant has the brown bag challenge, I suggest welcoming patrons to bring their sandwich from home (in a brown bag, of course) "if" they buy a beverage and dessert at the restaurant. The sale has a much lower product cost than, say, a sandwich with the "fixin's" and makes for easier and quicker service (which means it is possible to turn the tables more quickly). The net profit per patron may actually be higher than a traditional lunch, plus allow, perhaps, two sittings per hour during the lunch day part (11:30 to 1:30 p.m.).”

(This concept will only work in outlets that can carry that image. If you are a white table cloth, upscale, or haute cuisine outlet, I would not recommend this one.)

”…As an alternative, a restaurant could offer "our soup, your sandwich" as a balanced meal, of course, together with the beverage.

Hot soup also doesn't do well in a brown bag.

Early morning work in the kitchen would include preparing today's "fresh" soup (one or two choices), set for easy ladling into a bowl within a minute of the order. Based on volume, the net margin on soup can also be a winner, and it combines with the high margin on beverages (coffee, tea, sodas, beer and wine), and is, again, customer responsive and a quick and easy serve…”

Give Len's idea a try. These days, you've got nothing to lose, everything to gain.

(If you don't like these ideas…take a look at the comments below)…