Hey, I'm Sean from Open Pantry Company and this is the prep list.

Your 10 minute or just under 10 minute Monday hit of hospitality thinking to help you start the week with a sharper mindset and a better plan.

Each episode we hit on four key points.

One trend that I'm seeing across venues that's working right now, one tool or system that's actually working for hospitality venues as well, one operator that is worth learning from, and one powerful question to take to your team meeting this week.

If you run a venue or lead a team, I know you're flat out.

This podcast is here to cut through the noise.

No fluff, just useful ideas you can actually do something with.

So the first one the Trend to Watch Smaller Menus, Bigger Margins There's a notable shift happening in hospitality and it's been driven by cost pressures, staffing gaps and a renewed focus on quality.

Menus are getting smaller.

Not to a defeatist way, but a strategic one.

A piece I read recently from late 2023 on the ABC pointed out how more and more restaurants and cafes across Australia are trimming their offerings on their menu.

Not because they're giving up, because they're zeroing in.

Smaller menus give you less waste, better consistency, easier onboarding of staff, and many more things.

Even thinking about quicker prep times, ultimately they give you stronger margins.

So think about it like this.

Every extra menu item is a decision, a training requirement and a supply chain dependency.

If it's not pulling its weight, then why keep it?

When we help clients review their menus, we often are able to simplify by FIL 15 to 20% without compromising on customer satisfaction.

In fact, customers usually order more confidently and spend a bit more as well.

So this week, maybe ask yourself, what's the real cost of carrying too many items on your menu?

Number two the tool to test for this week?

Automated recipe costings.

This ties straight back into the trend because tighter menus only work if numbers are also tight.

If you don't have recipe costs properly documented, or if that's in some spreadsheet from 2021, this is a good time to level up.

There are some great tools out there like Cook in the Books, Restoke Loaded that all make recipe costing way easier.

You basically build out your dishes, plugging in supplier prices, option sizes, yields, and they give you a clean, trackable food cost data in real time.

And here's the kicker with this tech, once you've got accurate costing, you can start making smarter decisions like raising prices on underperformers, spotting waste within inside Your brand, adjusting those portion sizes and empowering your kitchen team to actually hit their targets.

One cafe that we've worked with went from guessing their margins to being able to report by the dish.

They found one popular item was actually losing the money and another wasn't as popular, but had an excellent margin.

Now, the top sellers are aligned with their top margin items, so don't sleep on this.

Margin is a mindset, but it starts with visibility in your brand number.

Number three, the operator move.

Don's in Paran in Melbourne, owning the small menu.

They've absolutely nailed the smaller menu, bigger impact model.

A conscious lift of dishes executed consistently and delivered with total clarity.

Recently had a great chat with Alex Gavioli, who runs Don's and Cordelia, which is a new venue in Carlton, for the debut episode of our new podcast, the Ingredients.

Yes, that's right.

We've got another podcast as well.

It drops on July 30th.

And it's all about the thinking behind great venues.

One thing I took away from that conversation was this.

When your team has fewer items to focus on, they can actually shine.

Although it wasn't a direct quote from Alex, but it definitely was the vibe at Don's.

The menu isn't bloated, it's confident.

Every dish earns its place, and because of that, service is fast, the kitchen runs tight, and the guest experience feels dialled in.

It's a venue that knows what it is and it doesn't apologize for it.

Small menu, big confidence.

That's a margin mindset in action.

So, number four, the team question for the week.

Here's the question I want you to take to your team this week.

Which three menu items give us 80% of our margin?

Don't worry about getting the maths perfect.

This is about sparking conversation within your team, not building a P and L. You might be surprised with what comes up.

A sleeper dish that everyone loves and is cheap to make.

Or a hero product that feels important, but benefits barely breaks even.

How about a popular special that actually is the most profitable thing on your menu?

Once you've named the top three, follow it up with this.

How do we sell more of them or design the rest of our service to support them better?

This kind of thinking turns your menu into a business tool, not a list of food.

And that's it for the prep list for this week.

Thank you for joining me for episode two.

And if this gave you something to think about or sparked a new question, flick it to someone in the industry who you think would get value from this.

And if you're curious about the thinking behind great venues, don't forget to check out our new podcast, the ingredients, launching July 30 with a conversation from inside Dons in Prahran.

Thanks again for listening.

I'll see you next Monday for another round of the prep list.