Your juicing business menu isn’t always going to be about tasting great…even though that is a significant factor. You also have to think about the cost and production efficiency, combinations, and inter-relationships of juice, storage implications, and spectrum of taste.
There is a lot to think about when you are designing your Juicing Business Menu. So let’s dive into the practicalities you need to address.
Cost efficiency
You want to make sure your juices are not costing more than 30% of what you are charging. It is better to get them down to 20%. There are plenty of online calculators you can access to cost your juice, as long as you know the wholesale cost, your juicer’s yield, and the amount you will need in an individual drink.
A great way to keep costs down is by using high-yield vegetables such as cucumbers, celery, fennel, or tomatoes as the base of your juice. These vegetables are often in abundance, cheap, and produce a lot of juice for the amount.
If you have three to four base ingredients for your juices, it reduces wholesale costs and gives you more buying power. The larger quantity you buy, the less you pay. Having base ingredients also saves you labor and time.
The Spectrum of Flavours and Taste
Make sure you offer a variety of colors and flavors. You will have various customers, and you will need to serve no sugar, all green, and bitter juices for hardcore enthusiasts. But you will also need some sweetness on the menu for the less serious juicers who are just starting on their juicing journey.
A great way to start the experimentation process is to make your base juice then experiment with sweet, sour, roots, herbaceous and spicy tastes to suit. Focus on your customers and what they will be willing to try.
Amount of items
Don’t make your customers overwhelmed. They end up feeling like they should have chosen something else, and this can be off-putting. Also, when you have too many items, your inventory grows. This puts you at risk of your produce spoiling and your costs rising.
Consider between 6-12 juices. This allows you to cater to the different types of juice drinkers – from hardcore to sweet tooths. It’s a fact that 80% of your customers will only buy 20% of your menu. Don’t waste precious food, energy, and time with an extensive menu selection.
You can also consider making small food items or outsource the making of a few food items such as salads or wraps. This is because most people eat three times a day but only drink juice once a day. Make it easy and be the place they can pick up a healthy juice and snack to have on the go.
Inter-relationship between all the ingredients
The inter-relationship and combinations of fruit and vegetables are essential, and if you are a Health Coach and Certified Juice Therapist, you are a step ahead of everyone else.
Knowing the variety of health benefits secreted away in the individual pieces of produce gives you the power to develop spectacular combinations that taste great and increase your customers’ health and well-being.
Special Ingredients
For variety, you can have one or two unique ingredients to introduce to your customers. This adds intrigue and exclusivity to your product. Consider natural supplements discovered to have exclusive health benefits through your studies as a Certified Juice Therapist or Health Coach. You can also put in different fruits or vegetables that aren’t used in the more traditional juices – as long as they have fantastic health benefits and enhance the taste.
When you implement these products, you become the expert and the go-to person who knows everything about these unique ingredients. They should only take up 20% of your menu and considered an area of growth to enhance the juice.
Production implications
When designing your juicing business menu, you need to consider how labor-intensive the produce is to prepare. Sometimes it is worth it, but you might be able to find something with a similar taste but less labor-intensive. Make sure your menu is easy to produce, and you use base ingredients to decrease production issues.
Naming your drinks
Naming is super important. Keep the customer in mind – they have two primary questions. What does this juice taste like, and what are the health benefits? You can accomplish both of these questions in the name. Take your time designing the names because they can be some of your best marketing materials.
Intelligently design a menu board
Ensure you know where the customer is standing when they come into your shop or close to your van’s counter. Make sure the letters are large enough for most people to read the menu.
Guide the customer in a specific direction at your shop or van. Have specials, highlight particular items, most popular section, staff favorites. If done correctly, it is a way to create controls over your inventory.
The most important part of a menu board – ensure you can update it easily. A standard option is to use a chalkboard or stencil letters on a laminate board. There are many creative ways to do this. But make sure you can change the menu quickly, particularly if you have seasonal fluctuations in price and have to change your menu.
Making sure you have the right menu for your juicing business is essential. Please don’t skimp on the time and detail it takes to make sure you have the right menu for your customers AND to generate a profit. Start small with fewer juices, and then you can expand as your reputation for quality juice grows.
