Food

Many small shops in the catering business got their start in the home, or in a shared commissary kitchen. First jobs were small parties for friends… and then the small jobs turned into bigger and bigger ones.

At a certain point in every catering company’s growth, it’s time to reassess your catering equipment. We’re not talking about chafing dishes and induction cooktops, but rather the commercial kitchen appliances that do the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

If you’re looking for ways to make your operations more efficient by increasing batch sizes, speeding prep time, and cutting food waste, Hamilton Beach Commercial equipment can make it happen.

Most menu optimization advice focuses on paring down your offerings to what’s most popular and most profitable. For example, a TURF (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency) analysis can identify the core essentials: that is, the shortest possible list of items needed to satisfy the vast majority of customers.

But you shouldn’t neglect the second step: expanding the menu to include innovative new dishes. These creative approaches can help you start thinking about how to shake things up — successfully — in the year to come.