Desserts are the perfect end to a great meal. Well, not just meals actually. They are known to have a very versatile reputation and flirt with every other main course or snack you may have on your plate. This means that a dessert menu need not be restricted to a full-fledged restaurant but can also be served in a QSR or a cafe. Cafes certainly ring a bell, don’t they? The doughnut and coffee combo is classic!

Desserts have a tendency to induce a ‘special’ feeling in your customers. Scientifically speaking, they release serotonin, the feel-good hormone in your body. The feeling one gets when having desserts has been attributed to the same feeling one gets when they fall in love. Now, that says something!… Now, since you need to make those customers fall in love with you, so how can desserts not feature on your menu. Skipping them from your menu board in the cafe means skipping profits and you don’t want to do that, do you? Here are some ways in which you can play with your dessert menu to get those people flocking right in.

Amazing Ways To Play With Your Dessert Menu:

Go fancy

There is absolutely nothing more appealing to the eye than a large waffle topped with whipped cream, M&Ms and chocolate syrup coming your way. It might sound a lot of work, but it isn’t. You simply need to put in toppings sensibly. Don’t go overboard with putting everything there is in your ‘frozen’ department.

Mix and match some ingredients and you might end up with a ‘Sippy Whippy Monster’ that has an aerated drink topped with butterscotch ice-cream and caramel dipped almond shavings on top. Add a cherry, and you have a spectacular sight and irresistible taste to offer your customers.

All you need to know is the art of mixing existing ingredients to make something big and unique. Give it a quirky name, combine it with two cups of espresso and voila, you are ready to rock!

Get the sweet sandwiches rolling

Aha! Here is an incredible trick to include sweetness into your existing menu. If you don’t want to make an effort of introducing a whole new dish to your current menu, why not change one of the existing offerings into a sweet one?

For instance, if you serve a bland cheese sandwich as the simplest item in your menu, why not add something as simple as a Nutella or pineapple here and change it to ‘Choc-o-cheese sandwich’ or ‘Pineapple n Cheese sandwich’? This way, by simply adding an ingredient to an existing food item, you can get your profits soaring!

All you need to do here is add an extra ingredient to your restaurant software inventory and you’re done! It is as simple as that. Then you need to promote it before you see people crowding your cafe to sample this apparently ‘new’ food item.

Teeny-weeny delights

Yes, we know about the doughnut and cupcakes already but can we give these regular items a little twist to make something unique? Don’t play with ingredients here but change the size. Mini doughnuts, pastries and cupcakes are extremely cute looking and hard to resist. Having these tiny desserts in your menu will help your profits in more ways than you can imagine.

Firstly, they will be attractive to customers because of the price point. They will be cheaper as compared to normal sized or bigger desserts on the list. Secondly, they will not be heavy on the tummy and are an exceptional choice for someone who is only looking to add a hint of sweet with or after their coffee and sandwiches. Last but not the least, dieters are your biggest target here. You are giving calorie conscious people an option when they otherwise would never have ordered any dessert from your cafe. Easy to capture now? Pretty much.

Make your own sweet dream

Save yourself from the hassle of figuring out what people like. Yes, this is possible. If desserts have never been your forte or have been missing altogether from your cafe menu, this is the safest bet.

Put a separate counter filled with various ice creams, whipped cream, jujubes, M&Ms, jelly, macaroons, flavored yogurt, waffles, the works. Let people build their dream dessert! Costing can vary depending on the ingredients and size of the cup they choose.

This will do two things for you; save you the hassle of choosing the ingredients while making customers feel extremely creative and special for being able to build their unique dessert. Brownie points all the way!

No matter which route you choose to take, one thing is certain; desserts can’t be left out. They are the heart and soul of every meal, and most people will definitely go for one. It is particularly the case if you know the art of up-selling them and targeting the right set of customers for the right kind of dessert combos.

Always remember one thing, “There’s always room for dessert.”