In the current food service environment, operators are continuing to streamline their menus to reduce labor and food costs. If you’re looking to optimize your own menu, consider focusing on products that you already have on hand - especially ones that can help save on prep time, are popular among guests and can help to boost your bottom line.

When it comes to convenience and cost savings, frozen potato products can’t be beat. Frozen products are easy to prepare and serve without sacrificing that made-from-scratch taste. Fresh-cut fries can be extremely time-consuming for staff, but frozen fries can be simply stored in the freezer and cooked in just minutes as needed. Frozen chips can be prepped in the morning for all day use and frozen mashed potatoes can easily be boiled right in the bag, eliminating waste.

Plus, fries are one of the most popular and profitable items on your menu¹. In fact, for every $2.00 you charge for a side of fries, approximately $1.60 of that contributes to your overall margin¹.

Here are 3 ways you can optimize your menu by focusing on your potatoes:

Use as a base for innovative dishes

When optimizing your menu, focus on ingredients that are a versatile base for endless culinary creations, like fries and potatoes. 75% of consumers are interested in ordering a topped & loaded french fry dish², so use potatoes as a starting point and then load up with popular ingredients you already have in your kitchen such as cheese, bacon, and trending sauces and seasonings such as aioli, Sriracha mayo, Nashville hot, gochujang, and honey. This will allow you to offer topped and loaded fry dishes that keep your customers coming back, like Michelada Shrimp Fries, Ramen Fries, or plant-based Buffalo Cauliflower & Fries.

Use across dayparts

Adding fries, chips, or mashed potatoes to all dayparts can keep your menu fresh and help add a profitable element to more orders, with an item you already have in inventory. For example, fries can be enjoyed for breakfast, like Spicy Mexican Sweet Potato Loaded Breakfast Fries. Breakfast potatoes are ordered by more than a third of away-from-home breakfast buyers³, so take advantage by offering grab-and-go options. Bread can be replaced with fries to create some CrissCut Club Sandwich Sliders for the lunch daypart, and loaded fries can make a great snack or appetizer item.

Takeout and delivery

When streamlining your menu, keep takeout and delivery in mind. Another benefit of including labor-saving frozen potato products on your menu is that coated and battered potatoes can stay hot and crispy during delivery. Frozen-coated can hold their crispiness for up to 30 minutes. Frozen mashed potatoes are also perfect for takeout and delivery and have great reheating capabilities at home.

Content courtesy of Lamb Weston

¹Lamb Weston Proprietary Fry Profitability Study, Technomic, October 2018

²AmpliFRY 2021

³Technomic Returning to the Morning Routine 2021