Transition Your Menu for Autumn: The Autumn Menu Café Guide
Autumn is on the horizon and the UK is already cooling down from a record breaking summer. As the children return back to school and the weather begins to turn, people are looking for slightly cosier corners and more comforting café options. Get ready in advance: get stock on standby and begin transitioning toward your Autumn menu.
3 reasons why you should design an Autumn/winter menu
- Align with changing consumer behaviour
As the weather changes, consumers retreat inside seeking more comforting café items that make them feel warm and cosy
2. Keep customers interested with new menu items
New menu items keep people engaged and interested in your café as you move through the seasons!
3. Match your menu to the food that’s in season
Bringing some seasonality to the menu helps align with consumer expectations of seasonal produce and also helps bring some subtle changes to your bestselling ranges without introducing a whole new menu.
Bestselling autumn/winter café concepts
Adopting bestselling autumn and winter concepts can help reduce the risk of introducing something new on your new Autumn menu. Here are the top bestselling autumn winter café concepts that will keep customers coming back for more!
- Hot chocolate – anything chocolatey is a hit, especially in the cooler weather, right? Great for takeaway and also eating in with some good opportunities for upsell with a side of marshmallows. Make sure you have a hot chocolate for the vegans too!
- Waffles – waffles are a very versatile concept. These are really good for adding to nearly every element of your menu. Add to the breakfast menu with a warm berry compote, serve as a desert with cream and toasted marshmallows, and as a snack anytime of the day for a warming treat.
- Soup – serve as a starter or main. Soup is a really simple one to add to the menu. Simply make and keep warm to serve in seconds for a healthy and hearty warmer.
Autumn menu: our top picks
Our top picks for your Autumn menu? Warming, indulgent and comforting, these are our recommendations for a winning autumn menu.
- Dairy and vegan chocolait hot chocolate stirrers
For the dairy lovers, we suggest incorporating a DIY hot chocolate – you serve hot frothy milk and a hot chocolate stirrer, they watch as magic happens while the ganache centre gently melts until the milk becomes hot chocolate. The ganache centres in our most premium Choc-o-Lait sticks give a rich swirl of ganache through the centre for an ultimate indulgent experience
2. Belgian liege waffle dough
We supply authentic, premium waffle dough so you can make thick and fluffy waffles. No batter or powder here, just high quality ingredients combined in a brioche-like yeast dough and studded with pearl sugar for a crispy sweet finish!
3. Organic soup:
- Tomato, one of the nation’s most popular tomato soup flavour. We have added Kale and spinach in ours for something different!
- Honey Glazed Root Vegetables – a sweet yet savoury blend of seasonal root vegetables blended with a generous serving of honey and garlic.
- Spiced lentil Dahl – a hearty mix of lentils, carlin peas and warming vegetables.
Other menu swaps:
- Reducing your smoothies back to the bestsellers and add in a seasonal flavour. We suggest one of the earthy berry ones like Ginger Beets or Acai Kick, or go for a veggie one with our Super Green Super Smoothie.
- Swap ice cream queues for ice cream on the side of warm desserts!
When to buy in Autumn stock
when creating a new menu or switching up to an Autumn menu, it’s always best to get ahead and secure your stock on standby for the weather changes – especially how changeable it is in the UK!
Of course though, this is space permitting. If you’ve still got a lot of stock leftover, make sure you are promoting the summer range on tables, in the window, on the counter and on the walls! If you don’t already have our POS packs, you can add a free promotional pack including posters, table cards and counter cards for most of our products.
The best time to get your café ready for autumn is towards the end of August and early September before the weather has any significant changes. That way you can be reactive with the stock ready to go without waiting for items to be delivered.
How to promote your Autumn café menu
Promoting your new autumn menu is the first step in drawing customers through the door. It’s always best to advertise your new menu ahead of time to maximise excitement and drive footfall. Here are 3 simple steps for how to do this.
Step 1: switch up your menu for autumn and publish online and in house
Step 2: advertise inside and out. Get posters and table cards for the inside and a range of counter material. Then promote from the street with a pavement sign.
Step 3: take it online! Share your new menu items on social media to get your customers excited.
Get Autumn menu ready with Projuice
At Projuice, we offer premium, award winning and sustainably sourced wholesale café concepts. Our vegan, dairy and organic concepts are pre-portioned for speed, serving consistency and to reduce waste – simply blend in seconds and serve! We source the highest quality ingredients including grade A fruit and veg that is individually quickly frozen to pack in the flavour, colour and texture.
Shop our range of autumn/winter concepts for your Autumn and Winter menu online 24/7. We stock wholesale hot chocolate, soup, waffles, smoothies and more!