Leaves are falling, the temperatures are dropping and people are searching for autumn-themed foods and drinks to satisfy their cravings.
There is something about a chilly autumn day that makes you instantly hungry for good seasonal food.
Why not attract autumn food lovers by adding some delicious new dishes to your menu? Not to mention, ingredients tend to be cheaper when they are in season, so you will increase your profit with a small change.
As such, here are some amazing autumn menu ideas for restaurants to try.
Shine with your drink menu
Autumn is the time diners are searching for cosy drinks and also fun season-inspired twists.
Your drink menu is a great easy way to make your restaurant an autumn-friendly hot spot as it can be much easier to implement new seasonal ingredients to drinks and offer a wider variety of seasonal options.
In addition, promote your seasonal drink menu by mentioning great dish pairings to accompany the drinks and again make the most of garnishing to make your drinks beautifully seasonal and impossible for diners not to share.
Use all varieties of potato
Who does not love potatoes? They can be cooked in so many ways – fried, boiled, baked, and never disappoint.
While potato is a cheap ingredient, with some added fat (butter, cheese, oil) and condiments, it transforms into a portion of decadent comfort food.
This season, go a little further and add some colour to your menu items by using all the varieties: russet, red, yellow, white, and purple.
Do not forget about its cousin, the sweet potato.
Play around with soup
Because autumn often comes with changeable weather and chilly days, it is also the perfect season to offer your diners soups with local seasonal ingredients.
You can always rely on classic pumpkin, mushroom, or butternut squash soups which offer a delicious, hot, cosy taste to diners, and any extra little unique restaurant touch makes all the difference.
While going classic is simple and great, finding unique twists to add to your soups and spice them up can be appealing to guests and make your menu stand out from the rest.
In addition, soups are a great menu item to have during autumn as it is a menu item suitable for many and can easily pair well with other menu items.
Soups can be offered as a vegetarian item as they often do not require meat to be delicious, and they also work well for kids or sometimes picky eaters.
Embrace the pumpkin
Pumpkin is the best-known ingredient associated with autumn, and the great thing is that it goes with pretty much everything.
It can be a savoury dish, an entrée, pastry, bread, dessert or drink.
Whatever your restaurant’s cuisine is, it will be easy to incorporate pumpkin into a few menu items.
Also, embrace eggplant and squash
Pumpkins are a universal seasonal vegetable, but they are not the only autumn food flavour around.
Eggplant is an autumn vegetable that is extremely versatile and can find its way into almost any dish.
Squashes can also be spiced up in any number of ways to enhance your menu. These ingredients can give your menu that seasonal twist, without having to radically change your dishes.