Restaurants of all shapes and sizes, fine dining to fast casual have taken on dessert options to be shared. Shared plates have been trending for a while, but sweet-tooth customers have been reluctant to share the final course, until now.
Assortments of petite sized desserts or single oversized portions have made their way onto the menu and restaurateurs are finding that by catering to this growing trend they are increasing dessert sales and boosting their table bill average.
Dessert sharing gives customers less of a guilt trip and suppliers are offering many types of smaller, innovative, easy-to-execute dessert options for restaurants.
An American study showed that 53 percent of consumers say they would prefer shareable desserts. The same study showed that mini cakes and petite dessert options rose nearly 20 percent. The dynamic dessert trend could be due to consumers being more health, portion and calorie conscious. Generation Z and millennials are some of the biggest consumers of shared dessert options because they tend to go out in big groups.
Restaurants are advised to also use words that matter when it comes to merchandising desserts. “Use rice descriptive language, warm, gooey, crunchy, crispy, chocolaty, and use photos,” said Amy Mydral Miller, president of a culinary and nutrition communications firm.
“Visual stimulation helps move an ambivalent diner to a committed dessert eater, especially if tempting aromas are involved. But probably the most basic technique for up-selling is asking the customers if they’d like to share a dessert,” she said.
