One approach to building your bakery business is to develop a menu that invites customers in all day long, especially during the afternoon slump. Good coffee seems like a simple choice for bakeries because everyone loves pairing coffee with pastries, but taking the time to create a surprising and exciting coffee menu can inspire repeat business better than your average regular and decaf.
A good coffee menu has its staples: an everyday coffee like 100% Colombia Supremo or Guatemala Antigua, a decaf, and espresso-based drinks like lattes, cappuccinos and mochas. These items are great for creating repeat business, but may not be unique when compared to the options customers can find in other foodservice establishments.
When customers ask for help in adding variety and excitement to their menu, it’s always recommended that they feature flavored coffees, especially as a signature drink. One customer made a unique fruit flavored iced coffee, gave it a special name, and it is by far the most popular coffee item on his menu. Patrons on social media rave about the signature blend which helps him bring new customers to his business.
Your Signature Drink
Creating a signature drink doesn’t have to be difficult, it can be as easy as changing the name of an existing flavor to something unique to your business. A lot of our customers will blend together more than one flavor of our coffee and give it a special name to create a signature blend their customers can’t find anywhere else.
As you get excited about your new coffee offerings, so too will your customers. And an excited customer is a loyal customer! Looking for new and inventive ways to introduce flavored coffees and signature drinks to your regular and rotating menus will keep your business thriving throughout the day.
The Benefits of Flavored Coffee
Flavored coffees make a delicious drink without the calories, which gives your customers a perfect guilt-free alternative to soft drinks, energy drinks and other high calorie beverages.
While flavored hot coffee is a fun way to get the day started, a flavored iced coffee is a favorite refreshing afternoon pick-me-up. Add at least one flavored iced coffee item to the menu in order to attract the afternoon and evening crowd looking for one last boost to get them through the day.
Get Seasonal
Want to add some spirit to your menu? Flavored coffees make adding seasonal menu items easy. The Holidays are the biggest and best season of the year to introduce the trending flavored coffees that customers are searching for, including Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread Cookie. During the summer offer refreshing fruit flavored coffees like Blueberry, L’Orange, Chocolate Raspberry and Coconut Cream.
Eight ways to make great-tasting flavored coffee
1) Flavored coffees are equally delicious when served hot or cold, so be sure to experiment and discover exciting ways to offer variety to your customers.
2) Always keep coffee in an airtight container in order to preserve its freshness. Coffee starts to lose its flavor when exposed to oxygen.
3) Dedicate a specific grinder for your flavored coffees. This will prevent mixing flavors into coffee that isn’t supposed to be flavored.
4) Purge your grinder before grinding a new flavor. Grind a handful of the new flavored beans and throw away the grounds before grinding the batch you plan to brew. This prevents cross-contamination.
5) Clean your brew basket, airpots and other coffee dispensers between batches.
6) When making flavored iced coffees, brew the coffee at double strength and cool to room temperature or refrigerate before serving.
7) Always shake your iced coffees in a martini shaker before serving. Not only does this add a visual appeal for your customers, it also aerates the coffee and enhances the flavor.
8) Sample all new flavored coffees with your customers to give them a chance to try out the flavor – it might become their new favorite.
