These Limited Time Offer Items Sell Big

Bonji Foods Aficionado Smart Brief: Volume 47

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Hi all, welcome back to the Bonji Food Aficionado Smart Brief! Happy Tuesday and happy November! We hope the weekend treated you well and that you are ready for a new week full of new opportunities! Limited-Time-Offers are an amazing way of boosting sales and pulling both returning and new customers in the door. However, are there better limited-time items than others? Recently, studies have found that yes, indeed there are flavors and dishes that customers are attracted to when offered as “limited-time offers.” Over the past five years, LTOs increased by 31% on restaurant menus. Today, we are here to share with you some trending items in addition to the limited menu stars.

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What Sells Best as Part of a LTO 1. Apple Desserts / Indulgent Options Apples may seem like only a seasonal option, however that may not be the case. When considering desserts, apples are in the top 10 for customer purchase intent. This study also never shows the customers what the food looks like, their preference is simply based on the menu title and description. Thus, just seeing an apple dessert on the menu gives a rather high chance of it being ordered! In addition to apples, indulgent desserts are the most craveable and customers show very high purchase intent. Think about chocolate peanut butter and molten lava cakes.

2. Specialty Meats Even with many people leaning towards a plant-based diet, bacon and steak are top sellers when it comes to limited-time offers. Bacon landed in the top 10 for savory LTO options, with steak coming in the top 3! Specialty meat dishes have extremely high purchase intent, especially when paired with other indulgent foods like fried rice or a creamy sauce. Seafood is another meat that scores high in this category. Customers often shy away from cooking seafood at home, so when they are out to dinner and see a limited seafood dish, they show at least a 36% to order it once a week.

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3. “Superfood” Trending Açaí has made a name for itself over the past 5-10 years as being a super fruit. However, acai is not the only superfood that has been trending recently. Cacao, turmeric, and some mushrooms have been blowing up as superfoods. Some of these may be hard to play with, but a simple Google search can help you get inspired to infuse these ingredients into your menu. It can be as simple as adding maca root to a smoothie, or topping a bowl with cacao nibs! These can especially go well when considering a limited-time offering when customers are willing to go out and try something new that they've been hearing about.