If you frequent a restaurant on a regular basis, you are going to develop your favorites there. It may be the taste of their mashed potatoes or the delicious breads they serve.
It can be disappointing though when they change items on the menu. They may go with a different recipe for their bread or stop making homemade potatoes.
These types of subtle but effective changes to your menu can really affect the repeat customers you get in the door. You may think you are saving time and money if you switch to instant potatoes. However, you could have just significantly cut down the number of people that will be coming in to dine with you in the future.
If you go about it in that manner, these types of changes are going to help you have a more successful business. People that have been dining with you for years will really appreciate the continued efforts to make their experience even better. Those that are coming in to your restaurant for the first time will be impressed enough to be sure to come back again.
It is a good idea to evaluate your menu on a regular basis. Are you offering items that aren't good sellers? Maybe you should consider replacing them with a new recipe or a common food item you aren't offering right now. You will need to do some thorough investigating. For example you may offer something new as a special one day. If it does well you can consider adding it to your menu down the road.
From time to time you may find you need to evaluate your prices at the restaurant. Price changes are sometimes dropped but in most cases they increase. This is due to the increase in the cost of supplies. This has to be passed on some way to the consumer if the restaurant is still going to be making money like before.
You do have to be careful with price increases though. I have seen it happen in some restaurants and instead of making money their sales drop. Consumers have a hard time with huge price increases. As a result they are going to avoid eating there for a while. It could be to make a statement or it could be they simply can't afford it.
When you make changes to the menu, invest in having new ones made. You don't want customers choosing something they want and then being told it is no longer offered. You also want them to be aware of the new items you have added to your menu. Price changes should always be done with new menus so that those old prices aren't there as a reminder of what once was.
Menu chances can either have a positive or a negative effect on your restaurant business. What will take place is up to you. It depends on how you handle some of the issues that are going to come up. You need to consider all of your changes from the customers point of view though, not just your own.