Fast and Freshly Squeezed Juice All Year Round: How to Avoid Long Lines During Your Summer Busy Season

You must take a proactive approach to maintaining customer service and product quality when you’re booked to capacity or have lines out the door. At the same time, you must capitalize on food and beverage trends while keeping COGS low and profits high.

Below are tips to help you strategize for high-season HoReCa summer operations without burning out your team. This includes learning how to incorporate a professional juicer to serve healthy, hydrating, and fresh summer beverages.  

Why add juice to your summer menu?

Juice checks all the boxes for summer food and beverage trends. Adding juice to your café, restaurant, hotel, catering, or custom-made delivery menu is healthy, profitable, and on-trend. We have options that are small enough for juicing in food trucks and on-site at festivals and events.

Fresh juice:

• Hydrates the body in summer heat and humidity.
• Is nutrient-dense, including vitamins and electrolyte minerals.
• Supports functional nutrition and healthy snack trends.

1. Revise your schedule accordingly

You can go from smooth and steady to in the weeds in minutes. So, consider if you need to expand your staff and schedule more overlap between shifts. A mid-day floating employee who gives breaks, stocks, mops, engages employees, and maintains the lobby can make a world of difference. However, you may need to add several team members during peak service hours. Don’t forget local summer events that will increase business.

2. Prep for the day

The less time spent washing and chopping produce and prepping other ingredients during a rush the better. Have your team prep food in the morning when it’s slow. If mornings are busy, have team members arrive 30 to 60 minutes before you open to set up and prep for the day. Also, ensure you have enough smallwares and storage containers to accommodate high-volume food prep.

When selecting a centrifugal multi-produce juicer, choose a commercial machine that has a large feed tube to minimize prep.

3. Rethink your layout

Summer is an ideal time to consider if your workflow sets your team up for success. This is of particular importance if you’ve added new appliances, displays, or equipment to your front or back-of-house prep and service areas. Eliminate the guesswork by asking your team for their thoughts on the layout and workflow.

4. Expand your summer menu

Innovate around how you can boost sales by adding seasonal summer menu items. Beyond sourcing produce that’s less expensive during the summer, consider current food trends. At the top of this list is an increased demand for healthy snacks, hydrating beverages, and functional nutrition.

Don’t forget to reach out to local farmers and culinary artisans to incorporate fresh ingredients that support the local economy while reducing your carbon footprint.

5. Add outdoor seating

Adding outdoor seating increases your dine-in service capacity. It also entices customers to stay longer, which can increase your ticket average. Check your local ordinances to determine if you’ll need a summer patio permit. Permits can take months to process, so plan ahead.

6. Increase your grab-and-go pars

If you don’t yet, offer grab-and-go meals and fresh bottled grab-and-go orange juice, green juice, and your best seller or two. If you already offer grab-and-go food and pre-bottled juice, increase your pars. This allows customers to invest in fresh but eliminates the wait time for their natural summer juice.

7. Leverage technology

One way to get ready for HoReCa summer is to leverage technology to enhance the customer experience and streamline operations.

• Mobile payment processing: If you only have 1 or 2 cash registers, invest in a mobile payment processor. This allows an employee to go into the line and process payments for both grab-and-go and made-to-order foods, snacks, and beverages.
• On-demand delivery: Consumers expect convenience, so ensure it’s easy for them to order from you at home, at work, and on the go by adding your food and beverage menu to on-demand delivery apps. Be sure to update apps with your seasonal juice and menu items.
• Digital menu board: Digital menu boards are an investment, but they provide meaningful benefits. The ability to add mouthwatering photos, videos, and motion graphics drives upsells and reduces perceived wait times. Digital signage is also waste-reducing, because you can feature juice and menu items with fresh ingredients that are nearing their expiration date.

8. Upgrade your appliances

Assess your appliances at least once a year, searching for upgrades that streamline operations, improve product quality, reduce COGs, and minimize waste.

If you’ll be adding juice to your summer menu, consider a Zumex professional juicer. Our technology generates up to 2 ounces more juice per serving while improving quality and flavor. This includes automated orange and pomegranate juicers, countertop fruit and veggie juicers, a floor-standing cold press, and more.

Discover the Zumex difference

Squeeze your way to a profitable summer by adding fresh summer juice to your menu. Our professional juicers are ergonomic, energy-efficient, durable, and intuitive. Choose from compact to high-volume models that juice up to 40 fruits per minute.

Reach out to learn more!