Choosing the right entrees, appetisers or starters can have a bigger impact on your hospitality business than you might think.

A good starter can increase the average spend, give customers something to share while they wait for their main meal and showcase what your kitchen does well.

A bad starter can tie up your kitchen, create waste, use expensive ingredients and slow down service – all for a dish customers don’t actually want.

The key is to stop thinking about starters as individual dishes and start thinking about how they fit into your entire menu and operation.

Here’s how to decide what starters belong on your menu.

1. Start with your customers

The first question isn’t:

“What starter should we put on the menu?”

It’s:

“What do our customers actually want to eat?”

Think about your target customer.

Are you serving:

• Families
• Couples
• Business diners
• Tourists
• Large groups
• Pub customers
• Fine dining customers
• Casual diners
• Younger customers
• Customers looking for quick meals

Different customers have different expectations.

A family-friendly pub might sell a lot of share plates and simple favourites.

A high-end restaurant may have customers looking for smaller, more refined dishes.

Don’t design your starter menu for the customer you wish you had.

Design it for the customers who actually walk through your door.

2. Look at what your customers already order

If you’re already operating, your existing sales data is one of your best sources of information.

Look at:

• Current best sellers
• Popular sides
• Customer modifications
• Items frequently shared
• Dishes customers ask about
• Previous starters that sold well
• Previous starters that didn’t sell

You might find that customers are already telling you what they want.

For example, perhaps your loaded fries are constantly being ordered as a side and shared between tables.

That could be a clue that a larger shareable version could work as a starter.

Use your existing sales data before relying entirely on assumptions.

3. Make starters complement your mains

Your starter menu should work with your main menu.

Look for opportunities to create a natural progression.

For example, if your menu is heavily focused on steak, you might offer starters that provide a different texture and flavour rather than creating three more dishes based around beef.

You should also consider the overall customer experience.

A menu with:

• Five fried starters
• Eight fried mains
• Fried sides
• Fried desserts

might technically have plenty of choice, but the menu lacks balance.

Think about the experience from the customer’s perspective.

4. Share ingredients wherever possible

This is one of the most important commercial considerations.

Ideally, your starter menu should use ingredients that already have a purpose elsewhere in the kitchen.

For example:

Tomatoes → salad + bruschetta + sauce

Chicken → main course + skewers + starter

Herbs → multiple dishes

Cheese → starters + mains + sides

This improves stock utilisation and can reduce waste.

You don’t need every dish to share ingredients, but there should be a sensible level of overlap.

The goal is to create a menu where ingredients work across multiple dishes rather than sitting in the fridge waiting for one customer to order them.

5. Watch your food costs

A starter might sell for $16 and appear profitable.

But you need to know what it actually costs to produce.

Calculate:

• Ingredients
• Sauces
• Garnishes
• Cooking oil
• Accompaniments
• Portion size
• Waste

Then calculate your gross profit.

For example:

Selling price: $16

Food cost: $4

Gross profit: $12

That doesn’t mean the $12 is your net profit, but it gives you a useful starting point for comparing dishes.

Don’t price starters based purely on what competitors charge.

Understand your own numbers first.

6. Consider the portion size

The purpose of a starter matters.

Are you trying to create:

A small individual appetiser?

A substantial entree?

A sharing plate?

Something to have with drinks?

These are very different products.

If your starter is too large, customers may skip their main course.

If it’s too small, customers may feel they haven’t received value.

Think about how the starter interacts with the rest of the meal.

7. Make some starters easy to share

Shareable dishes can be particularly useful for groups.

Customers may not want to order an individual starter each, but they might happily order two or three dishes for the table.

Good sharing options can also create opportunities for additional sales.

Consider things such as:

• Dips
• Arancini
• Wings
• Sliders
• Flatbreads
• Croquettes
• Chips
• Charcuterie
• Small seafood dishes
• Mixed tasting plates

The right option will depend entirely on your concept and customer base.

8. Don’t make your kitchen work too hard

This is where many menus fall apart.

A dish might sound fantastic on paper but be terrible during a busy service.

Ask your kitchen:

How many steps does this dish require?

Does it require:

• A special preparation?
• A separate sauce?
• A unique garnish?
• Special equipment?
• A different cooking process?
• Ingredients that aren’t used anywhere else?

The more complicated the dish, the more opportunities there are for delays and mistakes.

A starter that takes 90 seconds to produce is very different operationally from one that takes five minutes.

Test every dish during a busy service

Don’t only test a new dish at 3pm when the kitchen is quiet.

Test it when the kitchen is under pressure.

That’s when you’ll discover whether it actually works.

9. Think about preparation time

Good prep can make a complicated-looking starter very easy to execute.

Look at what can be prepared before service.

For example:

• Sauces
• Dips
• Garnishes
• Portions
• Doughs
• Pickles
• Pre-cooked components

The objective is to minimise unnecessary work during service.

The more work you can safely and appropriately complete during prep, the easier it is for the kitchen to maintain consistency during peak periods.

10. Give customers different price points

Don’t make every starter sit at the same price.

A useful menu can have:

Entry-level option

Something affordable and easy to add.

Mid-range options

Your core starters.

Premium option

Something higher value that increases average spend.

This gives customers different ways to engage with the menu.

It also gives your staff opportunities to make recommendations based on the customer’s budget and preferences.

11. Create a couple of signature dishes

Your starter menu doesn’t have to be completely unique.

Customers still want familiar food.

But having one or two dishes that are genuinely associated with your venue can be extremely valuable.

Something that customers tell their friends:

“You’ve got to try their…”

That’s what you’re looking for.

Your signature starter might become part of your marketing.

It could appear in:

• Social media
• Reviews
• Photography
• Advertising
• Specials
• Events

Don’t try to make every dish a signature.

Give customers a few familiar choices and one or two reasons to talk about your venue.

12. Think about allergens and dietary requirements

Your menu should also provide sensible options for customers with different dietary requirements.

Depending on your concept and menu, consider whether you have suitable choices for:

• Vegetarian customers
• Vegan customers
• Gluten-free requirements
• Other common dietary requirements

The important thing is to ensure your kitchen can actually prepare these dishes safely and consistently.

Don’t simply put a dietary label on a dish without considering cross-contact, ingredients and kitchen procedures.

13. Make the descriptions sell the dish

The menu description is part of the sales process.

Compare:

Chicken wings

with:

Crispy chicken wings with house-made chilli glaze and toasted sesame

The second description gives the customer something to imagine.

You don’t need to write an essay.

Tell them:

What it is + what makes it appealing.

Keep descriptions accurate and easy to understand.

14. Use your staff to test the menu

Your front-of-house team hears customer feedback every day.

Ask them:

• What do customers ask about?
• What do they avoid?
• What do they complain about?
• What do they recommend?
• What gets sent back?
• What do regulars order repeatedly?

Your kitchen team can provide another perspective.

They know:

• Which dishes are difficult to produce
• Which ingredients create waste
• Which dishes cause bottlenecks
• Which preparations take too long

Your menu should be designed using information from both sides of the operation.

15. Don’t be afraid to remove a dish

A menu isn’t a museum.

If something isn’t working, change it.

Look at:

Sales volume + food cost + gross profit + preparation time + waste + customer feedback

A dish that sells twice a week, takes significant prep and requires a unique ingredient may not deserve a permanent position.

Remove it.

Replace it with something that has a better chance of working.

The perfect starter menu is a balanced one

You don’t need 15 entrees.

You need a selection that gives customers enough choice while remaining profitable and practical for your kitchen.

A strong starter menu might include:

• Something familiar
• Something shareable
• Something lighter
• Something substantial
• Something vegetarian
• One or two signature options

The exact combination will depend on your venue.

The important thing is that every dish has a reason for being there.

Think about the entire menu

Your starters shouldn’t be designed in isolation.

Look at the whole menu:

Starters → Mains → Sides → Desserts → Drinks

Do the ingredients work together?

Are you creating unnecessary stock?

Are your margins healthy?

Can the kitchen handle the workload?

Are customers being given a clear reason to order more?

Does the menu reflect what your customers actually want?

That’s where good menu design becomes good business management.

The hospitality takeaway

A great starter isn’t simply a tasty dish.

It’s a dish that:

Customers want → your kitchen can produce → uses ingredients efficiently → delivers a healthy margin → fits your concept.

If a dish ticks all five boxes, you’ve probably found a winner.

If it only ticks one or two, it’s worth asking whether it belongs on the menu at all.

Don’t build your menu around what you can cook. Build it around what you can sell profitably and consistently.