As a professional chef, your focus on menu design goes beyond fonts and colors. It’s a canvas for organizing and presenting your best dishes to customers while satisfying their tastes. Pleasing consumer palates keeps the dining room full, and vegan menu ideas play an important role in keeping those guests happy.
Customers who want vegetarian choices aren’t just trending. They’re an established market that includes Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials. Cater to their preferences, and you boost sales. You also open up your commercial kitchen to all kinds of creative possibilities.
For Your Culinary Inspiration: 10 Well-Designed Vegan Dinner Menu Ideas
1. Make The Familiar New
Consider the rediscovered respect enjoyed by Brussels sprouts. Their nutritional profile and nutty flavor make them perfect candidates for cooking outside the usual pan of boiling water. Familiar vegetables transform into newly appreciated menu entries when you rethink all their prep possibilities.
2. Plate Artful Appetizers
Craft unique vegan appetizers into artful presentations, and they become menu stars tweeted, snapped and shared across social media. That kind of exposure is always good for business. Imagine the digital marketing potential in hearts of romaine lettuce artfully wrapped around bites of exotic grain salads.
3. Let Veggies Be Upscale
Showcase vegetable versatility with dishes that deserve white tablecloth service. Make them part of an upscale tasting menu that starts with light appetizers and transitions to richer samplings. Finish with something hearty and sweet like small servings of roasted tomato and eggplant casserole.
4. Build Satisfying Sandwiches
Vegetables can be casual with delicious results that satisfy relaxed lunch crowds and evening guests too. Panera serves a Mediterranean veggie sandwich that shows off the restaurant’s signature bread while it brightens up plates. A tower of fresh tomato, red onion, cucumbers and crisp lettuce demonstrates how hearty a vegan sandwich can be.
5. Side Them With Soups
We really like vegan menu ideas that are simple and pair well with others. Deliciously comforting soups always match up with sandwiches and even better with veggie stackers and sliders. Thicken up vegan gumbo with extra okra in the fall, and let guests chill with a cool gazpacho when the weather warms up.
6. Cook More Veggie Stock
Behind every great menu design, there’s a chef making sure every ingredient counts. You know how well rich flavors from a slow-cooked veggie stock bring out the best in so many different dishes. Take advantage of fresh produce from root to stem, and simmer up a signature house stock.
7. Design Without Borders
Let the entire world serve as your inspiration for vegan recipes. Give roasted Brussels sprouts a touch of Asian heat with chili sauce, or fire up appetites with spicy veggie enchiladas and quesadillas. Restaurant guests appreciate culinary creativity that crosses cultural borders.
8. Don’t Forget Dessert
Yes, you can design a vegan dessert menu and turn out all kinds of enticing sweets. While Erin McKenna’s Bakery in NYC hasn’t incorporated fresh produce in its cookies yet, the exceptional bakery serves up yummy inspiration. Vegan-centric ingredients include nectars, gluten-free flours and a very healthy attitude.
9. Market Veggie Menus
If you design it, they’ll come when they know your menu presents plenty of vegetarian options. Use your social media connections to make sure customers stay tuned in to your latest offerings. From highlighting seasonal produce to serving fresh hearts of romaine lettuce year-round, spread the good word across digital channels.
10. Work With The Best
Successful vegan menu design starts with the freshest ingredients available. When you source from the best, you know every dish starts with the best. That creative confidence comes through in the flavors, textures and presentations that keep tables full.
It’s a Money-Saving Strategy
When you design your restaurant’s offerings with vegan dinner menu ideas, you’re also doing a favor for your bottom line. Cooking from root to stalk is a money-saving strategy that’s simple and effective. Premium produce is a versatile and valuable asset in restaurant pantries and walk-ins.
We enjoy delivering inspiration for your commercial kitchen, and we’re proud of the role we play in keeping your menus fresh and your customers happy. Hitchcock Farms is at your service as one of the largest growers and produce shippers in California. You can always count on us for premium products that help bring out the best in your culinary talents.
