{"id":25476,"date":"2020-10-23T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T12:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:59:13","slug":"portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Portability: Raise Your Takeout Game at the Menu Level"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Whether it\u2019s on a plate or in a box, your food represents your restaurant\u2019s brand.<\/h2>\n<p>With takeout becoming more regular and important, it\u2019s time to take a close look at your menu. Every meal, even ones packed into a box to be eaten later, reflects on your restaurant and your brand. It\u2019s time to think strategically about your <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/food-site-profiting-through-portability\">portability program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Where do I start?<\/h3>\n<p>The things your customers experience the first time they walk in the door make an impression that often determines whether they return. The same applies to off-premise foods. Each time a takeout container is opened, the customer forms an impression based on what they see and taste. This opens the door to a menu that works for both customers and your business. Here are three takeout menu areas to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Remove items that don\u2019t travel well.<\/li>\n<li>Eliminate items that are complicated to cook or require lots of labour.<\/li>\n<li>Promote your menu stars\u2014they\u2019re popular and offer high margin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Take a close look at the menu<\/h3>\n<p>Test menu items as a customer would and see for yourself how well they uphold or enhance your brand. When evaluating, ask these two questions:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Does it travel well?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many fried foods lose their crispy texture and get soggy. Same for sandwiches slathered with condiments. Nachos? Bad idea\u2014cheese gets rubbery as it cools. Items that do travel well include shareables, like bowl builds or foods with hearty sauces. Shareables appeal because people often order takeout to feed more than just themselves. A great way to determine which items make the grade is by asking yourself, \u201cDoes this travel and reheat well as if it were leftovers from yesterday?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Does it look appetizing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Takeout presentation is easily overlooked. It\u2019s good to remember that people eat first with their eyes, so package your food with thought and care. When a to-go box is opened and the contents have shifted to one side in a puddle, it\u2019s a safe bet the customer won\u2019t order again. Place condiments and sides in separate containers or compartments to achieve pleasing presentation.<\/p>\n<h3>Here\u2019s why it matters<\/h3>\n<p>You may have to adjust your menu a bit, but foods should look and taste as good out of a box as they do on a plate at the table. When you provide quality, consistency and value, customers notice. And they will return for takeout from establishments that stand out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether it\u2019s on a plate or in a box, your food represents your restaurant\u2019s brand. With takeout becoming more regular and important, it\u2019s time to take a close look at your menu. Every meal, even ones packed into a box to be eaten later, reflects on your restaurant and your brand. It\u2019s time to think [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,68,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-culinary-ideas","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Portability: Raise Your Takeout Game at the Menu Level | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Portability: Raise Your Takeout Game at the Menu Level\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether it\u2019s on a plate or in a box, your food represents your restaurant\u2019s brand. With takeout becoming more regular and important, it\u2019s time to take a close look at your menu. Every meal, even ones packed into a box to be eaten later, reflects on your restaurant and your brand. It\u2019s time to think [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-23T12:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T14:59:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Portability-what-to-put-on-your-menu_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cody.rivers@gfs.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Portability: Raise Your Takeout Game at the Menu Level | Gordon Food Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Portability: Raise Your Takeout Game at the Menu Level","og_description":"Whether it\u2019s on a plate or in a box, your food represents your restaurant\u2019s brand. With takeout becoming more regular and important, it\u2019s time to take a close look at your menu. Every meal, even ones packed into a box to be eaten later, reflects on your restaurant and your brand. It\u2019s time to think [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2020-10-23T12:10:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T14:59:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Portability-what-to-put-on-your-menu_0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cody.rivers@gfs.com","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374"},"headline":"Portability: Raise Your Takeout Game at the Menu Level","datePublished":"2020-10-23T12:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T14:59:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/"},"wordCount":419,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/portability-raise-your-takeout-game-at-the-menu-level\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Portability-what-to-put-on-your-menu_0.jpg","articleSection":["Catering &amp; 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