If there is one thing you can always count on, its America’s continued love for fried foods. As we lean towards healthier habits and food choices, you might think fried foods would have lost their fan base, but quite the opposite is true. Now, more than ever, creative chefs are coming up with new and unusual ways to deep fry just about everything.
From a pizzeria standpoint, deep fried foods just make sense. They cook foods fast, allow for a uniquely diverse menu and typically have high profit margins. Plus, let’s be honest, what’s a pizza without some chicken wings on the side? So today, let’s discuss how easy it is use a deep fryer to increase pizzeria profits while diversifying your menu!
Deep Fried Sides
Without a deep fryer, sides and appetizers offered by pizzerias are limited by the oven’s capacity to cook more than just pizza. But with a deep fryer, suddenly your options are limitless, because you can deep fry just about anything. Of course there are your bread and butter items – French fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, fried raviolis, and chicken wings – all of which have mass appeal. But you can also really make a statement with new and unusual deep fried offerings.
One strategy to try when using a deep fryer to increase pizzeria profits, is to offer some limited time deep fried options. Seasonal veggies can be battered and fried, try offering them in limited quantities or limited time frames. This not only will create a sense of urgency for your customers to purchase the new menu item, but it also gives you a chance to test the waters, or oil in this case! If you have a great response from one of your LTO you may consider adding it permanently to your menu!
Deep Fried Toppings
Your menu expansion doesn’t have to stop at deep fried appetizers and sides. With the addition of a deep fryer, you’re now able to add some deep fried toppings to your pizza orders. My favorite fried topping is chicken tenders cut into strips. Add some BBQ sauce, red onions and scallions and now you’ve got a gourmet BBQ chicken pizza.
Another great deep fried topper? Cheese curds! Our rebate partner, Curdtown, tops pizza with their deep fried cheese curds for an extra crunchy cheese topping. Take it a step further with some bacon or prosciutto and really wow your guests with a one of a kind pizza flavor explosion. Plus with the purchase of an AutoFry, you'll recieve up to $500 in BOGO cash back rebates from Curdtown as part of our rebate program. Our full program carries a value of over $3,000, check it out here!
Deep Fried Desserts
What’s dinner without a little dessert?! Adding a deep fryer to your lineup allows you to expand heavily into the dessert realm as well. From fried dough to deep fried Twinkies, there are plenty of options for customers to have their cake and eat it too. When exploring dessert options, the easiest way to keep costs low is to purchase frozen items for frying. They’ll have longer shelf lives and can be portioned out in advance to save time. Our rebate partner, McCain recently added deep fried Twinkies to their frozen line up, so be sure to check those out as a popular dessert item.
One last strategy to help you increase profits through the use of a deep fryer is to create combo meals that your staff can upsell guests on. Pairing a large pizza with wings and a dessert, is an easy way for staff to encourage guests to purchase more than they may have originally planned!
Want to learn more?
Download our free pizzeria foodservice one sheet. It has everything you need to know about AutoFry in relation to your industry!
This guide includes powerful testimonials from current customers, a sample menu for easy implementation and highlights from our equipment. Feel free to download it for yourself or share it with a colleague who may benefit from adding foodservice to their attraction!
Download our FREE Pizzeria One Sheet!