Summer Solstice Signifies the Salad Days of Summer

Are you ready? Has your menu changed enough to welcome summer? Is there fruit in your cooler? It's a hot menu item now -- on salads, as a plate garnish, freshly juiced, or blended in cocktails that appeal to health-conscious customers. Fruit drinks are more popular than ever, and they command premium prices when blended with the right rum or vodka and garnished with an impressive slice of pineapple or peach.

Summer isn't just for the bar crowd, though. Make sure your kitchen is up to speed and has tossed its heavy wwinter menu items in favor of fresh vegetables and a hearty array of salads for summer evenings. The heat wave has already arrived, and the cool crispness of a salad in an air-conditioned restaurant is a very attractive proposition.

Expanding your salad selection is a tremendous profit center. Travel down a few different roads, and instead of just preparing salad standards, challenge your chef's imagination -- ask him to create a few entree salads that are new and interesting. Fresh red and gold baby beets, for example (pictured below), make a great addition to any salad.

With a local farmer's market on just about every corner in many towns, there's an abundant selection of fresh, crisp vegetables. Many of the farmers are also willing to service a handful of restaurants on a regular basis with deliveries of their specialty crops. So reach out to them and see if they would consider supplying your chef with their produce. It's not only fresh but helps your local economy.

And there is more good news: Entree salads are one of the largest profit centers on your menu. Of course the price of lettuce kills everyone in the middle of winter. But during the summer months salads become the most profitable category on your menu. And with a variety of vegetables -- and fruit -- on the plate the presentation can be the prettiest, healthiest, and most creative of anything on your menu.

One of my favorite salads, although almost impossible to find, is the Maurice Salad. It was famous back in the days of Jimmy Hoffa. Machus Red Fox, the restaurant where Hoffa supposedly met his demise, served one of the best in the country. It's simple to make, and the dressing is delightful.

So take to the garden. During these days of heat and fatigue get the juicer out, blend some cucumbers and lime, add some vodka, and create a few house drinks. Go to the local lettuce beds, select some greens, blanch some beans, add a few beets and a house dressing, and you are on your way to a profitable season.

Create some special salads, run them as nightly specials, and then redo your menu. It's time for those salad days of summer.