The best summer menu ideas for restaurants increase sales and ensure customer loyalty.
With focused development, restaurant summer menus keep profits solid and bottom lines in good shape.
In this article, we share fresh tips and recipes made with seasonal ingredients to inspire your summer menu lineup.
How Can You Elevate Your Restaurant's Summer Menu?
Go With Innovative Ingredients
Show off the kitchen’s culinary talent by featuring housemade ingredients on your restaurant’s summer menu.
Housemade condiments are cost-effective, and they help establish your brand.
Whip up original salad dressings and side seasonal sandwiches with freshly made mustards and ketchups.
Garnish your signature burgers with unique toppings like pickled iceberg lettuce.
Keep Lunch Casual
Keep restaurant customers comfortable with a casual summer lunch menu.
Capture the laid-back feel of vacations on the shore with fried shrimp baskets, crab cake burgers, and grilled fish tacos.
Make relaxed lunches memorable with special presentations like fresh ceviche in baby iceberg lettuce bowls.
Take It Outside
One of the coolest summer dinner ideas for hot days might be just beyond your door.
Take inspiration for outside service from some of the best restaurants in Los Angeles.
You don’t need a pier, boardwalk, or balcony. A little patio space and a touch of landscaping set the scene for al fresco summertime dining.
Build Your Online Presence
As you refresh your summer menu, refresh your restaurant’s website and social media presence too.
Post inviting pics of the patio, profile summertime cocktails, and let customers download menus with a quick click.
If you don’t already offer takeout, this is the season to make it happen with online ordering.
13 Fresh Recipe Ideas to Brighten Up Your Summer Menu
Entree-Worthy Salads
1. Napa Cabbage Summer Salad
Napa cabbage's mild taste and refreshing and crunchy texture make it the best base for a summer salad.
This recipe creates a delightful blend of summer flavors with napa cabbage hearts, avocado, radishes, strawberries, cucumber, and pistachios.
Top it with our creamy champagne vinaigrette or with your restaurant's favorite housemade dressing.
2. Grilled Corn Salad
Grilled corn is a summertime staple, and no summer menu is complete without it.
Our grilled corn salad with ricotta salata and hazelnuts is packed with flavor and nutrients.
It makes a great starter, side, or hearty vegetarian main dish.
3. Romaine Heart Fattoush Salad
To add some Mediterranean flavor to your restaurant menu, try this fattoush salad with romaine hearts, red onion, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes.
This recipe also calls for parsley, mint, garlic, and lemon, creating an enticing blend of fresh flavors.
Top the salad with crumbled feta and a drizzle of olive oil, and serve it with crispy baked pita bread.
Small Plates
4. Broccoli Burrata Crostini
Crostini is a wonderful appetizer for both brunch and dinner.
This crostini recipe combines roasted broccoli, creamy burrata cheese, and colorful pomegranate seeds on crispy baguette slices dressed with olive oil and garlic.
5. Iceberg Babies Steak Lettuce Cups
These iceberg babies lettuce cups are a delicious starter or side dish for your summer menu.
The lettuce cups are stuffed with flank steak coated in a chipotle marinade, black bean and corn salsa, roasted bell peppers, and crumbly cotija cheese.
For extra flavor, add a garnish of fresh cilantro.
Summer Mains
6. Halibut With Leeks
Introducing new seafood items is one of the best ways to expand your menu's selection of healthy summer dinner recipes.
This recipe combines pan-seared halibut with a salsa made from citrus fruits, olives, and sautéed leeks.
It's sure to become a favorite among your seafood-loving diners.
7. Pasta Primavera
Pasta primavera is a simple yet wildly popular menu item that can easily be customized to include your favorite seasonal summer veggies.
This recipe calls for garlic, yellow squash, zucchini, asparagus, red onion, peas, and cherry tomatoes to create a delicious and colorful vegetable medley mixed with traditional penne pasta.
Top the pasta primavera with lemon juice, red pepper flakes, tarragon, and fresh basil to taste.
8. Napa Cabbage Stir Fry
Our rice noodle stir fry recipe with napa cabbage and pork is a hearty, protein-packed, Asian-inspired dish that's perfect for your summer menu.
Cook sliced pork with garlic and ginger in a cast iron pan, and add napa cabbage, celery, and shallots.
Lastly, toss in your cooked rice noodles, pour chili garlic sauce over the dish, and sprinkle with chopped green onions.
Cool Cocktails
9. English Pea Mezcal Cocktail
One of our favorite cocktails is this English pea cocktail made with mezcal and chartreuse.
Blend a handful of sugar snap peas with lemon juice until smooth, and combine with the mezcal, chartreuse, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice.
Shake up the mixture until it's frothy, and strain it into a cocktail glass for a refreshing summer drink.
10. Cilantro Cucumber Margarita
A margarita might be the most popular summer cocktail of all time.
There are endless margarita flavor combinations you can experiment with for your restaurant menu, and this cucumber cilantro margarita is one of the best.
It's a classic margarita recipe with added muddled cucumber and cilantro for extra seasonal flavor.
No-Bake Desserts
11. Strawberry Shortcake
Nothing says summer like strawberry shortcake.
Juicy strawberries, homemade biscuits, and fresh whipped cream come together to make a perfect dessert for a summer brunch, lunch, or dinner.
12. Sweet Corn Ice Cream
Ice cream is a simple but versatile dessert for your summer menu.
Sweet corn ice cream, made with our peak-season supersweet white corn, has a mild flavor and a rich, creamy texture.
Serve it on its own in a dish or a waffle cone, or use it to top fruit pies or cobblers.
13. Coconut Pistachio Pie
This no-bake coconut pistachio pie is served cold, making it an enticing dessert on hot summer days.
The crust is a simple mixture of butter and sweetened shredded coconut, and the filling is made of milk, pudding mix, and whipped topping.
A sprinkle of chopped pistachios on top adds a nice crunch to the dish.
We're Proud to Do Our Part
We appreciate how hard you work through the summer months.
We’re busy, too, with operations in full swing as we grow and ship premium produce across the country.
It’s a great time of year for the foodservice industry, and our teams here at Hitchcock Farms are proud to supply you with our very best seasonal produce to use in your summer menus.
FAQ
1. How often should I update my restaurant's summer menu?
As a general rule of thumb, you should refresh your restaurant's menu at the start of each season.
Consider offering daily or weekly specials as an opportunity for you to develop and test out new summer recipe ideas.
2. How can I keep produce fresh in the summer?
Most vegetables do best when kept dry and separate from one another.
Store your produce in plastic bags or containers, and wrap them in a paper towel if they're damp from washing.
3. What are the best fresh vegetables for summer menus?
Some of our favorite summer produce items include corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, avocados, and fresh lettuce such as baby iceberg and romaine.
