7 Profoundly Profitable Foods to Serve in Your Bar

It's no secret that serving food is a great way to add to your bottom line. However, the path to choosing the right foods for your particular operation is not quite as clear. You have to choose the foods that fit in with the theme of your bar.

For example, a sports bar is going to want to serve different food than an upscale rooftop bar aimed at young professionals. A wine bar is going to serve different foods than a bar where the beverage of choice is an ice-cold beer. The secret to choosing the best food for your bar is to know your customers, and what they want to eat.

To help you get started, we've compiled a list of the most popular bar foods with high-profit margins, as well as the type of establishments these foods work in.

While many think of the classic burger as a sports bar staple, in reality, it's something that can appeal to a wide variety of palates based on the toppings and sides. After all, that's why Americans eat 50 billion burgers a year!

For example, the classic bacon cheeseburger may be a top seller at a sports bar, but sliders with a bacon onion jam will easily satisfy the palate of those at an upscale bar. Quality ingredients and a few select toppings are all you need to help your burgers stand out.

Even better, you can increase your profit margins by upcharging for these additional toppings.

Cheese fries are one of those foods that most people secretly love. Even better, they too can be reenvisioned to appeal to a variety of customers.

While most people think of loaded fries as something loaded with cheese (and probably bacon), bars around the country are getting creative in their presentations. One of our favorites is from The Penrose in NYC, which uses Gouda and chives to elevate their cheese fries to the next level.

No matter which iteration you choose, the ingredients for great cheese fries need not be expensive. Even better, with so many quality air fryers abounding, you may not even need a kitchen.

We'd be remiss as a pizza company if we didn't bring up the most popular food amongst millennials: pizza. In fact, it's not just millennials. About 41% of Americans eat an average of a pizza a week.

Not only can you easily tweak the ingredients to please a wide array of customers, but you can also offer a simple toppings bar that allows each person to customize their own pizza with minimal upfront cost to you.

With the Donna Italia turnkey pizza solution, you also get a countertop pizza oven free with your pizza subscription. Our proprietary oven also allows you to serve fresh-baked pizza with a deliciously crispy crust in only 3 minutes.

Having something that you can serve hot and fresh in such a short amount of time is a boon when your customers want a snack to go with their beverage of choice. Plus, when the pizza costs $3-5 a pizza and you can sell it for $12-15 or more, you end up with quite the profit margin!

How can you have a conversation about bar food without bringing up the classic bar staple: wings? While wings are easy to buy in bulk at a low cost, many people have relegated them to sports bar status in their minds.

However, it is possible to get creative and elevate even the simple chicken wing. How, you ask? It all comes down to the seasoning and the sauce. Even something as simple as making your own dipping sauce with fresh, chunky blue cheese can bring your wings up to legendary status.

And since wings can also be made in an air fryer, this can be the perfect solution for bars without a full kitchen.

Chips and dips can easily fit a variety of different palates, and it can all be served inexpensively.

Your classic options are chips and salsa, chips and guacamole, and chips and queso, but there are endless varieties outside of that. For example, an upscale bar may choose to serve pita chips with hummus, perhaps on a platter with olives, fresh feta, and sliced veggies for dipping.

Artichoke dip and cheesy spinach dip are two other crowd-pleasing favorites, and both can be made without a full kitchen, if necessary.

This popular finger food is not only inexpensive to make, but it also requires no special know-how and can be made in an air fryer without a full kitchen!

While a classic basket of chicken fingers and french fries is a classic favorite, you can also get creative with dipping sauces and sides. Something like black pepper chicken fingers with a homemade ranch--or crunchy coconut chicken fingers with a sweet mango sauce--can really take chicken fingers beyond the kid's menu.

Serving them with fresh-cut french fries (or pommes frites, if you have the facilities) can further take chicken fingers to the next level.

Pasta is undoubtedly one of the cheapest foods you can make, but it's also the most versatile. With this one simple ingredient, you can serve everything from appetizers like fried mac 'n cheese to heartier meals like chicken alfredo.

Pasta is also a really easy but hearty way to add vegetarian and vegan options to your menu.

The one drawback to pasta is that you will likely need an established kitchen set up to make it. However, if you don't already have a kitchen in your bar, there are plenty of other ideas on this list that you can make without a kitchen!

We hope we've given you some great ideas of delicious, profitable food you can serve in your bar, with or without a kitchen!

If you're interested in adding pizza in your establishment, you can learn more about the benefits of adding Donna Italia pizza to your menu by reading about the Ten Benefits of a Donna Italia pizza subscription.

Then, set up your free, personalized consultation to find the best subscription plan for your business on your time!