You can increase restaurant sales by selling customers the one part of dinner they don’t want to make themselves. A household that plans to cook may still pay for a slow-cooked protein, a house sauce, a few sides, fresh bread, or dessert. If your kitchen already makes that item well, a clearly portioned version can bring in an order you wouldn’t otherwise see.
Here’s an illustrative example, not customer research: a household already has chicken for dinner but doesn’t want to roast vegetables or bake bread on a weeknight. Vegetables and a loaf from a nearby restaurant finish the meal, and the restaurant makes a sale it wouldn’t otherwise have had.
You’ll leave with one product idea, a way to present it, and a method for checking whether it adds worthwhile business. For broader growth ideas, see our restaurant traffic playbook.
Why would someone cooking at home order from a restaurant?
Cooking at home rarely means making every part of the meal from scratch, and many adults say they’re open to filling gaps with restaurant food.
In its 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry report, the National Restaurant Association found that 60% of adults said they were more likely than before to incorporate restaurant food into meals prepared at home. The same report found that 65% would likely buy packaged food or beverages, such as sauces or frozen products, if a favorite restaurant offered them. Both figures describe stated attitudes and intentions, not actual purchase frequency or sales results.
Our reading is that a few ordinary situations make the idea worth testing: limited weeknight prep time, a craving for a favorite restaurant’s flavor, a component that’s awkward to make in small quantities (a long-simmered ragu for three, say), or a wish to make a simple meal feel complete. These motivations won’t apply to every home cook, and customers won’t buy a component just because it’s available.
The format already exists. Pasta Supply Co. in San Francisco lists sauces, take-and-bake garlic bread, grilled-marinated vegetables, and flavored butters alongside its fresh pastas, and its shop page notes that most listed items can be ordered on its website. A customer could pick up a sauce for pasta they already have, or bread and vegetables for their own main dish. The page documents the assortment and ordering format, not sales results.
Which parts of dinner are worth selling separately?
Choose something your kitchen already executes well that a customer would value enough to buy on its own.
These items are meal components: individual parts of a dinner sold so a customer can finish a meal they’re cooking themselves. (The result is sometimes called a hybrid meal.)
Meal-component ideas by restaurant type (illustrative ideas, not documented business results)
| Restaurant type | What the customer makes at home | What the restaurant could sell |
| Barbecue restaurant | Buns, salad, or simple sides | Smoked meat in a clearly specified portion |
| Italian restaurant | Pasta or grilled chicken | House-made sauce, meatballs, or garlic bread |
| Mediterranean restaurant | Rice or a main course | Hummus, dips, pita, or a household-size salad |
| Cafe or bakery | The main meal | Bread or dessert for the table |
Choose one item. A strong first candidate passes all five checks:
- It solves a clear problem or offers a flavor the customer values.
- Your kitchen already makes it consistently.
- Portioning and packing fit your service workflow.
- The portion is useful for a household and doesn’t require a catering-size purchase.
- The selling price can cover the added costs and leave a worthwhile contribution.
A dish can sell well in the dining room and still be a poor candidate if it softens in transit or needs extra plating and a separate cook step that costs more in labor than it returns. To check how an item holds up, see our guide to building a takeout menu with food that travels well.
How should the offer appear on your ordering menu?
Give the item a plain category name and a listing that tells the customer exactly what they’re getting.
A category such as “Sides for Home” or “Complete Your Dinner” signals what the section is for. Each listing should state:
- The product
- The actual quantity
- A realistic number of side portions
- Whether it arrives hot or chilled
- What’s included, and what isn’t
- The price
Add ingredient and allergen information according to your established procedures.
Hypothetical listing for illustration only, not a real Orders.co screen or customer menu. Validate every detail before use.
Seasonal Vegetable Side Pack: $12
24 oz total, about two generous side portions. Packed chilled for reheating at home. Vegetables only; no main dish included.
Ingredients and allergens: listed according to your kitchen’s procedures.
Use an original photo of the actual portion so customers can judge its size. Make the item easy to find and order on its own, without an entree. Optional add-on placement at checkout can also help existing customers discover it.
When does a smaller order add useful revenue?
A small order earns its place when it leaves meaningful contribution after its own costs, and enough of that business is new.
Contribution is the money left from a sale after subtracting the costs that change with that sale, such as ingredients, packaging, added labor, and payment processing. It’s measured before fixed overhead like rent, salaried staff, and insurance, so it isn’t net profit.
Illustrative calculation. Not an Orders.co customer result. These are assumed numbers, not recommended prices, payment rates, margins, or forecasts.
| Per side pack | Assumed amount |
| Food selling price, excluding tax and tip | $12.00 |
| Ingredients | $3.80 |
| Packaging | $0.80 |
| Added preparation and packing labor | $0.90 |
| Payment cost allocated to the sale | $0.50 |
| Total variable cost | $6.00 |
| Contribution before fixed overhead | $6.00 |
The example assumes direct pickup, no delivery expense, no discounts or refunds, and no other incremental costs. Actual operators must include their own relevant costs.
Twenty packs would generate $240 in item sales and $120 in contribution before fixed overhead. Neither figure, by itself, establishes incremental business or net profit.
Now assume four of those packs replaced four regular meals that would otherwise have sold for $24 each and contributed $10 each. Relative to that baseline:
- Added food sales: $240 – $96 = $144
- Added contribution: $120 – $40 = $80
This depends on the stated assumptions and excludes other changes in demand or costs.
That’s why you need to distinguish three kinds of component sales: a new purchase, an addition to an existing order, and a replacement for a regular meal. A normal sales report can’t show what the customer would otherwise have bought.
Extra small orders can also lower average order value while total contribution rises, so average check alone is an incomplete measure. Our analysis of off-premise costs and profitability goes deeper on contribution by channel.
How can you test one item without complicating service?
Run a small pilot with one product and one clearly defined fulfillment setup, such as direct pickup only.
Two weeks of observation is a manageable starting point, not a statistically validated period or an industry standard. Low-volume restaurants may need longer. Record:
- Packs or portions sold, and the related food sales
- Whether each purchase was standalone or added to another order
- Actual variable costs, extra prep time, waste, and fulfillment problems
- Regular meal sales over comparable days and service periods
- Whether buyers say the item completed a meal they were already cooking
An optional question at pickup can help: did this complement a home-cooked meal, or replace a restaurant meal? Treat answers as useful feedback, not reliable proof of cause.
Then decide based on your own costs and capacity:
- Continue if the offer shows worthwhile additional contribution and fits service.
- Adjust unclear portions, weak presentation, or an inefficient workflow.
- Pause an offer that consistently loses money or disrupts more valuable orders.
This worksheet and pilot are Orders.co’s editorial guidance, not an industry benchmark.
Keep the offer easy to order and update
Once the item is live, its name, price, and availability need to match everywhere customers can order it. With Orders.co menu management, you can update items, pricing, and availability from one place across your POS, ordering website, and connected delivery platforms, then review item sales in reporting. Those reports show what sold. Judging contribution and substitution still takes your cost figures and your own interpretation. Related reading: how Opa Cafe built a direct ordering channel alongside its marketplaces.
Your next step: choose one item your kitchen already makes well, calculate its cost per pack, and put a small, clearly described offer on your menu that customers can actually order.
Frequently asked questions
Could this work for Thanksgiving or other holiday sides?
It’s worth testing. A sides-only offer can serve households that are cooking their own turkey or roast and want help with everything around it. Holidays add planning needs of their own: quantities sized for a full household table, a firm order deadline so the kitchen can prep, and set collection windows to keep pickup manageable on a busy day. Treat it as something to test; holiday demand varies by restaurant and neighborhood.
Should small component orders be available for delivery?
Weigh the customer’s full checkout price, your own costs, and how the food holds up in transport. On DoorDash, a small order fee may apply when the subtotal falls below a certain amount, and other fees vary. Those customer-paid fees are separate from your restaurant’s own costs. A single side pack may suit pickup, while several components or a larger household portion may suit delivery. Keep standalone purchases possible where your channel supports them.
Sources
- National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry (PDF), retail opportunities section, printed page 78
- Pasta Supply Co., home page and See the Shop
- Avivo Brick Oven Pizzeria, online ordering menu
- DoorDash, What fees do I pay?
- Orders.co, Restaurant menu management
How we researched this article
This article draws on the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry report, published restaurant menus, and DoorDash’s consumer fee documentation, reviewed in October 2026. The cost calculation is hypothetical, and the pilot is an editorial recommendation. The article does not report a measured customer sales result from this strategy.
