Menu Engineering
Nearly every Executive Chef or Kitchen Manager knows the basics of food costing a dish, but many have no idea about Menu Engineering and how a particular dish performs as part of the restaurant sales mix? Second to Food Costing, Menu Engineering plays an important role in determining overall profitability.
So what is Menu Engineering ? Menu Engineering examines the sales history for each dish on the menu, and examines that dish’s selling price and cost price. It then relates their profit margins and their menu mix percentages to see which items are proving popular and thus profitable.
Menu Engineering involves dividing and categorising menu items into 4 categories;
- Stars- Extremely popular and have a high contribution margin.
- Plow Horse - high in popularity but low in contribution margin.
- Puzzles - Generally low in popularity and higher contributions.
- Dogs - Low in popularity and low in contribution margin.
Once you’ve been shown and understand how menu engineering works, you then have the ability to make qualified decisions about what menu items should be on your menu and which should be immediately removed.
In Kitchen Profitability, we’ve dedicated a whole chapter to Menu Engineering and we talk about some of the strategies you can put in place to quickly identify which dishes are generating profit and which dishes aren’t.
