All menus have some Plough Horses (also known as Cash Cows). The profitability/contribution metric used in the Menu Engineering Model is based on an average. The nature of an average means there will always be some items below the average. Assuming all items meet the popularity benchmark, any items below the average are Plough… Read More »
Following on from the “What is Menu Engineering” Post: A “Puzzle” is a menu item that is classified as profitable but not popular using Menu Engineering techniques. This begs the question: “Why is this menu item not popular? How can we transform it into a Star?” In many cases engaging tactics to transform a Puzzle… Read More »
Following on from the “What is Menu Engineering” Post: In the previous post we took a look at the Menu Engineering process. Menu Engineering provides an objective method of classifying menu items. In this post we look at tactics for managing menu items classified as “Dogs”. Dogs are low profit and not popular when compared… Read More »
Here’s a link to an Excel model I put together to assist with the Menu Engineering process. Menu Engineering Model The model includes all the formulas to automatically classify your menu items based on popularity & profitability and is easy to use and extend (assuming basic Excel skills). Please leave a comment if you found… Read More »
Engineering is not a term used frequently in the context of the food industry. Simply put “engineering” is about appling technical, scentific or mathmatical knowledge to get a desired outcome. Menu Engineering is about taking a more structured approach to building and monitoring a menu. There are two key measures required for Menu Engineering: the… Read More »