Your menu is your primary sales tool. If it's just a list of items and prices, you are leaving money on the table. Menu engineering is the study of the profitability and popularity of menu items and how these two factors influence the placement of these items on a menu.
The BCG Matrix of Menu Items
- Stars: High Profit, High Popularity. Keep them consistent, promote them powerfully, and never run out of ingredients for them.
- Plowhorses: Low Profit, High Popularity. Can you raise the price slightly? Or can you use cheaper ingredients without sacrificing quality?
- Puzzles: High Profit, Low Popularity. These dishes earn you money by need help selling. Rewrite the description, take a delicious photo, or train staff to recommend them.
- Dogs: Low Profit, Low Popularity. Remove them. They clutter your menu, confuse customers, and waste inventory space.
Review your menu data every quarter. Trends change, and so do ingredient costs. Adjust accordingly.