Your card likely contains 30 to 60 articles. Some are bestsellers that are very profitable, others sell poorly and erode your margin without you realizing it. Menu engineering is the method for identifying this mix and optimizing it. Particularly relevant in delivery, where each commission cuts into your margin.
The concept of menu engineering
This involves analyzing your menu to identify which items are performing well and which aren't, and then strategically modifying them to maximize profitability. It’s about understanding how customers make decisions when they’re looking at a menu and using that knowledge to influence those decisions in your favor.
Here's a breakdown of the key components:
- Menu Design: This includes things like font, layout, imagery, and the way you describe your dishes. A well-designed menu is visually appealing and easy to read.
- Menu Placement: Where you place an item on the menu can significantly impact its sales. Items placed higher up or in more prominent locations tend to sell better.
- Menu Descriptions: Descriptive language can evoke emotions and make dishes sound more appealing. Using words like "fresh," "homemade," or "authentic" can be effective.
- Pricing: Strategic pricing can also drive sales. Consider using price anchoring (placing a higher-priced item first to make other items seem more affordable).
Ultimately, menu engineering is a continuous process of testing, analyzing, and refining your menu to improve your restaurant's bottom line.
The menu engineering class classifies each dish according to two dimensions:
- Popularity: sales volume
- Profitability: gross margin in euros (not in %)
This provides four categories:
| Low Popularity | High Popularity | |
|---|---|---|
| High Profitability | Dairy Cows | Stars |
| Low Profitability | Rams | Flash Stars |
Each category requires a specific strategy.
The Stars: to protect and reproduce
These are your most profitable and most popular dishes simultaneously. They are the backbone of your business.
Strategy:
- Never modify or change their prices without careful consideration
- Always highlight them systematically (photos, position in the menu)
- Identify what makes them popular and replicate the formula
- Test them in variations (Star + bacon, Star + double portion) to increase the average order value
On the platforms, Stars should be in the top position in their categories and marked "Popular".
The Milk Cows: To Be Grown
High profitability but low popularity. These dishes make you a lot of money when they sell – you just need them to sell more.
Strategy:
- Improve their presentation (professional photos, compelling descriptions)
- Feature them prominently in the menu
- Include them in targeted promotions
- Suggest them as complementary dishes (cross-sell)
- Use a "new arrival" or "chef's favorite" tag
Often, milk dishes are dishes that customers don't know or understand. Better communication makes a difference.
Ephemeral Stars: To be reformulated
High popularity but low profitability. These dishes sell well but don't generate much profit due to high material costs or an undervalued selling price.
Strategy:
- Increase the price: if the dish is very popular, a 10-15% increase has little impact on volume but an immediate effect on the margin
- Reduce material costs: optimize the recipe, negotiate main ingredients, reduce portions
- Offer optional add-ons: extra cheese, double meat, premium sauce
- Substitute ingredients with cheaper alternatives perceived as equivalent
A fleeting star, well repositioned, can become a star.
The Weights: To Delete or Reinvent
Low popularity AND low profitability. They burden your card without contributing to your business.
Strategy:
- Simply eliminate : many restaurateurs hesitate out of sentimentality, but a shorter menu is a more effective menu
- Completely reinvent : if you want to keep the dish, rebuild it with a new recipe, a new price, and a new presentation
- Test as dish of the day : check if it has seasonal potential before putting it on permanently
A map with fewer burdens is a clearer map for the client.
How to Build Your Menu Engineering Matrix
What is a Menu Engineering Matrix?
The Menu Engineering Matrix is a powerful tool used by restaurants and food businesses to analyze their menus and identify which items are performing well (stars), which need improvement (duds), and which have potential (dogs). It’s a data-driven approach to optimizing your menu for profitability and customer satisfaction.
The Four Categories:
The matrix categorizes menu items into four groups:
- Stars: These are your high-profit, high-popularity items. They’re your bread and butter – keep them!
- Puzzles: These items have high popularity but low profit margins. They need attention. Consider tweaking the recipe, increasing the price slightly, or repositioning them on the menu.
- Dogs: These items are low popularity and low profit. It’s likely time to remove them or significantly revamp them.
- Potential: These items have high profit margins but low popularity. Marketing and promotion can help boost their visibility and sales.
Building Your Matrix – Step-by-Step:
- Gather Your Data: You’ll need sales data. Ideally, you’ll want to track:
- Sales Volume: How many of each item are sold?
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): How much does it cost to make each item?
- Selling Price: How much does the item sell for?
- Profit Margin: (Selling Price - COGS) / Selling Price * 100. This is the key metric.
- Create a Spreadsheet: Use a spreadsheet program (like Excel or Google Sheets) to organize your data. Columns should include item name, sales volume, COGS, selling price, and profit margin.
- Calculate Profit Margin for Each Item: For each menu item, calculate the profit margin.
- Plot Your Items: Plot each item on a graph with Sales Volume on the X-axis and Profit Margin on the Y-axis.
- Categorize: Based on the position of each item on the graph, assign it to one of the four categories: Star, Puzzle, Dog, or Potential.
- Analyze and Take Action: Once you’ve categorized your items, analyze the results and develop a plan to optimize your menu. This might involve adjusting prices, changing recipes, or repositioning items on the menu.
Example:
Let's say you have a burger that sells 50 units per day, costs $5 in ingredients, and sells for $15. The profit margin is ($15 - $5) / $15 = 0.67 (67%). This would be classified as a Star.
Resources:
Step 1: Collect the data
You need for each dish for the 3-6 last months:
- Sales volume (number of units)
- Average selling price
- Raw material cost (to be calculated if not already done)
- Gross margin in €: selling price - cost of raw materials
Step 2: Calculate the averages
For your classification criteria:
- Average Popularity : total volume / number of dishes
- Average Profitability : total gross margin / number of dishes
Step 3: Classify each dish
Above average popularity AND average profitability → Star Above profitability, below average popularity → Milk cow Below profitability, above average popularity → Flash star Below both → Dud
Step 4: Define an action plan by category
For each dish, a decision: keep, change the price, revamp, remove.
The specificity of delivery
In delivery, menu engineering must take into account:
The platform commission
Your net delivery margin is your gross margin less the commission. A dish that works in-house can be a liability for delivery after commission. Menu engineering must therefore be done channel by channel.
The ability to travel
Not all dishes hold up to delivery. A fresh salad does, a soufflé not at all. Evaluate the "delivery robustness" of each dish and adapt your offering:
- Dishes that travel well: to highlight for delivery
- Fragile dishes: to exclude or rethink for delivery
Average platform ticket
On platforms, the average basket is generally higher than in a restaurant (delivery fees encourage larger orders). Take advantage of this to:
- Highlight high-margin add-ons (drinks, desserts, premium fries)
- Offer "menus" with multiple items at attractive prices
Update your analysis regularly.
Menu engineering is not a one-time exercise. Revisit it:
- Every 3 months at minimum
- After every menu change
- Following a significant material cost variation (seasonal, supplier increase)
- When a dish suddenly becomes popular or stops selling
Necessary Tools
To create a clean menu engineering, you need:
A POS that provides volumes by dish over the period. A technical sheet for each dish with current material cost. An analytical dashboard that consolidates dining room + delivery.
Pepprio provides consolidated delivery data by dish and by platform, which complements your POS analysis for a complete view.
The trap of "everything is important"
The classic trap in menu engineering is refusing to make difficult decisions. “But it’s my signature dish”; “The regulars will be disappointed”; “It’s part of my identity.”
Reality: a shorter menu with only optimized Stars and Milk Cows (with some new features in testing) is more profitable and clearer for the customer than a bloated menu that dilutes your margin.
Voici la conclusion :
Il est crucial de souligner que la réussite de ce projet dépendra de la collaboration étroite entre tous les acteurs impliqués. Nous devons maintenir une communication ouverte et transparente, et être prêts à ajuster nos plans en fonction des retours d'expérience. L'innovation, la flexibilité et l'engagement de chacun seront les clés pour surmonter les défis et atteindre nos objectifs. N'oublions pas que le succès n'est pas une destination, mais un voyage continu d'apprentissage et d'amélioration. Investissons dans l'avenir et construisons ensemble une solution durable et performante.
Enfin, je tiens à remercier chaleureusement chaque membre de l'équipe pour son dévouement et sa passion. Votre travail acharné et votre expertise ont été déterminants pour nous amener là où nous sommes aujourd'hui. Je suis convaincu que nous pouvons continuer à progresser et à atteindre de nouveaux sommets.
Points clés à retenir :
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Flexibilité
- Engagement
- Apprentissage continu
Menu engineering is one of the most profitable levers for a restaurant – particularly in delivery where every euro of margin counts. Set aside 2-3 hours per quarter for this exercise and you will sustainably transform your profitability.
Pepprio’s analytical tools simplify performance analysis by dish on platforms — to steer your menu not on intuition but on data.