Menu engineering: stars, plough horses, puzzles and dogs
Menu engineering is the discipline of judging every dish on two axes, how well it sells and how much cash profit it makes, and then acting on where it lands. It is the fastest way to lift margin without raising a single headline price.
The two numbers you need
- Popularity: Units sold over a defined period, straight from the till.
- Cash gross profit: Selling price excluding VAT minus dish cost, from an up-to-date costing.
Use cash gross profit, not GP%. A dish at 85% GP that makes £4 a plate contributes less than one at 65% making £10.
The four categories
| Category | Sells | Profit | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | High | High | Protect them. Keep the spec, the supplier and the position on the menu exactly as they are. |
| Plough horses | High | Low | Popular but thin. Cut the cost, portion, spec or supplier, before you touch the price, because these are what people come for. |
| Puzzles | Low | High | Worth pushing. Reposition on the menu, rename it, or brief the floor to recommend it. If it still will not sell after a full cycle, drop it. |
| Dogs | Low | Low | Remove them. They tie up stock, prep time and menu space that a puzzle could use. |
A worked example
| Dish | Sold | GP per plate | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beer-battered haddock | 310 | £10.20 | Star |
| Beef burger | 280 | £5.40 | Plough horse |
| Pan-fried duck breast | 46 | £12.10 | Puzzle |
| Vegetable tart | 38 | £4.90 | Dog |
The action list writes itself: leave the haddock alone, review the burger’s build and bun supplier, move the duck up the menu and brief the floor on it, and replace the tart with something the kitchen actually wants to cook.
Doing the review
- Pull unit sales per dish for a full trading period. At least four weeks.
- Make sure every recipe costing reflects current ingredient prices.
- Calculate cash gross profit per dish and sort into the four categories against your menu averages.
- Agree one action per dish, apply it, and re-run the review next quarter.
Chef’s Helper keeps the costing half current for you: recipes re-cost as ingredient prices change, so a review is a read-through rather than a week of spreadsheet work.
Frequently asked questions
What is menu engineering?
Menu engineering plots every dish by how often it sells and how much gross profit it makes, then sorts them into four groups, stars, plough horses, puzzles and dogs, so you know which dishes to promote, reprice, reformulate or remove.
What data do I need to do it?
Two things per dish: units sold over a trading period, and cash gross profit per unit. Sales counts come from your till; gross profit comes from an up-to-date recipe costing.
How often should I run a menu engineering review?
Once a quarter, and always before a menu change or after a significant supplier price rise.