Category: 📈 Sales & Menu | Reading time: 10-12 min
You have 45 items on your menu. Do you know which 5 are making you money and which 10 are losing it? You don’t. Because you treat the menu like a "list of dishes," but in reality, the menu is a sales tool.
Menu engineering means evaluating every dish based on 2 metrics: how much it sells (popularity) and how much profit it brings (profitability). When you combine these two dimensions, you get 4 categories — and every dish on your menu falls into one of them.
In this article, I’ll teach you this system from scratch. No MBA required. Just a calculator and Excel.
The Menu Matrix — 4 Categories
This system was adapted for the restaurant industry based on the famous Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix. Every dish has 2 indicators:
- Popularity: Does it sell a lot or a little?
- Profitability (contribution margin): How much profit remains per portion?
Based on these two indicators, we get 4 categories:
| High Profit | Low Profit | |
|---|---|---|
| High Sales | ⭐ STAR | 🐴 PLOWHORSE |
| Low Sales | 🧩 PUZZLE | 🐕 DOG |
⭐ STAR — High Sales + High Profit
This is the hero of your menu. Protect it. Do not raise its price (for now), do not lower quality, and keep it in a visible spot on the menu.
🐴 PLOWHORSE — High Sales + Low Profit
Popular, but leaves you little money. Strategy: either reduce its food cost (cheaper ingredients, portion optimization), or increase the price slightly, or bundle it with a high-margin side dish (combo).
🧩 PUZZLE — Low Sales + High Profit
It makes money, but nobody orders it. Strategy: increase its visibility — place it in a better spot on the menu, have the server recommend it, tag it as "chef’s choice", promote it on social media.
🐕 DOG — Low Sales + Low Profit
Doesn't sell and doesn't profit. Strategy: kill it. Remove it from the menu. It takes up space, requires inventory, and slows down the kitchen. Don't get sentimental — don't say "but this is our classic." If it doesn't sell and doesn't profit — it has no place on the menu.
📝 DOĞAN'S NOTE: "We did a menu analysis at one restaurant. There were 42 dishes. 8 turned out to be 'dogs' — they didn't sell and didn't profit. The owner said, 'But it's my grandfather's recipe, I can't take it off.' I said, 'Respect your grandfather, but also respect your cash register.' We removed those 8, kitchen speed increased by 20%, waste dropped by 30%."
Step-by-Step: How to Do a Menu Analysis
Step 1: Collect Sales Data
From the last 3 months' sales report, extract the sales count for each dish. If you have a POS system — this is automatic. If no POS — you'll have to count manually (but seriously, get a POS).
Step 2: Calculate the Contribution Margin for Each Dish
Contribution Margin = Selling price - Food cost
Example:
- Chicken Sac: Price 18 AZN, Food cost 5.39 AZN → CM = 12.61 AZN
- Minced Kebab: Price 14 AZN, Food cost 6.80 AZN → CM = 7.20 AZN
Step 3: Calculate Averages
- Average Popularity: Total sales count of all dishes ÷ number of dishes
- Average CM: Average of all dishes' CM values
Step 4: Place Each Dish in the Matrix
| Dish | Sales (month) | CM (AZN) | Popularity | Profitability | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken Sac | 320 | 12.61 | High | High | ⭐ Star |
| Minced Kebab | 280 | 7.20 | High | Low | 🐴 Plowhorse |
| Veal Medallion | 45 | 18.50 | Low | High | 🧩 Puzzle |
| Vegetable Gratin | 22 | 4.30 | Low | Low | 🐕 Dog |
Now each dish has a strategic plan.
Menu Design — Where Does the Eye Go?
The second part of menu engineering is visual placement. Research shows that the eye first looks at certain points on a menu:
Single-page menu: The eye starts in the center, then goes to the top right, then to the top left.
Bifold menu: The eye first looks at the top center of the right page — this is called the "golden triangle." Place your highest-margin dishes right there.
Trifold menu: The eye first looks at the top of the center panel.
Practical rules:
- Place your most profitable dishes where the eye first lands — top right or top center.
- Highlight with a box. Draw a thin frame around your highest-margin dish — the eye automatically goes there.
- Add a "Chef's Recommendation" tag. This is ideal for Puzzle category dishes — profitable but low-selling; the tag boosts sales.
- Don't list prices in a straight column. If prices are written in a neat right-aligned column, people look for the cheapest. Write the price at the end of the dish description, without a period — it directs attention to the dish, not the price.
- Omit the currency symbol. Studies show that currency symbols remind people they are spending money. Just write the number: "18" — not "18 AZN."
Upselling — Server Sales
The third pillar of menu engineering is server sales. The menu is perfectly designed, but if the server just asks "What would you like?" and waits — half the engineering is lost.
What should the server do?
- Actively recommend Puzzle dishes. "Our chef's special today is the veal medallion, I highly recommend it" — that's a sales sentence.
- Offer dessert and drinks to EVERY TABLE. Not "Would you like dessert?" but "Our cheesecake is excellent today, shall I bring one to share?" — specific, descriptive, action-oriented.
- Suggest combos (bundling). "You ordered the kebab — would you like a drink with it? Our buttermilk is homemade" — that's cross-selling.
Menu Size — "More" Is Always "Bad"
In Baku, restaurants operate with menus of 60-80 dishes. This is a disaster. Why?
- Inventory bloats: Storing ingredients for 80 dishes = large storage, many fridges, lots of waste.
- Kitchen slows down: The chef can't memorize 80 dishes, quality drops.
- Customers get confused: Choice paradox among 80 dishes — too many choices = inability to choose = dissatisfaction.
- Food cost increases: Ingredients for slow-selling items spoil.
Ideal menu size:
| Restaurant type | Ideal number of dishes |
|---|---|
| Fast-casual | 15-20 |
| Casual dining | 25-35 |
| Fine dining | 12-20 |
| Café | 15-25 |
| Kebab shop / specialty concept | 10-15 |
📝 DOĞAN'S NOTE: "When I see an 80-item menu, I know the restaurant has 'a little bit of everything' but nothing 'good.' The best restaurants operate with 20-30 dishes — but every single one is perfect. Less but good > more but average."
Menu Update Calendar
You design a menu once and forget it? Big mistake.
| Frequency | What to do |
|---|---|
| Every week | Check sales data — which items are up, which are down? |
| Every month | Update food costs — if prices have changed, recalculate the menu matrix |
| Every 3 months | Do a menu analysis — remove Dogs, promote Puzzles, test new items |
| Every 6 months | Seasonal menu update — spring/winter menu |
| Once a year | Full menu audit — design, pricing, category balance |
MENU ENGINEERING CHECKLIST
| # | Step | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calculate food cost for each dish (from recipe card) | ☐ |
| 2 | Calculate contribution margin for each dish | ☐ |
| 3 | Collect sales data from the last 3 months (from POS) | ☐ |
| 4 | Build the menu matrix: Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle, Dog | ☐ |
| 5 | Remove Dogs from the menu | ☐ |
| 6 | Move Puzzles to more visible spots on the menu | ☐ |
| 7 | Optimize food cost of Plowhorses or increase their price | ☐ |
| 8 | Give servers a list of "dishes to sell" | ☐ |
| 9 | Place your most profitable dish in the golden triangle of the menu design | ☐ |
| 10 | Write prices without currency symbol, not in a column | ☐ |
💡 DK Agency: Hard to do the menu analysis yourself? The DK Agency Toolkit includes a menu matrix template — enter sales counts and food costs, and the system automatically categorizes dishes. We also offer consulting services for menu optimization, pricing strategy, and server sales training.
📧 info@dkagency.com.tr | 🔧 dkagency.com.tr/en/tools | 🌐 dkagency.com.tr/en/tools/marketing-ocagi