Menu engineering is a process developed in the 1980s to maximize restaurant profits by influencing customer menu selections. It involves analyzing each item's profitability, popularity, and categorizing them as stars, plowhorses, puzzles or dogs. Menu design then emphasizes starring items using tactics like prominent positioning, descriptive language, and photography to increase sales within the 109 seconds customers spend deciding. Pricing strategies like rounding up and hiding costs further encourage profitable selections. Regular testing and adjustments keep the menu optimizing revenue.

1. 1
Can you guess what the most important internal marketing and sales tool is for your
restaurant? It’s your menu. It’s the first thing you present your guests when seated, and
the first thing they ask for to pass the time when waiting for a table. Nearly 100 percent
of your guests will read your menu. This fact underscores the importance of crafting a
menu that works hard for you.
Sure, your chefs may grill up the best burger in town or prepare a buttery lobster ravioli
that makes taste buds dance, but if your menu looks unprofessional or outdated, let’s face
it, these amazing dishes won’t be served. A properly designed menu will ensure these
dishes make it to the table—both satisfying guests and helping inspire return visits.
Your menu needs to be more than a list of food with prices; it needs to educate and
entertain your guests. Your menu has a direct influence on what your customers order,
and in turn, an immediate impact on your sales revenue. Menu engineering techniques
and menu design best practices will help you craft a compelling menu that drives sales,
wins loyalty and boosts profitability.
MENU ENGINEERING
What is Menu Engineering?
The concept of menu engineering was developed in the early 1980s by two professors
at the Michigan State School of Hospitality. Rooted in scientific analysis and practical
knowledge, its goal is to subconsciously influence customers’ menu selections in order to
maximize profits. In short, the question menu engineering helps you answer is “How can I
get my guests to buy the items I want them to buy?” While the intelligence it generates was
originally intended for traditional printed menus, its lessons can be applied to table tents,
specialty menus (e.g. drink, dessert, holiday and children’s menus), menu boards and even
digital menus.
The Menu Engineering Process
Menu engineering can be a hefty undertaking, but its benefits far outweigh any cost or time
investments. In fact, most restaurants improve profits by 2 to 10 percent from a reengineered
menu, according to Restaurants USA. For an operation that earns $1 million annually, a
reengineered menu could mean an extra $100,000—each year! Some organizations even
reengineer their menus every year to squeeze out additional profits.
Evaluating Menu Profitability
The process begins with an evaluation of your menu’s profitability. To do this, you must
calculate each menu item’s contribution margin, or the menu price less the total cost of
ingredients. Accuracy is key here, so make sure to calculate the food cost down to the penny.
Next, divide the sum of all contribution margins by the number of items on your menu. This
calculates the average contribution margin. Items above the average are considered “high
profitability,” while items below the average are considered “low profitability.”
Most restaurants
IMPROVE PROFITS
BY2TO10
PERCENTFROM A REENGINEERED MENU
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WINNING MENUS:
Engineering Your Communication to Drive Sales,
Win Loyalty and Boost Profitability

2. 2
Determining Popularity
Determining a menu item’s popularity is another way of calculating its demand. To do this,
simply divide 1 by the total number of menu items you offer. For example, if you have ten
menu items, the average popularity is .1 or 10 percent. You’ll have to look at your sales and
assess if each item is high or low in popularity. In the example above, a menu item can be
considered popular if it represents more than 10 percent of sales.
Identifying Your Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles and Dogs
Using the following chart, plot each menu item in one of the four quadrants. This helps you
identify the menu items that are contributing the most to your sales—and the items you will
use to drive sales in the future.
Stars – High in profitability.
High in popularity.
Plowhorses – Low in profitability.
High in popularity.
Puzzles – High in profitability.
Low in popularity.
Dogs – Low in profitability.
Low in popularity.
Source: Kasavana, M. L., & Smith, D. L. Menu engineering.
(3rd ed.). Okemos, MI: Hospitality Publications, Inc.
Finding Your Stars
While science helped you classify your menu into these four categories, making decisions
for your new menu, such as which dishes you show on the cover and what items are just
listed in text, is more of a combination of art and intuition.
Stars – Stars are simple. These are the dishes that deserve special attention—perhaps
highlighted with a photo or by a graphical element. Encourage your servers to recommend
these items. Also, try slightly raising their prices to see if it affects demand.
Plowhorses – These are the crowd-pleasers. They are in demand by customers but do
little for your bottom line. Give Plowhorses lower visibility on your menu. You may be
able to turn Plowhorses into Stars by adjusting portion sizes, raising the price or using
less expensive, alternative ingredients.
Puzzles – For some reason, Puzzles aren’t selling. Puzzles may be overpriced or offer a
flavor profile that doesn’t appeal to most guests. Try giving them greater visibility on your
menu, and make sure your servers call attention to these items.
Dogs – Dogs are a challenge. They can’t all be dropped, because they may be a menu
essential, like children’s mac ‘n’ cheese or chicken tenders. However, sometimes Dogs are
little more than a distraction, and by removing them from your menu, you can free up space
to emphasize more profitable dishes. You also may want to rebrand each Dog—a new name
or flashy description could turn around sales.
STARPLOWHORSE
#Sold Average
Popularity
Profitability
Average Contribution Margin
PUZZLEDOG

3. 3
MENU DESIGN
After the numbers comes design. While you can expect nearly all of your guests to read
your menu, they will only spend an average of 109 seconds making a decision, according to
Gallup research. This isn’t a long time, so your menu design and presentation need to help
them arrive at their decision quickly—ideally landing on one of your Stars.
Follow the Eyes
Menus come in all shapes and sizes, from small booklets to single-sided behemoths that
cover the whole table. Researchers have discovered that the way restaurant goers browse a
menu changes with its format. To help you increase sales, position your Stars at the “sweet
spots” along the expected gazing patterns. Call attention to these items with beautiful
pictures, a design element or a small icon that symbolizes a “signature dish.”
1-Page 2-Page Tri-Fold
Multi-Page
GAZING PATTERNS
1
1
1
2 2 23
4
3
4
57 7
6
5
63
EYE FLOW
AREA OF MOST ATTENTION /
“SWEET SPOTS”
Looking Good on Paper
Imagine a high-gloss, tri-fold menu full of colorful pictures and flashy fonts. Now imagine
a tall and narrow menu with minimal text in a cursive typeface printed on a crisp, subtly
textured cardstock. Can you identify which menu belongs at a ‘50s-themed family restaurant
and which one is better suited for a classy, romantic steakhouse?
The takeaway of this exercise is your menu needs to look good on paper and online.
Everything from the font and colors to the descriptions and pictures need to reflect your
restaurant’s theme and atmosphere. All of this helps build a unified image for your brand.
Everything in its Place
The way you organize your menu should follow the progression of a meal, so appetizers
first, followed by entrées and desserts. The greatest amount of space should be dedicated
to entrées because these are generally your most profitable items. If needed, you can
subcategorize your menu too, such as having pastas, sandwiches and meats under entrées.
Your menu organization also depends on the number of items you sell. It is a best practice
to have a range of five to seven items per category. This is optimal because it’s a manageable
amount of information for the customer, helping ease decision-making. Additionally, within
each category, the first few spots and the final spot receive higher attention levels. So,
reserve these spots for your Star items.
Guests will spend
AN AVERAGE OF
109 SECONDS
LOOKING AT YOUR MENU
WITHIN EACH CATEGORY, THE
FIRST FEW SPOTS AND THE
FINAL SPOT RECEIVE HIGHER
ATTENTION LEVELS. PLACE
YOUR STAR ITEMS HERE.

4. 4
Now You’re Talking My Language
What sounds more appealing: Grilled Chicken or Chargrilled Honey-Lemon Glazed Chicken?
And which item do you think people will be willing to pay more for?
Descriptive language has a significant effect on whether an item is ordered or not, and
even how people rate their food and experience. If you can get customers imagining and
anticipating flavors, they’ll happily pay extra for an item.
A few tips: the amount of text used to describe an item should correlate with its profitability.
For your Stars, make a bold, punchy statement that gets your guests excited. Dogs, on the
other hand, may only require the name and price. Remember, you want your guests to focus
on the items that are most profitable for you. Don’t forget to check your spelling!
What’s Your Type?
Fonts are a tool you can use to increase the effectiveness of your menu. Consider using
different fonts, styles and sizes to create a messaging hierarchy within your menu.
Variations can be used to differentiate menu categories, menu items and descriptions—and
to highlight your Stars. Selective changes in font or color will attract the customer’s eye, thus
increasing the likelihood of purchase. To prevent clutter, restrict your menu to three fonts at
a maximum—and be sure to use each font, style and size consistently.
The Price is Right
When menu items end in very specific amounts, such as $8.67 or $8.99, customers can
become increasingly price conscious. As an alternative, try rounding your prices up to the
next square dollar. Customers do this subconsciously every day, and most consider the
aforementioned prices to be $9.00 anyway. However, if this strategy isn’t possible, rounding
to the half dollar or quarter works, too.
Add-ons are an easy way to increase check size. Customers may love grilled chicken on
their salads and would gladly pay an extra couple of bucks for it. Lastly, don’t be afraid
to test new pricing. Customers tend to care more about the overall experience, and most
won’t notice a slight fluctuation in price. You may even discover that increasing the price
transforms a Plowhorse into a Star.
It’s All About Presentation
Not only is pricing strategy important, but so too is the way prices are presented. Believe it
or not, labeling a price as $11, 11, eleven or eleven dollars will all yield different sales results.
Fortunately, there are subtle tricks you can use to get your guests to focus on the food rather
than its cost.
First, do not use a dollar sign or spell out “dollar.” Just the number will do. This little
symbol and the word indicate to customers that they’re about to spend money. Second,
do not align prices in a column. By doing this, you’re enabling customers to easily “shop”
the menu for cheap items. Instead, tuck the price at the end of your descriptions. Lastly,
whether or not you spell out the number is a style preference, but it may be better suited
for a high-end establishment.
DO NOT ALIGN PRICES
IN A COLUMN. BY DOING
THIS, YOU’RE ENABLING
CUSTOMERS TO EASILY
“SHOP” THE MENU FOR
CHEAP ITEMS.

5. 5
A Picture is Worth One Thousand Words
Nothing sells your menu better than a beautiful photograph. In fact, one menu engineering
expert experienced sales boosts of up to 30% on pictured items. It’s a perfect medium for
showcasing signature dishes, but don’t overdo it. The “less is more” standard applies,
as using too many images will dilute their impact.
Using imagery, however, doesn’t come without risk. If not executed well, it can quickly
cheapen the look of your menu. For high-end establishments, it’s generally advised to
do without photography altogether. If you use photography, it needs to be high quality.
A professional food photographer with the help of a food stylist can help produce compelling
imagery that uniquely fits your restaurant’s brand. The food pictured should also closely
resemble the food that will be served or else you’ll fail to meet customer expectations. If
you have any doubts about photography, focus on perfecting the appeal of your menu item
descriptions instead.
A Decoy Here. A Profitable Sale There.
You’ll find that most customers have an extremeness aversion; they’ll never order the most
expensive or least expensive items on the menu. Luckily, you can use this psychological
quirk to your advantage.
By highlighting the very expensive Filet Mignon, for example, the less pricey Sirloin
Steak directly below it seems more reasonably priced by contrast. The strategy here is
to position a high-priced item in a “sweet spot” with a highly profitable Star item right
next to it. Customers may only order the decoy once in a blue moon, but you can bank
on the Stars to sell.
ONWARDS & UPWARDS
Menu engineering and design is part science and part art, so there are no hard and fast
rules. The tips outlined in this document are all recommendations that have proven to have
an impact for other establishments. Feel free to go against the grain if it’s right for your
menu and restaurant.
A critical part of launching a reengineered and redesigned menu is testing and evaluation.
Pay attention to what’s working and what isn’t. Remember, your menu is your most
important marketing tool, and it’s something nearly every one of your customers will see.
There’s always room for improvement.
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