Menu Engineering – Calculations, Strategies & Interpretation

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 goal is simple: to increase profitability per guest.

The concept of menu engineering is not based on random, seat-of-your pants decision making; it is rooted in work performed in 1970 by the Boston Consulting Group to help businesses segment their products in a way that facilitates analysis and decision making. The idea was brought to the restaurant industry roughly a decade later by Professor “Coach” Donald Smith of Michigan State University.

While menu engineering is most often mentioned in the context of traditional paper restaurant menus, the concepts are equally applicable to menus posted online, drink menus, specials written on table tents, and items written on menu boards. Simply put, if you sell items that have varying levels of profitability and popularity, menu engineering may help you increase your profits.

This course will teach you how to prepare and calculate menu engineering report, Menu design principals, Strategies to improve restaurant profitability and other key implications of menu engineering report