Skip to contentMenu engineering: find your Stars and your Dogs.
Paste a month of sales with each item's price and cost. Every item lands in one of four boxes, judged against the rest of its category, with a plain next step for each.
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Your items
Sample data: a month at a made-up beach bar, to show how the matrix reads. Paste your own sales, or clear it and type them in.
16 items in 3 categories
The matrix
4 Stars5 Plowhorses5 Puzzles2 Dogs
Popular from 146 sold (70% of an even share) Average margin €7.56, weighted by sales
- PuzzleAbove-average margin, not popularIt earns well but few order it: give it a better spot on the menu, a clearer name, or have staff suggest it.
- StarPopular and above-average marginKeep it as it is: protect the recipe, the portion and its place on the menu.
- DogNot popular, below-average marginLow on both: rework it, or take it off and give the space to something that sells.
- PlowhorsePopular, below-average marginGuests like it but it earns less: try a small price rise, a cheaper side or a tighter portion.
Click a column to sort. Popularity and margin are judged within each category.
| Aperol Spritz | Cocktails | 412 | 33.0% | €9.50 | €2.10 | €7.40 | €3,048.80 | Plowhorse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mojito | Cocktails | 386 | 30.9% | €9.00 | €1.70 | €7.30 | €2,817.80 | Plowhorse |
| Frozen strawberry daiquiri | Cocktails | 198 | 15.9% | €10.00 | €2.40 | €7.60 | €1,504.80 | Star |
| Pina colada | Cocktails | 121 | 9.7% | €10.50 | €2.60 | €7.90 | €955.90 | Puzzle |
| Espresso martini | Cocktails | 74 | 5.9% | €11.00 | €2.30 | €8.70 | €643.80 | Puzzle |
| Zivania sour | Cocktails | 58 | 4.6% | €10.00 | €1.90 | €8.10 | €469.80 | Puzzle |
| Club sandwich | Food | 264 | 24.4% | €11.50 | €3.10 | €8.40 | €2,217.60 | Star |
| Halloumi fries | Food | 301 | 27.8% | €7.50 | €1.80 | €5.70 | €1,715.70 | Plowhorse |
| Greek salad | Food | 112 | 10.4% | €9.00 | €2.90 | €6.10 | €683.20 | Dog |
| Chicken souvlaki pitta | Food | 223 | 20.6% | €8.50 | €2.60 | €5.90 | €1,315.70 | Plowhorse |
| Beef burger | Food | 142 | 13.1% | €13.50 | €4.70 | €8.80 | €1,249.60 | Star |
| Seafood linguine | Food | 39 | 3.6% | €18.00 | €6.20 | €11.80 | €460.20 | Puzzle |
| Freddo espresso | Coffee | 520 | 42.5% | €3.80 | €0.45 | €3.35 | €1,742.00 | Plowhorse |
| Freddo cappuccino | Coffee | 448 | 36.6% | €4.20 | €0.60 | €3.60 | €1,612.80 | Star |
| Frappe | Coffee | 160 | 13.1% | €3.50 | €0.40 | €3.10 | €496.00 | Dog |
| Iced latte | Coffee | 96 | 7.8% | €4.50 | €0.75 | €3.75 | €360.00 | Puzzle |
How to use it
- Export a period of sales from your till, a month or a season: each item with how many you sold. Use the same period for every item.
- Add each item’s menu price and its cost. Use the price before VAT if you can, so the margins are what you keep. For costs, the food cost calculator works them out from the recipe.
- Paste it all in, or type it, with a category for each item. Coffees are compared with coffees and cocktails with cocktails, never with each other.
- Read the matrix one category at a time, then sort the table by total margin to see which items carry the menu.
How items are classed
This is the Kasavana and Smith method, the standard way to engineer a menu. Each item is asked two questions, against the other items in its category.
- Is it popular?
- Yes if its share of the category’s sales is at least 70% of an even share. With 10 cocktails, an even share is 10% each, so a cocktail is popular from 7% of cocktail sales. The 70% allows for the fact that a menu is never perfectly even.
- Is it profitable?
- Yes if its margin per item (price minus cost) is at least the category’s average margin, where every sale counts: an item you sell 400 of weighs more in the average than one you sell 40 of.
Popular and profitable is a Star. Popular but below the margin is a Plowhorse. Profitable but not popular is a Puzzle. Neither is a Dog. An item exactly on a line counts as high. An item that sold nothing is never popular.
Getting a useful answer
- Margin is in euros, not percent. A cocktail at a 20% cost can earn more per glass than a coffee at 12%. The matrix ranks what each sale leaves you, which is what pays the bills.
- Change one thing at a time, then run the next month through again to see if it moved.
- A Dog isn’t always a mistake. The kids’ menu or the one vegan dish can earn their place by bringing a whole table in. Decide with the numbers, not by them.
- Small categories read less. With two or three items, one good week can move an item across a line. Group similar items together where it makes sense.