Menu engineering: the 2×2 that tells you what to push, reprice or drop

Every menu carries passengers: dishes that take a slot, a photo and prep time while earning almost nothing. Menu engineering is the 40-year-old method (Kasavana & Smith, 1982) that finds them with two questions per dish: does it sell? and does it earn per plate?

The two axes, precisely

Popularity: a dish counts as popular if its share of units sold is at least 70% of 'fair share' (fair share = 100% ÷ number of dishes). Profitability: its contribution margin (price minus ingredient cost — not percentage, rupees) is at or above the menu's units-weighted average. Two axes, four quadrants:

• ⭐ Star — popular AND high margin. Protect it: keep it in stock, keep quality boringly consistent, never bury it on the menu.
• 🐴 Plowhorse — popular but thin margin. Your best sellers working for free. Nudge price ₹10–20, trim garnish cost, or bundle with a high-margin drink.
• 🧩 Puzzle — high margin but slow. The kitchen's best-kept secret. Move it up the menu, add a photo, have captains suggest it — sell the ones you already have.
• 🐶 Dog — slow AND thin. Drop it, or rework it into something else. Every dog costs prep, inventory and menu attention.

Contribution margin needs real recipe costs

The method collapses if 'cost' is a guess. Each dish needs its bill of materials priced at what you actually paid — weighted average purchase cost, not the last invoice — so the margin axis reflects your kitchen, not a template.

Run it quarterly, act on three dishes

The discipline isn't the chart — it's the follow-through. Each quarter: reprice one Plowhorse, promote one Puzzle, retire one Dog. Then compare quarters: did the Plowhorse hold volume at the new price? Did the Puzzle move? Small, measured, compounding.

The trap to avoid

Don't judge dishes by revenue alone. A ₹450 dish with ₹90 margin is doing less for you than a ₹220 dish with ₹130 margin at the same volume. Rupees of contribution per plate, times plates — that's the whole game.

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