Menu development

Introduction
There is no stronger multipurpose tool for a restaurant than its menu. A menu can help
communicate the goals of an operation to its target market. A menu can be a sales tool. A menu
can help managers assess the operations strengths and weaknesses. And a menu showcases the
food that kitchen staff has prepared to offer.
Menu over view
One of the most important interactions people have with a given operation is through the menu. It
is where sales are initially won or lost. If, for example, guests like what is on the menu, and the
prices seem fair, then they are likely to place an order. If, on the other hand, they do not like what
they see, then the operation may lose business. Of course preparing and delivering what is on the
menu matters greatly, but if a person is not interested enough to order something from the menu
in the first place, then the product itself does not matter.
The menu functions in two ways i.e for planning purpose and for communication purpose. For
the planning function, the menu provides and end goal to which all the employees work. The
chefs gear each stage of food production towards putting out the best product at the best price.
The menu also helps the staff to organize themselves by asking certain important questions:
 What is the target market? What segment are we aiming to serve?
 What type of food and service do these segments of the market expect?
 Are the ingredients for the menu items readily available and cost-effective?
 Can the menu items be prepared in the most appealing way possible?
 Is the menu best serving the needs of our target market?
 Is the menu best serving the goals of the operation?
So, using the menu as a planning tool actually helps employees stay focused on all the behind-
the-scenes work and how to best accomplish the goals of the operation.
As a marketing and communication tool, the menu functions in three ways:
 Informing guests about what the operation offers
 Selling products
 Creating identity.
Informing guest
The most basic information of the menu is to tell guest what the operation has to offer. But the
menu also presents an opportunity to distinguish these items from those of the competition. Many
places serve a burger of some sort, but a chef can use the menu to describe exactly how a burger
is prepared and why it is better than any of the competitors’ burgers. Do the chefs use a particular
kind of meal or spice? Do they cook it in a different way? Do they offer different condiments for
the dish? Chefs can describe all of this details on the menu.
In addition, the menu informs guest about potential health concerns, such as the risks of eating
undercooked food, ingredients that may cause allergic reactions (e.g tree nuts), or particularities
of specific dishes (e.g degree of spiciness).
Selling products
The menu may be an operation’s best sales tool. It can greatly influence what guest decide to
order. How? By appealing to the guests’ appetites through well-written descriptions of menu
items. Guests are also influenced by the placement of items on the menu. For instance, marketers
and chefs may choose to highlight the items they must want to sell by placing those items at the
top of the menu, putting them in a bolder or bigger font, or even by boxing off the items
altogether in a separate category. The more visual attention certain items attract, the more likely
guest are to consider and order them. A “daily specials” page is one way to use the menu to sell
products.
Creating identity
The menu also helps create the image or identity of an operation. The items listed on a menu say
a lot about an operation, but so does the design of the menu itself. The font, color scheme, and
material or paper stock the menu is printed on all help communicate the identity of an operation.
For example, a menu using a heavy paper stock, bound in a leather cover, and listing menu items
in a script font may give the impression of a high-end, formal operation. On the other hand, a
menu presented on one sheet of regular paper stock with menu items printed in a large, colored
font may create the impression of an informal, casual operation.
TYPES OF MENU
There are many types of menus. An understanding of these broad categories of menus is a good
first step in determining or identifying an operation’s goals and function in the marketplace. The
different types of menus are as follows:
 A la carte (ah le cart): this menu prices each item separately. For example, on an a la
carte menu, a typical meal, such as steak, potatoes, and a vegetable, will have separate
prices for each item, and they need to be ordered individually. In short, nothing on an a la
carte menu comes with anything else.
 California: this menu list all meals available at any time of the day. Diners that are open
24 hours a day might use a califonia menu. This accommodates a wider variety of guest
who may differ in lifestyle and work schedules. The guests can choose whatever they
want whenever they want it e.g breakfast at dinner time.

 Cyclical: with this menu, chefs or managers change items after a certain period of time.
E.g, an operation might serve four different menus that correspond to the four seasons.
Cyclical menus can change on a daily, weekly or monthly basis as well; it all depends on
the management’s objectives in catering to the target market.

 Du jour (doo-ZHEUR): this is a French term that means “of the day”. This menu simply
lists the menu items that are available on a particular day. In the United States, this kind
of menu is often presented as a daily specials menu. It can be on insert in the standard
menu, written on a blackboard, or described verbally by the service staff.
 Fixed: this menu offers the same items every day. A particular advantage here is that
guests know what to expect every time they return. Many chefs work with a fixed menu
to offer guests consistency, but then supplement the fixed menu with a du jour menu to
offer variety.

 Limited: there are typically only a few items offered on a limited menu. Quick-service
operations frequently offer a limited menu. Such a menu makes it easy to keep track of
costs because there are fewer ingredients to account for, and those ingredients are usually
the same through inventory cycles, making it easier to track and monitor pricing.
 Limited time offer (LTO): these menu items are only offered for a short period of time.
LTOs are most popular with quick-service and casual-dining operations. LTOs allow for
the marketing of seasonal food or introduction of new menu ideas and concepts. It is a
low-risk way to test new ideas while increasing guest loyalty and keeping interest.

 Prix fixe (PREE FIX): this type of menu offers guest multiple courses for a single set
price. For example, a choice of appetizer, full entrée with sides, and a dessert might be
offered for one price, and that price is often slightly lower than if each course or item
were purchased separately. This type of menu arrangement presents a win-win for both
guest and operation. The operation ensures a higher check total by bundling multiple
courses together, while the guest receives a discount on that higher total both casual and
formal operations utilize prix fixe menus.
  Table d’hôtel (tah-buhl doHT): this menu is similar to a prix fixe menu in that it
bundles various elements of the menu into one package. For example, such a menu might
present in advance four meals, and each would include a number of courses and possibly
even beverages, all for one price. Banquets frequently offer such a menu.

ORGANIZING A MENU
Most menus organize food items according to the order in which they are usually eaten, as listed
below:
 Appetizers
 Soups
 Salads
 Sandwiches (sandwiches can be offered before or after salads)
 Entrees
 Vegetables
 Desserts
  Beverages
Varieties in these categories depend on what an operation offers and the image that management
wants to promote. For example, a restaurant that offers small plates for sharing might break the
menu up by types of small plates (often cold or hot, or by type of meat or vegetable) in order to
encourage choosing from multiple parts of the menu.
In large operations, chefs prepare food using a variety of cooking methods such as poaching,
roasting, grilling, frying and baking. This results in a menu with food items that vary in taste,
texture, and seasoning for the right amount of contrast to meet the taste of a variety of guests.
However, you can also find operations that focus their menus around one type of food, and
therefore only the guest who wants that food for instance, an operation might have a menu based
solely on fried chicken and sides that might go with fried chicken.
In a full-service operation, chefs or managers can divide entrees by categories, such as beef, pork,
chicken, lamb, veal, ham, shellfish, fish, pasta, egg, cheese, and vegetarian dishes. They maintain
balance through the choice of vegetables, sauces, and potatoes used to complement entrees. For
example, if a menu contains ham and chicken, offering sweet potatoes or yellow winter squash is
a good balance. Four to six vegetables, including potatoes, should meet most menu needs. Salads
and salad dressings can also reflect balance and variety.
The number of desserts on the menu depends on guests’ tastes and past sales. Some operations
may need to serve only ice cream or sherbet to satisfy their guests. Others may need to combine
these with a limited number of pies or cakes. And it is fairly easy to add puddings and fruit to
extend dessert selections.
CREATING A MENU.
A menu also needs to reflect a realistic understanding of what chefs are capable of producing in a
cost-effective way. There are two separate steps in menu creation i.e planning and design.
PLANNING
In the planning phase, managers and chefs must think about the following:
 Physical layout of the facility
 Skill of personnel
 Availability of ingredients
 Wants and needs of the target market
 Expectations of the market
 Profit margin.
Physical layout of the facility
Planners must take the physical layout or space, of the actual operation into account when they
design a menu. For example planners must take into consideration the size of storage facilities,
preparation and cooking areas, and the service and dining areas. An operation’s physical layout
often determines the kind of menu that chefs will be most capable of producing; an operation
might not succeed if planners put out a menu that the chefs cannot produce efficiently.
Skill of personnel
Planners must also consider the staff of an operation. If management wants to offer a menu of
food items that require highly skilled, delicate preparation, then they need to have cooks on staff
that can fulfill those needs. On the other hand, if managers want a menu with ingredients that are
easy to work with and inexpensive to produce, it would be a mistake to employ a kitchen staff
that is highly trained and experienced (and, therefore, more costly). The operation’s personnel
must fit the menu that planners create.
Availability of ingredients
Menu planners must be aware of the price and availability of ingredients when planning menus.
Today, fresh, seasonal ingredients are very popular with guests. But, a menu that consist of many
high-priced ingredients might end up losing money for the operation because food costs will
make the items unprofitable. Planners need to consider not only what their operation can produce
well, but also how cost-efficient the items are to produce.
Wants and needs of the target market.
Sometimes, the personal desires of an operation’s owners or managers overtake the wants and
needs of the market they intend to serve. This is a mistake. The focus should always be on the
desires of the guests. An example of this might be an owner who loves an expensive and hard-to-
obtain type of coffee that, once put on the menu, does not sell any better than a less-expensive,
more readily available coffee.
Expectations of the target market.
Expectations are closely related to the market’s wants and needs but the expectations of the
market are more important after an operation has become established rather than before. Not
meeting expectations becomes more dangerous, the longer an operation exists, because
management can become complacent over time. If the operation does not stay true to the needs of
its guests, they might choose to spend their money elsewhere. Consistency is one of the
cornerstone of success in the restaurant and foodservice industry.
Profit margin
No business can survive if it is not producing at profitable levels. Planners must create the menu
with profitability in mind throughout the entire process. Profit is defined as the amount of
money remaining for an operation after expenses, or cost, are paid. So, for restaurant and
foodservice operations, this is the amount of money left over from the sale of food and beverages
after the cost of preparing them and paying for other overhead expenses, like rent and heat. This
difference is also called the margin; most restaurants and foodservice operations set a target
margin the margin they aim to meet for their operation.
DESIGNING
Once chefs and managers have decided on the items that will be included on a menu, the design
phase can begin. Well-designed menus are pleasing to read, easy to understand, and clearly
express the identity and character of the operations as a whole. But how do designers actually
accomplish this? Designers must consider the following elements when laying out a menu:
 Medium (materials and method)
 Layout (how it is arranged)
 Color
 Font
 Art
Medium
An operation’s menu can be presented in a number of ways. Most operations use some sort of
paper with the menu items printed on it. The paper stock that designers use can help to express
the identity of the operation. Thicker paper stock is more expensive and durable, whereas thinner
stock is less durable and more casual. Additionally, many menus are laminated. This is done to
save the menu, ensure its durability, and make it easier to keep clean. Sometimes, an operation
may opt to put its menu on a different medium altogether. For example a menu can be written
with chalk on a blackboard that is visible to all the patrons in a dining room, or even on a wall in
the dining room. These type of menus are called menu board. Finally, at some operations, the
servers memorize the menu and relay it verbally to the guest. This is called a spoken menu, and
it can help personalize the menu and create a more intimate feel for the operation as a whole.
Layout
How the menu is categorized and sequenced ads to the identity of an operation. Is everything on
one page, or one items spaces out over multiple pages? Are items crammed together in a busy,
hectic way, or are they spaced wide apart in a calmer, more subdued manner? All of this can say
a lot about an operation’s personality. In addition, the layout can help emphasize items on the
menu that management wants guests to order most frequently.
Color
Color is obviously very important to any visual presentation. The colors chosen by an operation
could be the difference between being considered romantic or rowdy, sophisticated or casual,
expensive or inexpensive. Sometimes the color can even signal to patrons what type of food will
be served. For example, various blue tones could signal seafood, while a blend of orange and red
may signal a spicier cuisine. When planning the colors of a menu, designers should think about
the feeling they want guests to get when considering the operations.
Font
Like many elements of design, fonts can work in different ways. A font can, of course, highlight
certain elements on the menu. Italic or bold fonts will stand out on the page and draw guests’
attention. A large, dark font might be helpful for an operation catering to segments of the market
who might appreciate easy-to-read print, and sometimes using italics helps provide contrast
between the name of the menu item and its description. Fonts can also signal the personality of an
operation. For example, flowing, bubbly fonts might be appropriate for a kids’ menu. Scripted
fonts create a classical feel, while clean, rigid lines speak to a more modern approach. Menu
designers must be careful when choosing a font for all these reasons.
Art
Finally, the art on a menu can say a lot about an operation. Illustrations say “kid-friendly” to
many people, while no art at all might say the opposite. A picture of an old 1950s will say “diner”
to some guests, while a chili pepper will say “spicy cuisine” to others. The borders that divide
various segments of the menu also fall under the category of art. What kinds of lines are
incorporated in the menu? Straight lines with lots of angles give off a different vibe than borders
with more arcs and curves.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS PLANNING A MENU
Planning a menu is not as easy as simply listing all your favorite dishes or all the dishes that you
find easy to cook. It takes thought and planning to ensure that you are presenting the right mix of
food to the desired guests. Here is a process that can help you develop a successful menu:
1. List all the menu items that you think might be successful. Take into account guest
preferences, goods available from your suppliers and their prices, the time of year, and
any other factors that you think could be important.
2. Eliminate items from the list that might not work on the finished menu, for instance,
look for garnishes that take too long to prepare or multiply dishes featuring the same
main item. Unless your operation is a steak house, how many steaks do you really need
on the menu?
3. Fine-tune the remaining items to fit your restaurant. For example if your operation has
an Italian theme, then your award-winning chili really does not belong on the menu.
4. Make sure that all the items can be successfully prepared within your existing structure
at an appropriate cost. No matter how elegant and delicious your hot pot may be, if it
take one chef two hours each day to make them and you only have two other chefs, the
hot pot may be too expensive for your menu. Save special presentations like this for
major events, such as wine dinner or private parties.
5. Identify the winning selections and create your menu. If these items are new to your
restaurant, or you have hired new staff who have not prepared or seen any of these
dishes, make sure to build some training time into your schedule. Plan both to teach the
cooks how to make the items and to teach the service staff how to describe them
properly.
6. Save the documents you have created when coming up with the final menu. It may be
that a dish that would be unsuccessful now will be a hit in a year or two. Do not waste
all your work.
7. Once you have fully planned out the content of your menu, it is time to design it.
MENU SALES MIX ANALYSIS
Managers need to monitor the effectiveness of menu items to maximize profits. A method called
the sales mix analysis helps do that. A sales mix analysis is an analysis of the popularity and
profitability of a group of menu items. To effectively do this, the analysis should be done at
least four times per year. The analysis includes determining which menu items are most popular
and which contribute the most money to expenses and profit. Basically, you compare menu items
in terms of sales and profitability. The results of this analysis determine whether managers need
to make changes in menu pricing, content, or design.
While there are several methods available to do menu analysis, one of the most popular is menu
engineering. It systematically breaks down a menu’s components to analyze which items are
making money and which items are selling. Then, managers know which menu items to leave
alone, which need to have an increase or decrease in price, which to promote, and which to
eliminate.
Managers can determine the sales performance of each menu item after the restaurant has been
open for some time and they have enough sales data to analyze. Gathering information for three
months or longer provides more useful results than data from a shorter time period.
You start to gauge performance by looking at sales volume. The sales volume of a menu item is
the number of times the item is sold in a time period. Generally, managers sort the sales of
items by category (appetizers, entrees, etc). the quantity of each item sold can be recorded by
hand or by a point-of-sale (POS) system. Managers can also use sales volume information to
compare the number of each menu item sold to the total number of items sold on the entire menu
in the same time period. So, each menu item’s sales can be expressed as a percentage of total
sales. This is called the sales volume percentage.
PRICING THE MENU
Pricing the menu is a critical process for any operation. Price serves two main purposes i.e it
provides information to guest, and it determines profitability.
The price of items on a menu indicates the market category in which the restaurant falls. This, in
turn, sets guests’ expectations as to the quality of the food, level of service, atmosphere to expect,
etc. guests, for example, will expect more by way of service, quality, and atmosphere for a 500frs
beef than for a 100frs beef. With increased guest expectations comes the need to execute all
levels of food preparation and service on a higher level as well. Management needs to make sure
that pricing aligns with the goals of the operation and the skill level of the staff.
Price also determines profitability by ensuring that an operation is bringing in more money than it
spends for the product or service. The price of a menu item must account for all of the costs, and
overhead costs. Then, management must add in the amount of money it wants, and can
reasonably get, in profit. An item that is overpriced in a particular market will likely not sell
enough to be profitable. In control, an item that is underpriced may sell well, but it will lose
money because it costs the operation more than it is bringing in. striking the right balance
requires careful planning and consideration.
Classifying menu items
There are four key categories of menu classification which are; stars, plow horses, puzzles, and
dogs. After grouping all the menu items into one of those four key categories, it is time to make
decisions. When making decisions, refer to how close on the graph an item is to the next
category. For example, an item that falls into the puzzle category but has a popularity number
very close to the start category should be handled differently than one that has a popularity
number far below the star category. The following explains the four categories:
1. Star: these items are both popular and profitable for the most part, stars should be left
alone. Locate them in a highly visible position on the menu. Test them occasionally for
price rigidity that is, are guests willing to pay more for these items and still buy them in
significant quantity? If so, these items may be able to carry a larger portion of any
increase in cost of food and labor. They are the celebrities of the menu, the highest price
stars, and they may be less price sensitive than any other items on the menu.
2. Plow horses: these items are popular, but less profitable. These items are often an
important reason for a restaurant’s popularity. Because they are less profitable, one
option may be to increase their price. However, this should be done very carefully. If a
plow horse is highly price sensitive that is, if guests see it as a good price value and that
is the reason they come to your restaurant, then try to pass on only marginally profitable
(close to the dog on the graph), drop it from the menu and make a substitution for it.
When increasing the price, always test for a negative effect on sales. Make any price
increase in stages. If the item is an image maker or signature item, hold its current price
as long as possible. On the other hand, if the listing is a non-signature item with a low
contribution margin, move the plow horse to a lower profile position on the menu.
Attempt to shift demand to more profitable items through merchandising and menu
positioning. Another solution might be to reduce the item’s standard portion without
making the different noticeable. Also, try adding value to the item through menu
packaging. In other words, merchandise the plow horse by packaging it with side items to
increase in contribution margin.
3. Puzzles: these items are unpopular, but very profitable. As a result, the number of
puzzles on a menu should be limited. One of the best solutions to helping out a puzzle is
to decrease its price. While this may appear counterproductive to making a profit,
consider that the guest may not perceive it as a fair value. If an item is not selling, no
profit is being made anyway. Another option is to leave its price alone and reposition it
on the menu, perhaps featuring it in more popular location. Additionally, try to advertise
it by using table tents, chalkboards, or suggestive selling. Or, you can rename it. A
puzzle’s popularity can be affected by what it is called, especially if it is unfamiliar to
guests. Remember that even if a puzzle is not selling well, it can make a lot of money,
relatively speaking. If sales can be substantially increased without decreasing the price,
the item could easily become a star.
 4. Dogs: these items are unpopular and unprofitable. Eliminate all dog items if possible.
Replace them with more popular items. Take advantage of hot, trendy, or cutting-edge
listings. Restaurants and foodservice operations are sometimes intimidated by influential
guests who want managers to continue carrying a dog item on the menu. The way to
solve this problem is to carry the item in inventory (assuming it has a shelf life), but not
on the menu. Offer the special guest the opportunity to have the item made to order on
request. You can charge extra for this service. This would raise the dog’s price to puzzle
status.
Some items in the dog category may have market potential. These tend to be the more
popular dogs and may be converted to puzzles by increasing prices. Another detail to
consider is that the menu may have too many items. It is not unusual to discover a
number of highly unpopular menu listings that have little, if any relation to other more
popular and profitable items held in inventory. Do not be afraid to eliminate dogs,
especially when demand is not satisfactory.
Pricing menu items
There one many methods of pricing menu items. Here, two main methods are compared: the food
cost percentage method and the contribution margin method:
1. Food cost percentage method: set the percentage of the menu price that the food cost
must be, and then calculate the price that will provide this percentage using the following
formula:
Item food cost ÷ food cost percentage = menu price
Because food cost percentage is dependent on the costs of the food and its preparation
within the restaurant or foodservice operation, an accurate food cost percentage will be
different for each menu category appetizers, salads, entrees, signature dishes, specials,
desserts, beverages, etc.
2. Contribution margin method: this is a pricing method that works for a la carte menu
items as well as menu items that comprise a meal (soup, salad, entrée, etc). This method
uses operation-wide data to determine a dollar amount that must be added to each major
menu item’s food cost. The managers of a restaurant or foodservice operation can use the
same contribution margin for all menu items, or they can calculate separate contribution
margin for different menu categories. There are two steps to the formula:
(Total nonfood cost + Target profit) ÷ Number of guests = contribution margin
Contribution margin + food cost = menu price.
In addition to these methods, there are two other methods that an operation can use, but
only for major menu items. These methods are the set dollar amount markup and the set
percentage increase method:
 Set dollar amount markup: this method simply adds a fixed dollar amount to
the food cost of an item. In order to utilize this method, you must know the food
cost and the dollar amount of the markup. The equation works as follows:
Food cost + markup = menu price
The markup is calculated based on the following:
= markup
Profit per Labor cost per Operating cost
menu item menu item per menu item
  Set percentage increase method: this method builds on the set dollar amount
markup method and take it a step further basically, managers calculate the
markup as described for the set dollar amount markup for one or several menu
items. Then they determine what the percentage markup is in comparison to the
items’ food costs.
Food cost × percentage = markup
Markup ÷ food cost = percentage
Using the markup and food costs from the set dollar amount markup method allows
managers to calculate a percentage markup for all menu items.
Essential skills pricing the extras.
To determine accurate pricing and food costs, restaurant and foodservice operations must take
into account not just the food the guests order, but the food that the guests do not order but
receive anyway: the salt and pepper on the table, the bread and butter or olive oil provided, the
amuse-bouche or pre-dessert, the ketchup, the jelly packets= the list is long. And all of those little
things can add up quickly. The total cost of these items is often called the Q factor and is usually
factored into the cost of each entrée on the menu. Here is how to calculate the Q factor:
1) List all the possible food that you may provide guests for ‘free’ in addition to the items
already mentioned, include half-and-half, sugar cubes, sliced lemon, and so on.
2) Determine how much of each item would be used by a typical consumer. An easy way to
do this is to keep track of how much of each item is served over a period of time, and
then divide by the number of entrees sold during this period.
3) Calculate the cost of each item based on the average portion used. If each lemon costs
50frs, then the cost of each serving of lemon is 6.25frs
4) Once you determine the cost of each serving of each item, add them all together. This
total is your Q factor.
5) When costing your entrees, add the Q factor as an ingredient in each.
Using the Q factor is the most efficient and accurate way to determine your costs and prices.
Otherwise, you will be basing your prices on incorrect costs and are likely to lose profits.