Menu engineering looks at two things for every dish: how popular it is and how much profit each one makes in pounds. Put the two together and every dish falls into one of four groups, each with a clear next step.
The four groups
Hidden gem
High profit, low sales. Get more people ordering it.
- Ribeye steak
- Seafood linguine
Star
High profit, high sales. Protect it.
- Fish & chips
Rethink
Low profit, low sales. Fix it or cut it.
- Chicken Caesar
- Halloumi wrap
Workhorse
Popular, but below average profit. Tweak it.
- Classic burger
- Sunday roast
- Steak & ale pie
A worked example: an 8-dish pub menu
540 mains sold in a week. A dish counts as popular if it sells at least 70% of an equal share (8.75% of sales here). It counts as high profit if its GP £ beats the menu average of £9.44.
| Dish | Sold | GP % | GP £ | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic burger | 140 | 69.2% | £9.19 | Workhorse |
| Fish & chips | 120 | 69.8% | £10.17 | Star |
| Sunday roast beef | 95 | 55.5% | £9.22 | Workhorse |
| Steak & ale pie | 70 | 66.5% | £9.15 | Workhorse |
| Chicken Caesar | 40 | 73.3% | £8.53 | Rethink |
| Ribeye steak | 30 | 50.7% | £11.83 | Hidden gem |
| Halloumi wrap | 25 | 75.9% | £7.56 | Rethink |
| Seafood linguine | 20 | 60.1% | £9.49 | Hidden gem |
The halloumi wrap. Great percentage, but it only makes £7.56 a plate and barely sells.
The ribeye, at just 50.7% GP. Every one sold makes more cash than any other dish.
This is why judging dishes on GP % alone leads to the wrong decisions. You bank pounds, not percentages.
What to do with each group
Key points
- Judge dishes on GP £ and popularity together
- High GP % doesn’t always mean a good dish
- Workhorses are where small changes make the most money
- Rerun the analysis every month or after a menu change
DishProfit classes every dish for you
Add your weekly sales and DishProfit labels each dish Star, Workhorse, Hidden gem or Rethink. The dashboard shows your top money makers and the dishes to fix first, with the price that gets them on target.
- Popularity vs profit chart
- Dishes to fix first, ranked
- Weekly profit per dish
