Description

Every menu has dishes that carry the business and dishes that just take up space. Most owners can’t say for sure which is which.

The burger sells all day, but does it make money? The short rib earns well, but nobody orders it. The soup has been on the menu for six years because nobody wanted to be the one to cut it. Decisions get made on gut feel, on what the regulars say, or on food cost percentage alone, which often points the wrong way.

Menu engineering replaces the guessing with two numbers you already have: how many of each item you sell, and how much each plate earns you. Put them together and every item falls into one of four groups:

• Stars: sell well and earn well. Protect them.
• Plowhorses: sell well but earn less. Make them earn more without losing the guests who love them.
• Puzzles: earn well but don’t sell. Get them seen.
• Dogs: don’t sell and don’t earn. Fix them or cut them.

What’s inside the printable worksheet (12 pages):

• How to Use This Worksheet: what data to pull from your POS, how to work through it one category at a time, and how often to re-run it.
• Menu Item Data Sheet: units sold, price, plate cost, profit per plate, and sales mix for up to 20 items per category.
• Sort Your Items: the two simple calculations that place every item in its group, with a fully worked example.
• The Four-Box Grid: a full-page grid to write every item into its group, one page per category.
• Action Plan by Group: a checklist of practical moves for Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs.
• Change Plan: what changes, who makes the change, and by when.
• Menu Layout Check: where your best items sit on the printed menu and on delivery apps, and whether descriptions and placement are helping or hurting.
• Results Tracker: before-and-after numbers 60 to 90 days later, so you can see what actually worked.
• Common Mistakes to Avoid: six ways menu engineering goes wrong, including the one that fools most owners: judging dishes by food cost percentage.

What’s inside the companion spreadsheet:

• Enter units sold, price, and plate cost, and every item is sorted into its group automatically
• Items are compared only within their own category, so mains are measured against mains and drinks against drinks
• Color-coded groups with a suggested action for each item
• A four-box grid view: pick a category and see every item in its box
• A category summary with totals, average profit per plate, and group counts
• A results tracker that calculates the profit change after each round of changes
• Comes loaded with example categories so you can see how it works before you add your own

Built for real decisions:

• Printable PDF, US Letter size, in black and white
• Spreadsheet works in Microsoft 365, Excel 2019 or later, and Google Sheets
• Uses the item sales report from your POS and the plate costs you already have
• No theory and no filler, just which dishes to protect, fix, or cut

Who it’s for: owners, chefs, and managers of independent restaurants, cafes, bars, and food trucks who want to make menu decisions based on numbers.

How often to use it: every 90 days, and again 60 to 90 days after any menu change, price increase, or redesign.

Pairs with the Food Cost & Recipe Costing Workbook, which gives you the plate costs this worksheet needs, and the POS Cleanup / Clover Menu Audit Worksheet. Together they make up the complete Menu Profit Bundle.

Instant digital download: one PDF and one spreadsheet (.xlsx). The printable worksheet is not a fillable form. The spreadsheet’s grid view needs Excel 2019 or later, Microsoft 365, or Google Sheets; all other tabs work in any recent version of Excel.