How often should I review?

Review at least quarterly and after every ingredient price change or menu revision. Reclassify dishes as stars, plowhorses, puzzles or dogs, then adjust price, portion, placement or removal.

Does it need recipe costs?

Yes. Menu engineering is only reliable when each dish has an accurate recipe cost, because profit per dish is selling price minus ingredient cost. Without recipes you only see popularity, not profitability.

Menu Engineering Guide: Stars, Plough Horses, Puzzles and Dogs

Menu engineering sorts dishes by how often they sell and how much they earn. It tells you what to push, fix or remove.

The four groups

Group	Popularity	Profit	Action
Star	High	High	Feature and protect
Plough horse	High	Low	Raise price or cut cost
Puzzle	Low	High	Promote or reposition
Dog	Low	Low	Consider removing

How to run it

Pull item-wise sales for 30 to 60 days
Get dish cost from recipes
Compute contribution margin per dish
Compare with the menu average
Classify and act

Actions

Move stars to the top of the menu
Reprice plough horses carefully
Rename and photograph puzzles
Drop dogs unless they serve a purpose

Caution

Do not remove a low-seller that brings guests in or completes a set. Use judgment with the numbers.

Software

NexoraRMS-POS has a menu engineering report and recipe costing. See restaurant reports.

A small example

Suppose butter chicken sells 400 plates a month at a healthy margin (a star), while a plain salad sells 380 plates at a low margin (a plough horse) and a seasonal kebab sells 60 plates at a high margin (a puzzle). You would feature the butter chicken, raise the salad price slightly or cut its cost, and move the kebab to the top of the starters with a better description. Numbers here are only to illustrate the method.