Classify every menu item as Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog, then act on each with a clear playbook.
Reading time: 12 minutes. First worksheet run: 60 to 90 minutes. Quarterly refresh: 45 minutes.
Why this matters: menus drift. Items get added without anyone removing the ones they replaced. Costs creep up while prices stay still. The result is a menu that looks busy but earns less. Menu engineering is the single fastest way to lift margin without changing a supplier or training a single staff member.
| Input | Where to get it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sales report (last 4 to 8 weeks) | POS export by item | Use a longer window if you ran a promo recently |
| Plate cost per item | Recipe cards / costing sheet | If you don't have these, this worksheet is also a forcing function to build them |
| Selling price per item | Menu / POS | Include any active modifiers separately if material |
| Complexity rating (Low / Medium / High) | Kitchen lead's judgement | How hard is it to make consistently under pressure |
| Travel score (1 to 5) - delivery brands only | Service team's judgement | How well does the dish survive 25 minutes in a bag |
| Cadence | What to do | Owner | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Pull top sellers and bottom 10. Flag anything moving classification (e.g. former Star slipping into Plowhorse). | GM | 15 min |
| Monthly | Update plate costs for top 20 items. Supplier prices move. Yours should too. | Chef / Finance Lead | 60 min |
| Quarterly | Full menu engineering pass. Re-run the worksheet. Make 3 to 5 menu decisions and commit to them. | Owner + Chef | 2 to 3 hours |
| Annually | Menu redesign or restructure. Consider category rebalancing, photo refresh, descriptions, menu architecture. | Owner + Chef + Marketing | 1 to 2 days |
