Lecture 5: menu engineering

Question 1

What does the menu impact?

Answer 1

• budget
• equipment
• types of dishes, glasses, flatware, etc
• waitstaff
• decor

Question 2

Types of menus

Answer 2

• Static
• Single use
• Cycle

Question 3

Factors affecting menu planning

Answer 3

• customer satisfaction
• sociocultural factors
• food habits &preferences
• Nutritional influence
• Aesthetic factors
• Sustainability
• Government regulations
• management decisions

Question 4

Hedonic Scale

Answer 4

• did you like what you ate?

Question 5

Sensory evaluation

Answer 5

description of the foods based on taste, appearance, temp, amount

Question 6

Aesthetic factors

Answer 6

• texture
• consistency
• color
• shape
• cooking methods
• taste (sweet, salty, etc) and flavor (olfactory)

Question 7

Menu Psychology

Answer 7

• eye gaze motion
• font size and style
• primacy and recency
• color and brightness
• spacing and grouping

Question 8

Placement on menus

Answer 8

1. menu sequence (menu should follow progression of meal)

2. Focal points

Question 9

focal points

Answer 9

• center

- upper right corner

Question 10

Pricing psychology

Answer 10

• odd-cents pricing
• price rounding
• Pricing by ounce- used mostly in salad and sandwich bars

Question 11

How to price your menu correctly:

Answer 11

• dial in on your unique customer
• analyze the competition
• know the quality/price relationship
• know your costs
• know your fiscal group
• know your competition
• know the trends in your field

Question 12

2 criteria to see if a menu is successful

Answer 12

1. Must be profitable in terms of individual item profitability
2. Most profitable item must be selling the best

Question 13

How to determine the contributing margin (CM) of each item

Answer 13

selling price-food cost= contributing margin

*CM is the same as item’s gross profit

Question 14

Plowhorses

Answer 14

items that are popular but have a low contribution margin

Question 15

Stars

Answer 15

both high in popularity and high CM

Question 16

Puzzles (or Challenges)

Answer 16

have relatively low popularity and high margins

Question 17

Dogs

Answer 17

are both low in popularity and CM