How Menu Engineering Can Boost Your Restaurant Profits
- coolrahul2881
- Mar 25
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 26
When was the last time you looked closely at your menu—not just the food, but how it performs financially? That’s where menu engineering comes in. It’s a smart way to design your menu so that it highlights your most profitable dishes and encourages customers to order more of what makes you money. Let’s break it down.
What Is Menu Engineering?
Menu engineering is the process of analyzing each dish’s popularity and profitability, then designing your menu layout to encourage sales of high-margin items.
In short:
Popular + Profitable = Feature it more
Low Profit + Low Sales = Remove or rethink it
Why It Matters
You may have a best-selling dish that barely breaks even—or a hidden gem that brings in great profit but gets overlooked. Menu engineering helps you: Increase average ticket size, improve food margins and simplify kitchen operations.
How to Do It
1. Calculate Profit for Each Dish
Start by figuring out the cost of ingredients and comparing it to the selling price to calculate the profit margin. Tools like cactus can help you get the food costs and margins for every menu item in real-time.
2. Track Sales Data
Look at your POS reports to see which dishes are ordered most often. Combine this with profit data to see what’s truly performing. Within the cactus tool, you can see which menu items give you the highest margin.
3. Categorize Your Menu Items
Stars: High profit, high popularity → Promote heavily
Puzzles: High profit, low popularity → Make them more visible
Plowhorses: Low profit, high popularity → Try to increase price or reduce cost
Dogs: Low profit, low popularity → Consider removing
4. Design for Sales
Keep the menu simple, easy to read, and well-organized.
How cactus can help with Menu Engineering
With cactus, menu engineering can turn your menu into a profit-driving machine. It’s a smart, low-cost way to improve margins and make your restaurant more successful. Try cactus free for 30 days and engineer your menu to maximize profits!
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided for general informational purposes only, and publication does not constitute an endorsement. Cactus does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this content. Cactus does not guarantee you will achieve any specific results if you follow any advice herein. It may be advisable for you to consult with a professional such as a lawyer, accountant, or business advisor for advice specific to your situation.
