Summer menu optimisation: contribution, demand and kitchen capacity

A popular dish can overload the kitchen at the wrong moment. Another may have a high percentage margin but contribute relatively little money. Review the summer menu from both financial and operational perspectives.

Start with a fair comparison

Menu engineering compares popularity and contribution after ingredient cost within a menu category. Starters should therefore not be directly compared with mains. The approach is described by Cornell Center for Hospitality Research.

In a simplified calculation, contribution is the selling price excluding VAT minus ingredient cost per portion. It must help cover labour, premises and profit; it is not net profit.

Hypothetical example: a dish sells for SEK 200 excluding VAT with ingredients costing SEK 60. Contribution is SEK 140 per portion. Another contributes SEK 120 but may sell at much higher volume. Examine both per-portion contribution and quantity sold.

Use four groups to prompt questions

• High popularity, high contribution: why does it work, and can quality hold at higher volume?
• High popularity, low contribution: should pricing, purchasing or the recipe change?
• Low popularity, high contribution: is the description clear, and do staff know the dish?
• Low popularity, low contribution: does it provide necessary choice, or could it be replaced?

No category automatically means removing a dish. A vegetarian option may, for example, influence an entire group’s choice of restaurant.

Add the kitchen’s perspective

Record advance preparation, actions needed during service and the station involved. Identify ingredients used in only one dish that may be left over.

KDS records can show order progression, but time from sending to completion is not automatically active cooking or prep time. Supplement reports with kitchen observations. No universal time threshold suits every concept.

Test changes on a limited scale

Try a clearer description, adjusted recipe or different price, then track both volume and contribution. Inform guests accurately when ingredients or portions change. Avoid changing many variables at once if you want to understand the effect.

Before launch, check menus, modifiers, prices and kitchen destinations across active channels. Train service staff on what has changed.

Vendion Analytics supports sales monitoring. Costs need to be current for calculations to be useful. See Vendion live using a few of your own dishes.