Menu Engineering: A Practical Guide to More Profit

Menu engineering is the practice of designing your menu around two numbers for every item: how profitable it is and how often it sells. Combine those and every dish falls into one of four groups you can act on.

The four categories

• Stars — high profit, high popularity. Feature them prominently.
• Plowhorses — low profit, high popularity. Re-price or trim portion cost.
• Puzzles — high profit, low popularity. Reposition, rename, or add a photo.
• Dogs — low profit, low popularity. Consider removing them.

Design follows the data

Once you know your Stars and Puzzles, design pushes them: place them in high-attention zones, give them a box or photo, and write descriptions that sell the experience, not just the ingredients.

Turn the strategy into a real menu

meenuu applies these layout and hierarchy principles automatically. Upload your current menu, see a redesigned version with an improvement report, and pay only when you want the files.