Menu Engineering Tool

This tool sorts every dish on your menu into four groups — by how popular it is and how much profit it makes — so you can see at a glance what to feature, reprice, rework or remove.

How to use it

1. Add your menu items. For each one, enter its name, what it costs you to make (ex‑VAT), the price you sell it at (inc‑VAT), and how many you sold (or expect to sell) in the period you’re reviewing. You can paste straight from a spreadsheet, or download the template lower down, fill it in and upload it.
2. Set your VAT rate (20% by default).
3. Optional — royalties/commission. Turn on Factor in royalties or commission if your business pays one, then set the rate and whether it’s charged on net or gross sales.
4. Read the results. Each item is classed as a Star, Plough horse, Puzzle or Dog, plotted on the matrix, with a recommended action for its group.
5. Export. Use PDF report for a clean summary to print or share, or Save as Excel to keep your figures.

What the four groups mean

• Star — popular and profitable. Protect them: keep them on the menu, feature them, and don’t discount.
• Plough horse — popular but low profit. They bring people in but earn little — try a small price rise or trim the cost, carefully, without putting customers off.
• Puzzle — profitable but unpopular. Worth promoting: move them up the menu, describe or name them better, or have staff recommend them.
• Dog — unpopular and unprofitable. Rework the recipe or price, or take them off.

How the sorting works

The tool finds the average contribution and average units sold across your whole menu, then places each item against those two averages: above average on both = Star; profitable but below-average sales = Puzzle; popular but below-average profit = Plough horse; below average on both = Dog.

The terms, in plain English

Contribution

What a dish leaves you after its food cost (and any royalty) — before staff and rent. The “profit” per dish for this comparison.

Contribution margin

Contribution shown as a % of the net (ex‑VAT) price.

Item cost (ex‑VAT)

What one portion costs you to make — ingredients, packaging and a wastage allowance.

Gross price (inc‑VAT)

The price on the menu, with VAT included.

Net revenue (ex‑VAT)

The price with VAT stripped out. All margins are worked out on this.

Units sold

How many of each item you sold (or expect to) in the period.

Good to know

• Enter a realistic period (say a typical month) so the menu averages mean something.
• Costs go in ex‑VAT, prices inc‑VAT — the tool does the VAT maths for you.
• Nothing you type leaves your browser; your figures stay on this device.