What is menu engineering?

Menu engineering is the practice of analyzing each item's profitability and popularity to maximize overall restaurant revenue.

Stars are high-popularity, high-margin items. They are your most valuable menu items — promote them prominently.

What should I do with Dog items?

Consider removing them, reworking the recipe to reduce cost, or repositioning them. Low sales and low margin rarely justify keeping them.

How is 'high vs low' determined?

Items above the median weekly sales are 'high popularity'. Items above the median contribution margin are 'high margin'. Both medians are calculated from your entered data.

Free Tool

Menu Engineering Analyzer

Enter your menu items with costs and sales data to see which items are Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, or Dogs — and what to do about each.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Let customers discover your best items

FlipMenu lets you highlight Star items with badges, photos, and featured placements.