But these food joints never ever felt the need of having the menu card in a physical form. Today, Menu card means a handcrafted booklet with exotic sounding dishes. And this is not enough, hoteliers have tapped engineering and coined out a new term “Menu Engineering”.
Its obvious that your Chef would know roughly the cost of the dish, but will he actually be able to say how the dish would contribute to revenue generated from sales? Heres’s where menu engineering comes to rescue.
The psychology of menu engineering says that the description of the dishes in the menu card as well as the font color is as important as the recipe or ingredient of the dish. “ Indian Burger which is stuffed with potato balls evenly coated with a mixture of gram flour and spices, deep fried in oil. Its served with a smear of hot and spicy exotic garlic chutney” Any guesses??? No, I am not talking about any continental stuff. I am simply talking about our humble “Vada Pao”!!! Some restaurateurs feel that prefixing “Rs.” Or ` to the price of dishes is not a very good idea as that reminds people of price The guest will look for the cheapest item. Only writing “40.00” is sufficient.
Menu Engineering analyses your customers exact point of resistance to spend as well as gauges which of the items are best sellers. Likewise, it also analyses which items are grabbing your money and time but are failing to be a reason for profit. Menu Engineering, like an advisor, tells you which item needs to be retained in the menu card, which item needs to be advertised more and which items you can’t do without. You can also forecast future sales profitability and take note of sales trends that can be applied in planning your menus. Once forecasted, menu engineering helps in building strategies to improve menu pricing, re-evaluating menu layout and positioning. So, what could be simpler than a system like menu engineering that allows you to classify all your menu items and scientifically decide what to do?
Today there are software’s available to calculate necessary information. Some are specifically designed for Menu Engineering as a stand alone product. Many F&B software’s have a feature of providing Menu Engineering reports. Hence, the problem doesn’t actually lie in getting your math’s right. Menu engineering has now been used in Food and Beverage industry since a long now. It is important to note that, like other management approaches, it is not something that can simply be purchased. Success depends on the right mix of products and services, and of course the necessary expertise. In the end, a well-implemented approach for menu engineering can be a significant way to improve food and beverage profitability.
Compel Consultancy’s bar management software “ Cocktail World” comes with a smart option of menu engineering in order to ease your F&B operations.
Rachna Iyer is working at Compel Consultancy as Manager- Corporate Communication. She manages the company's website along with the Company’s social media presence in the corporate world. Get in touch with her on rachnaiyer@compelconsultancy.com