Menu design: how to build a menu that makes money

On this page

1. Step 1: Get the cost and the sales count of every item
2. Step 2: Sort the menu by popularity and profit
3. Step 3: Decide what to change
4. Step 4: Keep the menu the right size
5. Step 5: Lay out the menu
6. Step 6: Write descriptions that are short and true
7. Step 7: Price the menu
8. Step 8: Review on a schedule
9. A one-page menu checklist
10. Where Advantage fits

A menu does two jobs at once. For guests, it is how they decide what to eat. For you, it is a plan for what you buy, prep, cook and earn. A profitable menu is one where the items guests like best are also items that earn you money.

This guide gives you a simple method to get there: measure every item, sort the menu, decide what to change, then lay it out, describe it and price it. You need two numbers for each item, what it costs and how often it sells, and your recipes and your register give you both. Every example uses made-up numbers, only to show the math.

Step 1: Get the cost and the sales count of every item

Cost. Each item needs a plate cost: the cost of every ingredient on the plate, including garnish, sauce and the to-go container. Our food cost guide shows how to build one from your invoices.

Sales count. Pull the number of each item sold from your register for a recent period, such as the last four to eight weeks. Leave out specials and anything that was not on the menu the whole time.

From those two numbers, work out each item’s profit per plate: the menu price minus the plate cost. That is what each sale leaves to pay for staff, rent and profit.

Step 2: Sort the menu by popularity and profit

Sort one section at a time, such as mains or starters, so you compare like with like.

1. Popularity. Work out each item’s share of the section’s orders. Draw a line for popular, such as an even split. With 6 mains, an even split is about 16.7% of orders each.
2. Profit. Work out the section’s average profit per plate, weighted by how many of each item sold. An item that earns more per plate than that average is high profit.

Every item now lands in one of four groups:

Group	Popularity	Profit per plate	What to do
Stars	High	High	Keep them consistent and feature them
Workhorses	High	Low	Recost the plate, adjust the portion or price
Puzzles	Low	High	Move, rename or describe them better, and have servers suggest them
Weak items	Low	Low	Rework, replace or drop them

An example, with made-up numbers

Six mains over four weeks:

Item	Sold	Price	Plate cost	Profit per plate	Total profit
Burger	600	$14	$4.20	$9.80	$5,880
Chicken plate	450	$16	$4.00	$12.00	$5,400
Pasta	400	$15	$3.00	$12.00	$4,800
Salmon	150	$24	$9.50	$14.50	$2,175
Steak	120	$32	$13.00	$19.00	$2,280
Veggie bowl	80	$13	$4.50	$8.50	$680

The six mains sold 1,800 plates, so an even split is 300 plates each. Together they earned $21,215, so the average profit per plate is $21,215 divided by 1,800, or about $11.79.

• Stars: the chicken plate and the pasta. Both sell above the line and earn above the average.
• Workhorse: the burger. It is the best seller but earns below the average. A small price rise, a cheaper side or a paid upgrade could lift it.
• Puzzles: the salmon and the steak. They earn the most per plate, but few guests order them. Try a better spot on the menu, a clearer description, or a server suggestion.
• Weak item: the veggie bowl, below the line on both counts. Rework it with ingredients you already stock, or replace it.

Notice that the steak has the highest food cost percentage on the menu, at about 41%, and also the highest profit per plate. Judging items only by percentage would push you away from it.

Step 3: Decide what to change

• Change a few things at a time, so you can tell what worked.
• For a workhorse, look at the plate before the price: a smaller garnish, a different side, a sauce made in-house. Then raise the price in a small step if you still need to.
• For a puzzle, change how it is presented before you change the recipe.
• Before you drop an item, check who orders it. A dish one regular group comes for may bring the whole table.
• Test new dishes as specials first, and add them to the menu only when they sell and earn.
• Run the same sort again after four weeks.

Sort drinks, sides and desserts too

The same method works for every section. Sort drinks, sides and desserts on their own, because their profit per sale may surprise you. Look at the add-ons and modifiers as well: a paid extra that nobody orders may need a better spot on the menu, and one that everyone orders may be priced too low.

Use specials to test

Ring every special up under its own button in the register, with its own plate cost, never under an open price key. That way it shows up in your item counts like any other dish. Price it from its cost the same way as the regular menu. A special that sells well for several weeks and earns above the average is a candidate for the next printed menu.

Step 4: Keep the menu the right size

A shorter menu means fewer ingredients to buy, store and throw away, and fewer dishes for the kitchen to master. Size the menu to what your line can cook well at your busiest hour.

• Build dishes from shared ingredients, so one delivery serves several items.
• Give each section a range of prices, so every guest finds something.
• Watch for a dish that needs a station that is already overloaded. It will slow every ticket behind it.

Step 5: Lay out the menu

There are many theories about where guests look first on a menu. Rather than trust any of them, test layouts against your own sales. A few practical rules help any menu:

• Clear sections in the order of the meal: starters, mains, sides, desserts, drinks.
• Feature a few items, not many. A box, a short note or a photo sets an item apart. Put one on every item and nothing stands out.
• Make it easy to read: a readable type size, strong contrast, and enough light at the tables to read by.
• Show modifiers and their prices, such as sizes, sides and add-ons, so guests can choose them without asking.
• Keep every version the same. Change prices and items on printed menus, menu boards, kiosks and your ordering page at the same time, so guests see one price everywhere.

Screens and ordering pages

A menu on a kiosk or an ordering page is read differently from a printed one. Guests scroll and tap instead of scanning a page. A few things help:

• Put the sections in the order guests build a meal, and keep each section short.
• Use a clear photo for the items you most want to sell, taken in your own kitchen so the plate matches what arrives.
• Offer one or two add-ons at the moment they fit, such as a drink with a main, rather than a long list at the end.
• Turn items off as soon as they run out, so nobody pays for a dish you cannot make.

Printed menus

Print a version date in small type on the back of every printed menu. When a guest or a server asks about a price, you know which menu they saw. If prices change often, print the sections that change on an insert, so you are not reprinting the whole menu every time.

Step 6: Write descriptions that are short and true

A good description says what is in the dish and how it is cooked, in a few words. Name the main ingredients, the cooking method and anything a guest would want to know before ordering, such as how spicy it is.

Federal advertising rules say claims must be truthful and not deceptive, and that is a good test for every word on a menu. If the menu says homemade, local, wild-caught or names where something comes from, be ready to show it. Ask your state or city whether it has its own rules about menu claims.

Rules that can apply to menus

• Allergens. The FDA lists nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. The 2022 FDA Food Code added written notice to guests about major allergens in unpackaged food. Your health department decides how this applies to you, so ask what your menu must say.
• Raw or undercooked food. The FDA Food Code calls for a consumer advisory when you serve animal foods raw or undercooked. Ask your health department for the wording it accepts.
• Calories. The FDA’s menu labeling rules require calories on menus and menu boards at restaurant chains with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and selling substantially the same menu. Ask whether your state or city has rules of its own.

Step 7: Price the menu

Start from cost, then check against the market and against value.

1. From cost. Divide the plate cost by your target food cost percentage. A $4.00 plate cost at a 28% target gives $14.29. Our markup and margin calculator checks the margin at any price.
2. Against the market. Compare your prices with similar dishes nearby. You do not have to be the cheapest, but a big gap needs a reason the guest can see.
3. Against value. Portion, quality, presentation and service all shape what a guest will pay.
4. For sizes and add-ons. Price each step so the bigger size or the add-on still earns.

Did the price change work?

Judge a price change by total profit, not by item count alone. With the made-up burger from Step 2: you raise the price from $14 to $15, and over the next four weeks you sell 560 instead of 600. Profit per plate rises from $9.80 to $10.80, so total profit goes from $5,880 to $6,048. You sold fewer burgers and earned more. If sales had fallen to 540, total profit would be $5,832, and the change would have cost you money. Work out that line before you change the price, so you know what to watch for.

When costs rise, raise prices in small steps on the items whose costs rose, rather than across the whole menu at once, and watch item counts afterward. USDA’s Food Price Outlook shows each month how food prices are changing in restaurants and in stores, which helps you plan.

Step 8: Review on a schedule

• Every week: item counts, and any items that ran out or sat unused.
• Every month: recheck plate costs against new invoices, and reprice items whose costs moved.
• Every season: run the popularity and profit sort again, retire the weak items and test new ones.

Ask your cooks and servers too. Cooks know which dishes slow the line. Servers know which dishes guests ask about, and which come back half eaten.

A one-page menu checklist

Check	Done when
Every item has a plate cost	Costs come from this month’s invoices
Every item has a sales count	The last four to eight weeks, from the register
Every item is in a group	Stars, workhorses, puzzles, weak items
Changes are chosen	A few at a time, written down with the date
Descriptions are true	Every claim can be shown
Allergen and advisory notices	Worded the way your health department accepts
Prices match everywhere	Printed menu, boards, kiosk and ordering page
Next review is booked	On the calendar

Where Advantage fits

Recipes and food cost prices every recipe from your latest vendor invoices, shows each menu item’s cost and margin at its menu price, and alerts you when an ingredient’s cost moves. Advantage POS holds your menu, with sizes, add-ons and combos, set up once in the back office and ready on every register. The self-order kiosk shows that same menu with pictures and prices, and offers the sides, drinks and extras you choose while the guest orders.