32 Controlling Costs in Foodservice
By Number of Pages
The placement of featured and profi table items
is determined by the number of
pages in the menu, 2-5. A Gallop poll found that,
on average, people spend 109 seconds
reading a menu. If the menu is several pages
long, they tend to order from the fi rst few pages,
or from the pages they can scan through in 109
seconds. As a result, an operation should place
popular items on the fi rst few pages of a menu.
By Page Location
The placement of menu items on a page is
important. Researchers have found that the eyes
are drawn to certain locations on an open menu.
On a two-panel menu, the eyes are drawn to the
top right. On a three-panel menu, the eyes are
drawn to the center. Therefore, the most profi table
items should be placed in these locations. Attention
can be drawn to other items by the use of borders,
font changes, and the like.
Menu Engineering
In the previous section, you learned that
profi table items should occupy the spaces on the
menu that tend to draw a customer’s eye. How
do you know which items to place in these key
locations? These decisions are made using menu
engineering.
Menu engineering is a process that separates
menu items into four classes based on their
popularity and profi tability. Popularity is determined
by the number of sales a menu item generates.
Profi t is determined by subtracting the cost from
the revenue generated from the sale of the item.
Information about popularity and profi tability is
then used to grow sales and profi t. The four classes
used in menu engineering are called stars, plow
horses, puzzles, and dogs, 2-6.
Stars
Stars are menu items that are highly popular
with customers and generate high profi t margins.
Stars should be placed in the most prominent areas
on the menu. Since these items are popular and
profi table, operators want to be sure that customers
consistently select them.
Figure 2-5. The customer’s eyes are drawn to certain locations
on a menu. Placing profi table items where the customer will
look fi rst is a great marketing technique. The numbers indicate
the order in which a customer will read a one-page, two-page,
or three-page menu.
One-Page Menu
2
1
3
Two-Page Menu
2 3
5
1
6
Three-Page Menu
4
7
2 3
5
1
6 4
7