Menu engineering calculator
Enter each dish's price, food cost and how many you sold. The calculator sorts your menu into stars, plowhorses, puzzles and dogs and tells you what to do with each one.
Example dishes are filled in so you can see how it works. Your numbers stay in your browser and are not sent anywhere.
What is menu engineering?
Menu engineering is a way to decide what to keep, change, promote or remove on a restaurant menu. It compares every dish on two things: how much profit it makes each time it sells (its contribution margin) and how often it sells compared with the rest of the menu (its popularity). The method was published by Michael Kasavana and Donald Smith in 1982 and is still the standard way to review a menu.
How the calculator works
- Contribution margin for each dish is the menu price without VAT, minus the food cost. If your prices include the UAE's 5% VAT, the calculator removes it first.
- Average margin is the total margin of everything sold, divided by the number of dishes sold. A dish above this line is high profit.
- Popularity is each dish's share of all dishes sold. A dish counts as popular when its share is at least 70% of an equal share. With 10 dishes, an equal share is 10%, so the line is 7%.
- Each dish lands in one of four groups.
The four groups and what to do
High profit and popular. Keep the recipe and price steady, give them the best spot on the menu and the best photo.
Popular but low profit. Raise the price a little, trim the portion cost or pair them with a high-margin add-on.
High profit but rarely ordered. Move them up, give them a better photo or name, or have staff suggest them.
Low profit and rarely ordered. Rework them or take them off, unless they serve a purpose such as a kids' dish.
Where a digital menu helps
Sales numbers tell you what was ordered. They don't tell you what guests looked at and skipped. Kolshi Menu records every dish view and add-on, so you can see why a puzzle isn't selling. You can then test a new position or photo and keep the version that sells more. Each month your chef gets a short list of suggestions from the same data.
Menu engineering questions
What is contribution margin on a menu?
The money a dish leaves after its food cost: menu price without VAT minus the cost of its ingredients. It shows what each sale adds to cover rent, staff and profit.
Should I use prices with or without VAT?
Without. VAT goes to the government, so it is not part of your margin. In the UAE menu prices usually include 5% VAT, so the calculator removes it when the box is ticked.
How often should a restaurant do menu engineering?
Every month for a quick check of sales, and properly every season or whenever food costs or prices change.
Should I remove every dog?
Not always. Some dishes bring in a group that orders other things, such as a kids' meal or a vegetarian option. Check whether removing it would cost you tables.
Can I do this automatically?
Yes. Kolshi Menu tracks views and add-ons for every dish and gives the chef monthly suggestions from that data. See Kolshi Menu