Food menu engineering

Menu engineering Student Name: Student Number: School Name: Introduction What is the menu engineering? The term engineering is rarely used in the context of food industry. Engineering techniques and concepts can be used to attain desired results in the hospitality industry. The concept of menu engineering was developed by Kasavana & Smith (1982) which is a menu analysis methodology of evaluating and monitoring performances of individual menu item. Menu engineering involves taking a more structured approach to build and monitor food menu in restaurants. It uses two key measures to classify menu items namely: The contribution and popularity. Contribution or gross margin is the amount of money from selling the menu item. It is calculated as selling price minus direct cost of production. On the other hand, popularity is the number of sales of the menu item in a given period in comparison with other menu items. Menu items are classified into four main groups based on their contribution and popularity, (Schwartz, 2006) as shown in the figure below:  INCLUDEPICTURE "http://foodmargin.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/menu_engineering.png?w=480" \* MERGEFORMATINET 
 Figure 1. Four Categories of menu items. Source: Food margin (2009). Stars are items characterized by high contribution and high popularity Plough Horse has low contribution but high popularity. Puzzles has high contribution and low popularity and finally Dogs with low contribution and low popularity Menu engineering strictly focuses on the actual money from each menu item rather than the cost percentages. This is because a more costly menu item can have high gross margin or contribution in terms of dollars as compared to the less costly item depending on their respective prices, (Pavesic, 1983): Secondly, popularity must also be considered together with item contributions when ranking menu items. A popular item with low profit margin can be ranked higher than an item with high profit margin which may not be popular. Based on popularity and contribution, stars items should be retained whereas dogs should be replaced with more popular or profitable items. Plough horse should be retained on the menu because of their popularity. Raising the price or reducing the costs of plough horse (by reducing their fraction sizes) can be used to enhance profitability of these menu items. Puzzlers need to be repositioned on the menu to gain visibility and popularity; they need to be made more appealing to customers by changing their names, packaging etc failure to which they should be replaced, (Hayes & Huffmann 1985). How we use in the university cafeteria? In the school cafeteria, menu engineering is used to determine which food items are common among students. Popular items are identified hence enabling restaurant managers to prepare adequate amounts to cater for the needs of students and avoid shortages of food items in the restaurant. The concept has been employed to stimulate customers’ interest in healthy foods within the university. Healthy food ...