Menu Engineering Matrix
Sorts a menu item into a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle.
Example
You enter
- This item's units sold 200
- Menu price ($) 12
- Plate food cost ($) 4
- Total units sold (all items) 1000
- Number of menu items 10
- Menu average contribution margin ($) 6
You get
- Contribution margin $8.00 (high)
- Popularity share 0.2
- Popularity threshold 0.07
Details, formula, and sources
Sorts a menu item into a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle, or Dog (Kasavana-Smith) from its contribution-margin dollars and popularity share against the menu average. Classifies on margin dollars, not food-cost percent -- the decision that drives what to promote, reprice, or cut.
contribution_margin = price - food_cost; popularity_share = units_sold / total_units; popularity_threshold = (1 / item_count) x 0.70; quadrant from margin >= average and share >= threshold.
Kasavana & Smith menu-engineering model, by name.
Standard hospitality menu-analysis model; the operator's cost and pricing data govern.
Estimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
Field names used by the API: units_sold, menu_price, food_cost, total_units, item_count, average_margin, contribution_margin, popularity_share, popularity_threshold
- Popularity rule 70% of the menu-average share (1/item_count x 0.70) is the high/low popularity cutoffKasavana & Smith