Menu Engineering Toolbox

Tools for menu mix analysis, contribution margin, placement, and A/B testing of menu changes.


Tool

Menu contribution margin grid & item prioritizer

A practical, step-by-step tool to calculate contribution margin and popularity, classify menu items into Stars / Plowhorses / Puzzles / Dogs, prioritize actions, and run safe A/B tests to improve menu profitability without harming guest satisfaction.

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Calculator

Menu Mix & Contribution Spreadsheet

A practical, ready-to-use spreadsheet plus clear step-by-step guidance to import sales and recipe-cost data, calculate item-level contribution margins and popularity, visualize the popularity vs. profitability matrix (stars, puzzles, plowhorses, dogs), and decide which items to promote, price-test, rework, or remove.

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Tool

Menu Mix Analysis Workbook (spreadsheet)

A ready-to-use spreadsheet workbook that combines sales, recipe cost, and portion data to calculate contribution margins, popularity, throughput impact, and GAP analysis. Includes A/B test design guidance, mapping and data-quality checks, and a recommended rollout checklist to safely test and implement menu changes.

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Tool

Menu Mix & Engineering Workbook

A practical, step-by-step workbook that helps you record item-level costs and popularity, calculate contribution margins, classify menu items into quadrants, simulate price and placement changes, and run a safe menu launch with A/B testing and monitoring guidance.

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Playbook

Menu Engineering Playbook: Analyze, Pilot, Launch

A practical, step-by-step playbook to identify high-value menu items, design low-risk pilots (A/B and LTOs), launch changes with cross-functional readiness, and measure impact so menu decisions increase profit without harming guest experience.

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Playbook

Menu engineering playbook — identify, test, and scale high-impact items

A practical, step-by-step playbook to identify menu opportunities, run low-risk experiments (price, placement, and recipe), and roll out changes while protecting guest satisfaction and revenue. Includes concrete metrics, a quadrant template, an A/B test plan template, rollout checklist, communication scripts, and common pitfalls to avoid.

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Playbook

Menu A/B Test Plan — Controlled Launch Template (interactive)

A practical, repeatable interactive test plan to run low-risk A/B experiments on pricing, placement, or recipe changes. Capture hypothesis, metrics, sample-size guidance, POS tagging, staff training notes, rollout and rollback criteria, and a pre-launch checklist — then save the plan for execution and later analysis.

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Template

Recipe costing & portion control template

An interactive, standardized recipe template to capture ingredients, yields, costs, portion standards, prep steps, HACCP checks, allergens, photos, and notes needed for consistent plating and reliable cost-per-portion. Designed for saving, reuse, menu analysis, and later integration with supplier pricing and inventory.

Members:
Playbook

Menu A/B Test Plan

A practical, low-risk playbook to design, run, measure, and decide on menu experiments that validate price, placement, portion, or description changes—plus hypothesis templates, POS tagging steps, sample-size guidance, KPIs, decision rules, and rollout guidance.

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Playbook

Menu Redesign A/B Test Plan & Results Tracker

A practical, data-first playbook and interactive test-plan + results tracker that helps teams design low-risk A/B experiments for recipes, prices, or menu layout changes, run them with clear run-rules and stop-rules, capture results, and decide whether to roll out changes.

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