MarketingVitals Makes Menu Engineering Easy

According to the article posted on FastCasual.com, having a well-designed menu can “increase your bottom line profit by 3-5%”.  By using menu engineering, trends in customer selection are easily identified, allowing you to “sell higher gross profit items that satisfy the consumer and add incremental gross profit.”

Writer John Kerbs believes you should construct your menu as a department store manager constructs the sales floor. Premium items are always strategically placed in the front, while sale and clearance items are kept in the back or away from eye level.  Your menu should lead customers to not only the items that they will enjoy, but that will also produce higher profits.

When redesigning your menu, the biggest challenge is finding which menu items to target.  MarketingVitals.com‘s Insights feature provides great views into your transaction data, such as:

• Sales by Menu Item
• Quantity Sold by Menu Item
• Rate of Sale by Menu Item
• Market Basket
• Market Basket Modifications

These tools analyze historical and current data providing an accurate perspective into customer trends.  This can be applied even further when constructing your point-of-sale (P.O.S.) system.  For example, if you see that your patrons are making certain modifications and customizing their order, you can arrange your P.O.S. to cater to the purchasing trends.  This cuts down the time a cashier or server spends inputting specialized orders, thus reducing lines in quick service restaurants and turning tables faster for casual dining restaurants.

MenuVitals is another great feature to use after the redesign/engineering process. This tool reveals how certain menu items were impacted after the change.  A clear map and cannibalization meter shows you  the visual impact, while the table provides the numeric data of the event.

When the need to redesign or engineer your menu arises, MarketingVitals.com has the analytic tools to provide accurate information during and after the design process.