How can you use sustainability to improve your menu engineering?

1 Why sustainability matters

Sustainability is not only a moral duty, but also a competitive advantage for your restaurant. Customers are increasingly aware of and concerned about the environmental and social impacts of their food choices, and they are willing to pay more for sustainable options. According to a survey by Nielsen, 73% of consumers globally say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment. By offering sustainable menu items, you can attract and retain more customers, enhance your reputation, and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

2 How to source sustainable ingredients

One of the key aspects of sustainability is sourcing your ingredients from local, organic, fair trade, and ethical suppliers. This can help you reduce your carbon footprint, support your community, and ensure the quality and freshness of your products. You can also reduce food waste by using seasonal, whole, and minimally processed ingredients, and by implementing practices such as composting, donating, or repurposing excess food. To communicate your sustainability efforts to your customers, you can use labels, certifications, logos, or stories on your menu or website.

3 How to calculate menu profitability

Another important aspect of menu engineering is calculating the profitability of each menu item. This can help you identify which items are contributing the most or the least to your bottom line, and how you can adjust your pricing, portioning, or promotion strategies accordingly. To calculate the profitability of each menu item, you need to know the food cost and the contribution margin. The food cost is the amount of money you spend on buying or producing the ingredients for one serving of the item. The contribution margin is the amount of money you make from selling one serving of the item after deducting the food cost. You can use the following formulas to calculate these metrics:

Food cost (%) = (Food cost / Selling price) x 100

Contribution margin ($) = Selling price - Food cost

4 How to classify menu items

Once you have calculated the profitability of each menu item, you can classify them into four categories based on their popularity and profitability. Stars are your best sellers and most profitable items, so you should highlight them on your menu, maintain consistency, and monitor their quality and availability. Plowhorses are your volume drivers and customer favorites but have low profitability, so consider increasing their prices, reducing portions, or improving quality and presentation. Puzzles have low popularity but high profitability, so try to boost sales by marketing them more, placing them strategically on your menu, or bundling with other items. Dogs are your worst performers and least profitable items, so eliminate them from the menu, replace with more sustainable options, or use as ingredients for other dishes.

6 How to evaluate your menu performance

The last step of menu engineering is evaluating your menu performance and making adjustments as needed. To do this, you can track sales, costs and profits for each item, category, and period. Additionally, customer surveys, feedback or reviews can help you assess satisfaction, preferences and expectations. You can also test different menu items, prices or designs to see how they affect sales, costs and profits. Furthermore, comparing your menu performance with competitors, industry standards or best practices can be beneficial. Lastly, it is important to update your menu regularly to reflect changes in customer demand, market trends or seasonal availability. By using sustainability to improve your menu engineering, you can create a menu that is profitable, responsible, attractive and satisfying for customers and the environment; while also gaining a competitive edge, enhancing your reputation and achieving business goals.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?