ProStart Level 2: Chapter 2: Menu Management

Menu board

A menu presented on blackboards, whiteboards, or directly on the walls or fixtures of an operation.

Spoken menu

A menu that is verbally presented to guests by staff members.

Prix fixe

A menu that offers a choice of appetizer, full entrée with sides, and a dessert for one price.

Limited

A menu that offers only a few selections.

Sales mix analysis

An analysis of the popularity and the profitability of a group of menu items.

Cyclical

Chefs or managers change the menu items after a certain period of time on this type of menu.

In the order in which the food is eaten

How most restaurants commonly organize the food on their menus.

Layout

How the menu is categorized and sequenced.

Daily specials menu

In the United States, a du jour menu is often presented as this.

Plow horse

Menu item classification is popular but less profitable.

Profit

The amount of money remaining for an operation after expenses have been paid.

Remove it from the menu.

The best solution if a restaurant has a dog on the menu.

Decrease its price.

The best solution to helping out a puzzle menu item.

Physical layout

The characteristic of an operation often determines the kind of menu that the chefs will be most capable of producing efficiently.

Margin

The difference resulting from revenue minus preparation and overhead costs.

Table d'hôte

The menu similar to a prix fixe menu that bundles various elements into one package.

Sales volume

The number of times an item is sold in a time period.

Du jour

The type of menu lists the menu items that are available on a particular day.

Limited time offer

The type of menu offers menu items only for a short period of time.

Fixed

The type of menu offers the same items every day.

À la carte

The type of menu prices each item separately.

Quick-service restaurants

The type of operation frequently offers a limited menu.

Star

These menu items are both popular and profitable.

Dog

This menu item classification is both unpopular and unprofitable.

Contribution margin method

This method for pricing menu items uses operation-wide data to determine a dollar amount that must be added to each major menu item's food cost.

Menu engineering

This method of menu analysis systematically breaks down a menu's components to analyze which items are making money and which are selling.

Food cost percentage method

This pricing method sets the percentage of the menu price that the food cost must be and then divides the item's food cost by that percentage to develop the menu price.

California

This type of menu lists all meals available at any time of day and is often used by diners that are open 24 hours a day.

A menu.

What sales are initially won or lost through a guest's interaction with.

Of the day

What the French term "du jour" means.

Determines profitability

Why pricing a menu is a critical process for any operation.

Contribution Margin

selling price - variable cost