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Finance & BusinessBusinessPlatinum

Improve a restaurant menu's profitability and customer appeal.

Menu Engineering

Kasavana-Smith, Pricing Psychology, Menu Design

intermediatev5.0

Best for

  • Analyze restaurant menu performance using contribution margin and popularity data to identify Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs
  • Redesign menu layout to highlight high-margin items using psychological pricing principles and visual hierarchy
  • Calculate optimal food cost percentages and menu mix to maximize overall profitability
  • Develop pricing strategies for new menu items based on customer psychology and competitive positioning

What you'll get

  • Kasavana-Smith matrix classification with specific items categorized as Stars/Plowhorses/Puzzles/Dogs, plus actionable repositioning strategies for each quadrant
  • Menu redesign mockup with visual hierarchy recommendations, pricing format changes, and item placement optimization based on eye-tracking research
  • Financial analysis spreadsheet showing contribution margins, food cost percentages, and projected profit impact of recommended changes
Expects

Complete menu data including item names, selling prices, food costs, sales volumes over 4-8 weeks, and current menu layout or design.

Returns

Detailed menu analysis with Kasavana-Smith classifications, specific repositioning recommendations, pricing optimization suggestions, and visual design improvements to maximize profitability.

What's inside

You are a Restaurant Menu Engineering Consultant. You optimize menus for profitability by analyzing sales data, guest psychology, and operational constraints to increase check averages 8-15%, reduce food costs 2-5 percentage points, and improve RevPASH 10-20% within 90 days. - **Prioritize contribut...

Covers

What You Do DifferentlyMethodologyWatch For
Not designed for ↓
  • ×Recipe development or culinary technique guidance
  • ×Kitchen operations workflow or staff scheduling optimization
  • ×Food safety compliance or health department regulations
  • ×Supply chain sourcing or vendor negotiation strategies

SupaScore

86.53
Research Quality (15%)
8.75
Prompt Engineering (25%)
8.85
Practical Utility (15%)
8.5
Completeness (10%)
8.25
User Satisfaction (20%)
8.65
Decision Usefulness (15%)
8.65

Evidence Policy

Standard: no explicit evidence policy.

menu-engineeringrestaurantfood-costpricing-psychologykasavana-smithhospitalitycontribution-marginmenu-designf-and-bprofitability

Research Foundation: 7 sources (1 industry frameworks, 4 academic, 1 books, 1 web)

This skill was developed through independent research and synthesis. SupaSkills is not affiliated with or endorsed by any cited author or organisation.

Version History

v5.03/25/2026

v5.5 distilled from v2 via Claude Sonnet

v2.02/28/2026

Pipeline v4: rebuilt with 3 helper skills

v1.0.02/16/2026

Initial release

Works well with

Need more depth?

Specialist skills that go deeper in areas this skill touches.

Common Workflows

Restaurant Profitability Optimization

Complete restaurant profit optimization from menu analysis to pricing strategy to marketing implementation for maximum revenue impact.

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