Menu engineering is a method that is decades old (Kasavana and Smith, 1982), and it is still one of the fastest ways to find margin. You need one month of POS sales by item and a recipe cost for each item.
Step 1: contribution margin. For each item, selling price (net of tax) minus recipe cost equals contribution margin. This is cash per plate, not a percentage.
Step 2: popularity. Calculate each item's share of the category's total units sold. The usual benchmark for "popular" is 70% of an equal share. With 10 items, that is 7% of units.
Step 3: the four boxes.
- Stars (high margin, high popularity): protect them. Keep the quality consistent and give them the best menu positions.
- Plough-horses (low margin, high popularity): re-engineer the cost or portion, or adjust the price carefully.
- Puzzles (high margin, low popularity): reposition, rename, or have staff recommend them.
- Dogs (low margin, low popularity): remove or replace, unless they have a strategic role.
Step 4: act, then measure. Change a few items at a time and compare the next month with the baseline.
The same matrix works for cocktail lists.
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菜单工程（Kasavana & Smith, 1982）：按单品计算边际贡献与受欢迎度，分为明星、耕马、谜题、瘦狗四类，逐项调整并对照基线衡量。
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