As food and labor costs rise, restaurants are getting strategic with their menus to avoid reprinting new ones every week.
"To me, menu engineering is the layout of the menu that makes the order process the most profitable for the restaurant," said Michele Benesch, president of the menu design firm Menu Men.Sean Willard, a menu engineering specialist with Menu Engineers, estimates diners spend fewer than 90 seconds after sitting down browsing the menu. That puts pressure on restaurants to present customers with menus that help them order the meal they'll enjoy the most, quickly.
"Maybe featuring the wedge or a Caesar salad or the potatoes au gratin … Padding that bottom line does make up the difference," she said. Some of Shuckin' Shacks' menu items are loss leaders, like its crab balls, according to Piccinin. The price of crab has soared, and the chain doesn't want to pass all of the cost along to customers. Instead, it hopes the popular appetizer will attract customers to return and buy other menu items that are more profitable.Willard said nearly all of his clients have slimmed down their menus in recent months to practice better inventory control.
"In terms of menu, we've been clear that we really like the reduction in menu and what it's done to provide our guests with the high-value dishes that they want and make it easier for our teams to produce them," Darden COO and incoming CEO Rick Cardenas told analysts in late March."And we continue to get better. If we add new items, we take another item off."
"Food prices increase immediately in grocery stores and lagging, smaller price increases in restaurants are less onerous by comparison," Senatore said."As a result, we believe that companies that price at inflation should be able to pass through cost increases effectively, while those that price below can gain traffic share."
And as menus constantly evolve, some pandemic changes to consumer behavior are offering restaurants greater flexibility and a cushion on their bottom lines.
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