MenuMargin Menu profit audit Menu Profit Audit · USD 79
You were right about the burger, and there are two more
Twenty six items against supplied costs and twelve months of sales. Your instinct was correct and the numbers now support it.
You suspected the burger was costing you money and wanted evidence before taking it off. It is, and you can. The audit also found two items you did not suspect, and a promotion that is quietly more expensive than all three combined.
The burger contributes USD 2.90 against a menu median of USD 7.40 and takes the second longest ticket time in the kitchen. Remove it. The two items you did not flag are worse, and the Wednesday promotion costs more than all three together.
The item you asked about
The burger, in full
| Line | Burger | Menu median | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menu price | USD 17.50 | USD 21.00 | Under-priced for the category |
| Food cost | USD 8.10 | USD 6.40 | Highest on the menu |
| Contribution | USD 2.90 | USD 7.40 | Lowest of 26 |
| Covers a month | 178 | 94 | Second highest volume |
| Ticket time | 14 min | 9 min | Second slowest |
| Unique ingredients | 6 | 2 | Brioche, two cheeses and a sauce used nowhere else |
| Monthly contribution | USD 516 | Against USD 1,317 if those covers moved to the median item |
It is popular, it is slow, it is the cheapest thing on the menu to buy and the most expensive to make. You already knew. This is the page to put in front of anyone who disagrees.
What you did not flag
Two worse items
| Item | Covers | Contribution | Prep held | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seafood linguine | 31 | USD 118 / mo | 3.5 h / wk | Remove |
| Lamb shank | 22 | USD 164 / mo | 5.5 h / wk | Remove |
| Goat cheese tart | 44 | USD 287 / mo | 1 h / wk | Keep, raise USD 2 |
| Burger | 178 | USD 516 / mo | 1.5 h / wk | Reprice to USD 21 |
The bigger leak
Wednesday
Two for one on mains, every Wednesday. It has run for fourteen months and nobody has costed it since it started.
| Wednesday | Tuesday | Thursday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers | 84 | 51 | 58 |
| Average spend per head | USD 21.40 | USD 38.90 | USD 40.10 |
| Contribution per cover | USD 3.10 | USD 12.60 | USD 13.20 |
| Total contribution | USD 260 | USD 643 | USD 766 |
| Drinks attach rate | 0.9 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Monthly contribution | USD 1,128 | USD 2,786 | USD 3,320 |
Wednesday brings 33 more covers than Tuesday and USD 1,658 less contribution a month. The promotion is not filling a quiet night; it is moving people from full-price nights onto a discounted one, and the drinks attach rate of 0.9 is the tell.
Actions
What to change, in what order
- Next menu print
Remove the linguine and the lamb shank
Recovers nine prep hours a week and USD 282 a month of dead contribution. Neither will be missed at 31 and 22 covers.
- Next menu print
Burger to USD 21, simplify the build
Drop to one cheese and the standard bun. Saves USD 1.40 of food cost and four minutes of ticket time, and keeps your entry price point.
- Within a month
Replace Wednesday two-for-one
A fixed price three course at USD 32 holds the covers and roughly triples the contribution per head. Test for six weeks before judging it.
- Within a month
Goat cheese tart up USD 2
Forty four covers, low prep, no resistance expected at this price point.
- After 6 weeks
Re-measure and send the new data
Covers, average spend and drinks attach by day. The Wednesday change is the one that needs evidence rather than opinion.
| Action | Monthly effect | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Remove two items | +USD 282 | Low |
| Reprice and simplify the burger | +USD 480 | Low |
| Goat cheese tart +USD 2 | +USD 88 | Low |
| Replace Wednesday promotion | +USD 1,010 | Medium |
| Combined | +USD 1,860 |
Wednesday carries the medium flag because changing a fourteen month habit will lose some covers. The model assumes 15 percent of Wednesday covers do not return, which is heavier than usually observed.