What would you rather order: a juicy, marinated fire-grilled chicken filet or a plain chicken breast? Do you scan the menu prices from top to bottom and choose your dish based on price? Are your cheap staples like burgers and sandwiches occupying a prominent area of your menu because they are popular? Have you considered if they are they giving you the highest margins?

These are all common questions and concerns when you analyze and engineer your menu for profitability.

Menu engineering has been around since the early 80’s and is defined as the process of selecting, costing, pricing and evaluating all of your menu items to ensure your offerings are contributing to bottom line dollars – not food cost percentages. Let’s face it; you take money to the bank, not percentages!

Think of it like this. A customer comes in and wants a recommendation. Are you going to push your penne arrabiata for $10 (your cost $2) or your Steak and Frites for $20 (your cost $8)?  If you were looking at food costs, you would push the pasta, as the food cost are 20 per cent versus 40 per cent for the steak. However, if you are looking at contribution margins, the steak will contribute $12 to gross revenue while the pasta only contributes $8.

Each of your items has to be analyzed and categorized. There are generally four categories:

•    Stars – high popularity and high margins
•    Workhorses – high popularity and low margin
•    Puzzlers – low popularity and high margins
•    Dogs – low popularity and low margin
Menu engineering involves the analysis of each and every one of your menu items as well as the critical design and placement on your menu.

High profit items should be featured and easily found. Mouth watering descriptions combined with fabulous food photography can “make” a dish. The more “stars” you can feature, the better, and do you really want “dog” on your menu?

The proper engineering of your menu is a recipe for success. It will take time but you will see results with happier customers and a much healthier bottom line.

Click here for the article.

There are are many different types of display tools available, and offering a unique menu board is a mandatory requirement for all hotels and restaurants.   A creative menu board offers a  unique, attractive and help to display your dishes and your price list effectively.

Simply displaying a board is not enough for the restaurant or hotel. The restaurant needs to carefully select the location as it should be in complete sight of the guest.

Typically,  the board also offers a menu display case in various colors and designs.  The display case also comes in various designs and colors, and can be made to match the decor of the restaurant.

To promote daily specials, Impact Menu Systems also offers a number of changable menu boards that allows restaurant owners to either write their menu on a dry or wet erase board or print out a new menu item to hang on a magnetic lens board.

The boards are durable and reusable, making them quite economic for restaurants and hotels.

So, if you’re looking for great menu boards, look to IMPACT Menu Systems.

Why?

Eating at McDonald’s isn’t exactly cheap, costing some $28 for a family of four. The study found that people’s visits to fast-food joints increased along with their incomes, and that poor people were spending fewer dollars on fast food than lower-middle and middle-income Americans.

For the full article, click here.

If you’re looking for outstanding menu signs for your fast food or quick serve location, look to IMPACT Menu Systems.  Give us a call at (800) 321-8105.

Consider adding or updating your product line!

Just recently, Burger King rolled out a new line of three limited-time offer burgers called BK Toppers in Deluxe, Mushroom and Swiss, and Western BBQ varieties.

Burger King is one organization that is always looking for ways to evolve their menu to better meet the needs of their customers.

Their television and radio commercials began Friday to promote the items, focusing on the brand’s food-centric marketing strategy.

And, if you’re looking to update your menu boards, look to IMPACT Menu Systems.  We offer a full range of menu boards to suit all your needs.  And, as we manufacture the boards, we can customize the boards to suit any location style.  Give us a call at 800-321-8105.

Menu labeling will soon be required for operators with 20 or more units, and researchers at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City want to know how you feel about it. Participation is voluntary for those 18 years and older. The online survey will take about 10 minutes.

Drs. Ming-Chin Yeh and Charles Platkin of the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City are conducting  research on restaurant owners’ perceptions of a new menu labeling law. As you are aware, Section 4205 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments, with 20 or more locations, to list calorie content information for standard menu items on restaurant menus and menu boards, including drive-through boards. Other nutrient nutrition information – total calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, sugars, fiber and total protein – would be made available upon written request.

This study is to determine the views and perceptions of restaurant owners and managers whose practices will be affected by the new law.

Click here to read more.

And Taco Bell is trying the same thing.  According to an article in Restaurant News, Taco Bell is looking to reinvent the taco featuring a shell made from nacho cheese-flavored Doritos.

In a third-quarter call to analysts this week, Yum! Brands Inc. chairman and chief executive David Novak said the company is focusing efforts on turning around disappointing sales at Taco Bell, the company’s largest and most profitable chain in the United States.

Novak promised “market-tested, category-breakthrough innovation” to re-energize the Taco Bell brand by the end of the first quarter next year.

Company officials were shy to confirm whether the new Doritos Locos Taco is part of that so-called innovation.

Let us know what you think of this idea!

To read the full article, click here.

If you’re looking for great menu boards, look no further than IMPACT Menu Systems.

In his speech during the symposium, he outlined ways for restaurant operators to minimize food safety liability and litigation in their businesses.

Among the most important steps:

• Identify the hazards. Companies should ask themselves if they have a HACCP plan in place and, more important, if they have committed and qualified people who understand the difference between types of pathogens.

• Think about the culture. Do you have a food-safety culture? People like to make money and are always bumping into ethical issues.  It’s important to draw a line in the sand when determining not to cut corners.

• Involve vendors and suppliers. Do they have a food safety plan? Do you visit them to confirm they do?

• Recognize government as your best friend. The government will watch your back if you are doing everything you can do to eliminate outbreaks.  It’s important not to alienate them.

To read more of this article, click here.

To order menu boards, restaurant merchandising materials for your location, contact IMPACT menu systems by calling (800) 321-8105.

Most recently, Dunkin’ Donuts has launched its fall lineup of menu items, with a focus on the traditional seasonal flavors of pumpkin and apple.  The new Caramel Apple Donut combines those two flavors in a cake doughnut coated with cinnamon sugar, and sells for a suggested 89 cents.

The new menu items offer customers something new and different to try, can provide a temporary boost for your sales and can show off your product variety.

Returning to Dunkin’ stores are its pumpkin coffee and latte and apple cider, available hot or iced, and pumpkin doughnuts and Munchkin doughnut holes, as well as a pumpkin muffin topped with white icing and streusel. Prices for a small pumpkin coffee and latte are $1.49 and $1.99, respectively. A small hot apple cider sells for a suggested $1.69, while the iced version of the same size is $1.99. A 25-count box of pumpkin Munchkins retails for $4.99, a pumpkin doughnut for 89 cents and a pumpkin muffin for $1.39.

Remember that if you’re considering offering seasonal specials, you’ll need a way to promote them – so look to IMPACT Menu Systems for menu boards for your location.

The Chicago Bennigan’s Franchising Co. is  upbeat on the 80-unit chain’s performance after a successful rebranding this summer.

New Bennigan’s Franchising Co. chief executive Paul Mangiamele says that they’ve seen same-store sales increases at the corporate location  in the low double digits.

To achieve this, the Chicago location optimized their menu, retrained all servers and back-of-the-house staff, implemented higher internal standards for operations, and a new local-store marketing push. The restaurant is one of only two company-owned stores; the other is in Appleton, Wis.

Although some cosmetic updates to the bar and seating at the Chicago location already have been made, the same-store sales increase came without the full remodel planned for the fall.  The improvements were paid for by the company’s marketing budget, which is 2-percent of its total sales.

If you’re looking to reinvent your retail or restaurant location, IMPACT Menu Systems can help.  Call us for a free consultation at (800) 321-8105.  To read the full article about Bennigan’s, click here.