By Greg Garner

Restaurant business is all about creating that perfect menu and delivering high quality food to customers. The menu must cater to and satisfy the taste buds of all customers. Menu Engineering or Menu Psychology is the art of creating the perfect menu for restaurants based on the target customer’s preference and taste.

Menu engineering is a discipline focusing on the creation and conceptualization of menu cards for restaurants. Menu engineering plays an important role in helping businesses enhance profits by psychologically edging customers to choose what the restaurant specializes in.

Menu Engineering or Menu Psychology

— This distinct field of study includes psychology that focuses on the customer’s perception of the restaurant. Menu engineering is all about drawing the attention of customers to delicacies and dishes promoted by the restaurant.

— Managerial Accounting is also a part of menu engineering is all about determining the margin earned, cost analysis and profitability of each dish on the menu card.

— Marketing and business strategy is a primary part of menu engineering along with the visual layout of the menu. All these aspects are deeply researched to create a menu card that appeals to the clientele, is profitable for the restaurant and indirectly markets or promotes the restaurant.

Psychology and Visual Perception Employed By Menu Engineering

— The menu is the first perspective a client gets about the restaurant. Many restaurants use graphics to enable customers to visualize the dishes though most of them are listed. Graphically listed items are placed strategically to attract the attention of the customers.

— Menu engineering is about arrangement of visuals within the menu to ensure maximum attention. These strategic arrangements within the menu are called ‘sweet spots’ and the psychology behind this is known as the ‘sweet spot effect’. Most sweet spots occupy the first and the last position as the human brain tends to retain what is read first and last.

Marketing and Menu Engineering

— It is a well known fact that human brain responds positively to descriptive labeling of items. This ensures greater customer satisfaction and enhances the product profitability on the card. Bold print of currency naturally discourages customers from spending. Menu engineering generally underplays pricing and focuses on the food items.

— An important aspect of menu engineering is to calculate the productivity of each item on the menu. Menu engineering aims at boosting the sales of targeted items and discouraging sales of items that are not popularly sold at the restaurant.

— Menu engineering also helps with the calculation of optimal cost that includes the cost of raw material, labor and other fixed costs. This helps restaurants work out the pricing of each item on the menu and strategetically place them so as to enhance profit.

Menu engineering primarily helps with making decisions on which items are to be focused upon based on strategic market research and menu layout. Many restaurants employ professionals to menu engineer their menu cards periodically so as to boost sales and enhance profitability.

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