Menu engineering is the systematic study of menu profitability and popularity. It applies data science to one of the most important tools in your restaurant: the menu itself.

By categorising each item as a Star, Puzzle, Ploughorse, or Dog, you can make informed decisions about pricing, placement, and promotion.

The four categories

Stars are high-profit, high-popularity items — protect and promote these. Puzzles are high-profit but low-popularity — they need better descriptions, photos, or server recommendations. Ploughorses are popular but low-profit — consider portion adjustments or ingredient substitutions. Dogs are low on both axes — remove or reimagine them.

Most restaurants find that 20% of their menu items drive 80% of profits. The other 80% of items are candidates for optimisation.

Digital menus as a laboratory

Digital menus (whether on tablets, QR codes, or apps) give you an enormous advantage: real data. You can see exactly which items customers view, how long they consider them, and what they ultimately order.

Tafura provides built-in menu engineering analytics that automatically categorise your items and suggest optimisations based on real sales data.

Pricing psychology

Remove currency symbols (write "149" not "R149") — studies show this increases spend by 8%. Use decoy pricing: place a premium item above your target item to make it feel like better value. Avoid price columns that encourage comparison shopping.

Update your menu seasonally. Seasonal items create urgency and give you natural opportunities to test new price points.