Vol. XXXIV · History and Projects Plate 11 of 13project, menu planning, set menu, food cost, food-cost percentage, pricing, energy, kcal, nutrition, allergens, labelling, balance, design brief, recipe costingTF

Project: A Three-Course Menu.

Prawns, rib-eye and chocolate cake make a fine dinner — at 1700 kcal, four allergens and a food cost of 45 % of a 30 price.

A menu is a design with constraints from three directions. The business side: the cost of the ingredients as a share of the price — the food-cost percentage — must leave room for labour, rent and profit; restaurants commonly aim at about 28–35 % (XXXI.5). The diner's side: a set menu should satisfy without overwhelming — about a third to half of a day's energy (XXIII.9). The safety side: every major allergen in it must be declared, and a menu with fewer of them suits more guests (XII.10).

Your design: one starter, one main and one dessert, from three each, and the price per head. The checks use the course's recipe bench: ingredient cost (course price table, per kilogram), energy (USDA composition), and the allergens found in the ingredients. The starting design — prawns, steak and cake at 30 — fails on cost, energy and allergens.

Below: the cost and energy of each course for your choices (course recipe bench), the food-cost percentage at your price, the allergens the menu contains, and the brief.

What you will learn
Workshop
Course recipe bench: ingredient prices from the course price table (illustrative, per kilogram, in a generic currency); energy from USDA FoodData Central; allergens from the course allergen table (milk, egg, wheat, crustacean shellfish and others). Brief: price 35 or less; food cost 30 % or less; 800–1100 kcal; two major allergens or fewer.

Three constraints at once

The prawn, steak and cake menu costs about 45 % of its price, gives 1,680 kcal and declares 4 allergens: it fails three ways. The rib-eye alone makes a 35 menu hard to cost — even with a light salad and baked fruit it runs to 33 %. A vegetable soup, chicken with rice and greens, and baked fruit meets every check with room to spare, and contains only milk. Swapping one dish at a time and watching which check moves is how chefs actually build a menu.

In practice: cost every recipe from its specification (XXXI.5), including trim and waste; check energy and portion against the guests you serve; list allergens on the menu and train staff to answer (XII.10). Then taste the menu as a sequence — contrast of richness, texture and temperature from course to course (XI.11) — because a menu that passes every check can still be dull.

At the stove

Cost your next dinner: weigh the ingredients, look up their prices and work out the cost per person. What would you have to charge?

The food-cost percentage is only one measure: a dish with a high percentage can still earn more money per plate than one with a low percentage, which is why menu engineers also look at the cash margin and the popularity of each dish (XXXI.8).

Terms

Food-cost percentage
Ingredient cost as a share of the selling price.
Set menu
A fixed sequence of courses at one price.
Major allergens
Foods that must be declared: milk, egg, wheat, shellfish and others.
Costing
Pricing a recipe from its ingredients.
A menu meets three constraints at once: food cost ≤ 30 % of the price, 800–1100 kcal for a set dinner, and as few allergens as possible, all declared. Change one dish at a time and watch which check moves.

Sources

  1. USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain.
  2. M. L. Kasavana and D. I. Smith, Menu Engineering: A Practical Guide to Menu Analysis, Hospitality Publications, 1982: items classed by popularity (above 70 % of an equal share of sales) and contribution margin (above the menu's average) as stars, plough-horses, puzzles and dogs.
  3. A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.