Free tool · four-quadrant matrix
Menu Engineering Worksheet
Enter your dishes with their price, plate cost and units sold. Every one gets classified — and the dish worth acting on first gets named.
Marji
marji.co/tools/menu-engineering-worksheet
| Dish | Price | Plate cost | Units | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Star
2
Protect. Feature it, don't discount it, recost it monthly.
Plowhorse
4
Reprice or rework — demand is proven, margin isn't.
Puzzle
3
Reposition: placement, description, server mention.
Dog
1
Cut, unless it fills a strategic role.
| Dish | CM | Units | Share | Food cost % | Total CM | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burger | $10.80 | 412 | 22.9% | 28.0% | $4,449.60 | Plowhorse |
| Margherita pizza | $12.80 | 268 | 14.9% | 20.0% | $3,430.40 | Plowhorse |
| Salmon | $20.71 | 142 | 7.9% | 28.6% | $2,940.82 | Star |
| Pasta pomodoro | $16.10 | 180 | 10.0% | 15.3% | $2,898.00 | Star |
| Chicken sandwich | $8.90 | 310 | 17.2% | 36.4% | $2,759.00 | Plowhorse |
| Steak frites | $20.90 | 118 | 6.6% | 38.5% | $2,466.20 | Puzzle |
| Fish & chips | $13.60 | 166 | 9.2% | 35.2% | $2,257.60 | Plowhorse |
| Mushroom risotto | $18.40 | 94 | 5.2% | 16.4% | $1,729.60 | Puzzle |
| Duck breast | $23.20 | 71 | 3.9% | 35.6% | $1,647.20 | Puzzle |
| Vegan bowl | $13.10 | 37 | 2.1% | 27.2% | $484.70 | Dog |
Start here
Burger is your largest opportunity.
It sells 412 units and contributes $10.80 against a $13.94 menu average. A $1 increase would add $412.00 of contribution over this period — and you could lose 8.5% of its volume before it stopped paying. How to raise a price without losing regulars →
Re-run these numbers free at marji.co/tools/menu-engineering-worksheet. Marji costs every dish on your menu from a photograph and flags the ones that crossed your target margin.
Common questions
Where do I get the units sold?
Your POS product mix report — sometimes called PLU, item sales or menu mix. Use at least four weeks of data and avoid a holiday week, which distorts everything.
How is the popularity line calculated?
Total units divided by the number of items, times 70%. The 70% adjustment is the standard menu-engineering convention: without it, every item on a large menu classifies as unpopular, which tells you nothing.
Why isn't the contribution line just the average of the CM column?
Because that would let a rarely-sold luxury dish drag the line up and mislabel half your menu. This worksheet uses the weighted average — total contribution divided by total units — which is what the dishes you actually sell produce.
What should I do first?
Look at your plowhorses. They sell well and earn below average, so demand is already proven and a modest price increase is unusually safe. It's almost always the largest single opportunity on a menu.
Should I cut every dog?
No. Some dishes earn their place for reasons the matrix can't see — a vegan entrée that lets a group of six book, a kid's plate, a dish regulars come in for. Also check what else uses its ingredients before cutting, or you may strand inventory and push another dish's cost up.
My plate costs are old. Does that matter?
Enormously. Menu engineering run on stale recipe costs will confidently tell you to promote your worst dish. Recost your top dishes against current invoices before trusting the quadrants.