View Case StudyMenu Restructure for a Casual Dining Concept
Concept study — not client work
Menu & Product
Menu Strategy, Engineering & Pricing
Most menus are written, then never read as a commercial document. This service reads it as one: which items carry the business, which quietly cost it money, and what the menu should look like next.
The business problem
A menu is one of the strongest commercial levers in a restaurant. The right structure, pricing and product mix can improve contribution margin, make the offer easier to buy, reduce operational complexity and give the team a clearer path to profitable growth.
What we analyze
- POS sales by item and daypart
- Recipe yield, portion and current purchase price
- Popularity and contribution margin
- Kitchen capacity and menu complexity
01What We Do
We work from your own numbers. Sales by item, item cost, price and category are brought together so each item can be placed by two measures at once: how well it sells, and what it contributes after food cost.
From there the study covers menu structure and size, category performance, product mix, pricing and gross and contribution margin, combos, add-ons and upselling opportunities, and the differences between the dine-in, delivery and beverage menus — which rarely deserve the same prices or the same list of items.
02Our Approach
The analysis is only half of it. Recommendations are written to be acted on: which items to keep, rework, reprice or retire, in what order, and what to measure afterwards so the change can be judged rather than assumed.
Services
What You Get
- 01Menu performance analysis
- 02Item profitability analysis
- 03Menu engineering matrix
- 04Pricing recommendations
- 05Product mix analysis
- 06Food cost review
- 07Menu structure recommendations
- 08Low-performing item identification
- 09High-potential item identification
- 10Delivery menu review
- 11Promotional item analysis
- 12Higher contribution margin
- 13Clearer menu structure
- 14Better-performing product mix
- 15Data-led pricing decisions
- 16Improved food cost control
- 17Reduced menu complexity
- 18Stronger item-level profitability
- 19A menu built for operational reality
Our Approach
Our Approach
- 01
1. Diagnose
We review menu structure, sales mix, item performance, food cost and pricing.
- 02
2. Engineer
We classify items by popularity and contribution to identify what to keep, improve, reprice or remove.
- 03
3. Reprice & Rebuild
We redesign the product mix, pricing logic and menu structure around commercial and operational priorities.
- 04
4. Measure
We define the metrics and follow-up actions needed to judge the impact after implementation.
Work
Selected Work
View Case Study2025
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you need from us to start?
The current menu, sales by item for a representative period, and item costs. A POS export is usually enough; where costs are missing we work with you to build them.
Do you guarantee a specific increase?
No. The study identifies what the numbers support and what to change; the result depends on execution, and on conditions no consultant controls.
Does this apply to a café menu?
Yes. Beverage-led menus are analysed the same way, with attention to modifiers, sizes and the share of sales that beverages carry.
Illustrative example
A café with 40 items
A café lists 40 items, but a small number of them generate most of the sales. Bringing together sales, food cost, price, contribution and popularity places every item in one of four groups — stars, plowhorses, puzzles and dogs — and the shape of the menu becomes an argument rather than an opinion.
What follows is a sequence: analysis, then recommendations, then menu changes, then a pricing review, then follow-up measurement. This is an illustration of the method. It is not a client result, and no figure here describes a real business.
An illustration of the method, not a client result.
Services
Related
- ResourceMenu Engineering TemplateAn editable restaurant workbook for menu engineering, with structured inputs, working calculations and an action-ready summary.
- ResourceRecipe CostingAn editable restaurant workbook for recipe costing, with structured inputs, working calculations and an action-ready summary.
- ToolFood Cost CalculatorFood cost percentage and gross margin for a single item, from its cost and selling price.
- ToolMenu Pricing CalculatorThe price an item needs to hit a target food cost percentage, before and after VAT.
- ArticleReading a menu as a commercial documentA menu is the only document every guest reads and the only one that sets revenue and cost at the same time. Here is how to read yours as a commercial instrument rather than a list.
- SolutionMenu EngineeringRearranging the menu so the profitable dishes are the ones guests actually choose.
More NORIVA services
All Services →- Menu PricingPricing reviewed against cost, contribution, positioning and what the market will carry.
- Food Cost AnalysisRecipe and item costing, and what the food cost percentage is actually telling you.
- Delivery Menu & PricingThe delivery menu treated as its own commercial problem: commission, packaging and price.
- Brand Strategy & IdentityWe define the strategy, positioning and identity that make an F&B brand distinctive, coherent and ready to grow.
- Social Media ManagementAlways-on channel management that keeps your restaurant in the feed and in the conversation.
- Content StrategyA content plan built around what the restaurant needs to sell, not around what is trending.
Menu Strategy, Engineering & Pricing
Menu study request
The more of this you can answer, the more of the first conversation can be about findings rather than fact-finding.
Start a Project
A structured study of what your menu sells, what each item earns, and what to change — item performance, food cost, pricing, product mix and menu structure.