Menu Engineering Worksheet (Free Spreadsheet)

This menu engineering worksheet sorts every dish into Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog from its sales and profit. Enter each dish's price, food cost and items sold; the spreadsheet works out menu mix, unit and dish profit and the grade. It comes with a real nine-dish food-truck menu already graded.

Make a copy in Google Sheets Download .xlsx

Free, no signup, no email. Works in Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers and LibreOffice. Preview it first.

Menu engineering worksheet with nine Mexican food truck dishes: sell price, food cost %, items sold, menu mix, dish profit, unit profit and a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog grade for each
The worksheet as you get it: 327 items sold in a month, two Stars, three Plowhorses, one Puzzle and three Dogs.

How the menu engineering matrix works

Each dish gets two marks. Profit is high when its unit profit (price − food cost) is at or above the menu's average. Popularity is high when its share of items sold is at least 70% of an equal share: with nine dishes, 70% × 1/9 = 7.8%.

High profit · high popularity

Star

Keep it, feature it, protect the recipe.

Low profit · high popularity

Plowhorse

Sells well, earns little: trim the cost or raise the price a little.

High profit · low popularity

Puzzle

Earns well, sells slowly: move it up the menu or rename it.

Low profit · low popularity

Dog

Rework it or take it off.

Fill in the worksheet

  1. Make a copy and open the Menu_Calculation tab.
  2. Put one dish per row, up to 20, with its sell price.
  3. Add the food cost per serving. In the example it comes from each dish's own cost card tab; you can link yours or type it.
  4. Type the items sold for the period in the yellow column.
  5. Read the grade and the averages at the top: food cost %, popularity mark and average profit.

Try it: grade your menu here

The same rules as the spreadsheet, in your browser. Edit any number, add dishes or start from scratch.

DishPriceFood costSoldUnit profitMenu mixGradeRemove
Average unit profit — Popularity mark — Food cost average — Items sold —

Skip the typing

Generate it from your menu

FoodTechGuru makes this exact spreadsheet from your own dishes. Snap or paste each recipe to get its cost card, put the dishes in a menu, and the app builds the Google Sheet: food cost %, menu mix, unit and dish profit, the Star to Dog grades, and a product list.

  • Free download; new accounts get 15 free credits (one recipe = one credit)
  • The menu sheet itself uses 5 credits on a Pro or Guru plan
  • iPhone today, Android coming
Download on the App Store
Scan with your iPhone
Menu engineering Google Sheet the FoodTechGuru app generated for a taco truck menu: unit profit, menu mix and a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog grade per dish
FoodTechGuru on iPhone: create a menu, add the costed recipes, then open the menu engineering Google Sheet with food cost % per dish
The app builds the menu from your costed recipes, then the menu engineering sheet with a grade per dish.

Menu engineering worksheet FAQ

Is the menu engineering worksheet free?

Yes. Make a copy in Google Sheets or download the .xlsx. There is no signup and no email required.

What counts as a popular dish?

A dish whose share of items sold is at least 70% of an equal share. With 10 dishes the line is 7%; with 20 it is 3.5%.

Is the profit line a weighted average?

No. The worksheet compares each dish with the simple average unit profit of the menu. The classic Kasavana-Smith method weights that average by items sold, so the two can disagree for dishes close to the line.

How often should I re-run it?

Monthly works for most menus, and after any price or recipe change. Use sales from the same period for every dish.

Does it work in Excel?

Yes. The .xlsx opens in Excel, Numbers and LibreOffice with the formulas intact.

Can an app do menu engineering for me?

Yes. FoodTechGuru for iPhone builds this spreadsheet from your costed dishes as a Google Sheet. The menu sheet uses 5 credits on a Pro or Guru plan.

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Grade your whole menu in one sheet

Google Sheets or Excel. Free, with a real menu already filled in.

Make a copy in Google Sheets