Stars · protect the engine
Signal: high mix and high contribution margin.
Playbook: keep quality consistent, preserve visibility, and avoid training guests to wait for a discount.
Check: watch margin and mix after supplier or portion changes.
Paste your menu and get an instant Kasavana-Smith menu matrix — contribution margins, item classification, and a prioritized action plan with estimated dollar impact. Free to use, runs in your browser.
Paste one item per line: name, food cost, price, units sold, category. Quote fields containing commas, including thousands-separated numbers. Calculation runs in your browser. Only if you request the emailed plan, your email, optional restaurant name, and an aggregate plan summary are sent: item count (capped at 10,000), rounded totals for revenue, units, and scenario opportunity, plus Plowhorse/Puzzle counts and rounded estimated impacts. No item names or pasted rows are included.
Period: Week · Classification: per category
Items
8
Revenue · Week
$9,947
Whole-menu weighted avg. margin
$10.22
Stars
0
Per-category mode uses category-local menu mix and weighted-margin thresholds, except singleton categories use whole-menu calculations. Lines are omitted because active cohort cutoffs vary.
Margherita Pizza
Entree · Category thresholds
Popular but thin margin — raise the price slightly or trim portion cost.
Caesar Salad
Salad · Whole-menu fallback
Popular but thin margin — raise the price slightly or trim portion cost.
Ribeye Steak
Entree · Category thresholds
Profitable but under-sold — promote and reposition to drive more volume.
Fish & Chips
Entree · Category thresholds
Popular but thin margin — raise the price slightly or trim portion cost.
Mushroom Risotto
Entree · Category thresholds
Profitable but under-sold — promote and reposition to drive more volume.
Garlic Bread
Appetizer · Whole-menu fallback
Popular but thin margin — raise the price slightly or trim portion cost.
Tiramisu
Dessert · Whole-menu fallback
Low sales and low margin — consider removing or reinventing this item.
House Red Wine
Beverage · Whole-menu fallback
Popular but thin margin — raise the price slightly or trim portion cost.
MenuWright · Menu engineering calculator
Restaurant: Not provided · Period: Week
Classification cohort: Per category
Stars: 0 · Plowhorses: 5 · Puzzles: 2 · Dogs: 1
| Category | Item | Price | Food cost | Units | Menu mix | Margin | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entree | Margherita Pizza | $16.00 | $4.20 | 140 | 47.0% | $11.80 | Plowhorse |
| Salad | Caesar Salad | $12.00 | $2.80 | 95 | 13.0% | $9.20 | Plowhorse · whole-menu fallback |
| Entree | Ribeye Steak | $34.00 | $11.50 | 42 | 14.0% | $22.50 | Puzzle |
| Entree | Fish & Chips | $18.00 | $5.10 | 88 | 29.0% | $12.90 | Plowhorse |
| Entree | Mushroom Risotto | $19.00 | $3.40 | 30 | 10.0% | $15.60 | Puzzle |
| Appetizer | Garlic Bread | $7.00 | $1.10 | 120 | 17.0% | $5.90 | Plowhorse · whole-menu fallback |
| Dessert | Tiramisu | $9.00 | $2.20 | 55 | 8.0% | $6.80 | Dog · whole-menu fallback |
| Beverage | House Red Wine | $11.00 | $3.00 | 150 | 21.0% | $8.00 | Plowhorse · whole-menu fallback |
Scenario assumptions — not a forecast: 5% price bump and 10% volume lift. Dollar impacts are illustrative estimates for the entered period.
When pricing starts with a markup or a guess, menu engineering offers a repeatable alternative: compare each item's popularity (menu mix %) with its profitability (contribution margin — price minus ingredient cost). The calculator places every parsed item in one of four quadrants, each with a different next move.
The browser engine uses a 70% popularity threshold: an item is high-popularity when its menu-mix share is at or above 70% of an equal-share item. Default action-plan impact assumptions are a 5% price increase for Plowhorses and a 10% volume lift for Puzzles; the sliders let you change those scenario assumptions. Impacts are illustrative, not forecasts, and do not model demand elasticity, discounting, cannibalization, taxes, or operating costs.
This uses the calculator's illustrative sample in Whole menu mode. Since the sample has multiple categories, the interactive calculator defaults to Per category; choose Whole menu to reproduce these figures. Total units are 720; total contribution is $7,356.20. The table keeps the arithmetic visible so you can replace each number with your own POS export.
| Item | Units | Menu mix formula | Margin formula | Quadrant | Illustrative impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Margherita Pizza | 140 | 140 ÷ 720 = 19.44% | $16.00 − $4.20 = $11.80 | Star | — |
| Caesar Salad | 95 | 95 ÷ 720 = 13.19% | $12.00 − $2.80 = $9.20 | Crowd Pleaser | $12 × 5% × 95 = $57.00 |
| Ribeye Steak | 42 | 42 ÷ 720 = 5.83% | $34.00 − $11.50 = $22.50 | Hidden Gem | $22.50 × 10% × 42 = $94.50 (engine: $95) |
| Fish & Chips | 88 | 88 ÷ 720 = 12.22% | $18.00 − $5.10 = $12.90 | Star | — |
| Mushroom Risotto | 30 | 30 ÷ 720 = 4.17% | $19.00 − $3.40 = $15.60 | Hidden Gem | $15.60 × 10% × 30 = $46.80 (engine: $47) |
| Garlic Bread | 120 | 120 ÷ 720 = 16.67% | $7.00 − $1.10 = $5.90 | Crowd Pleaser | $7 × 5% × 120 = $42.00 |
| Tiramisu | 55 | 55 ÷ 720 = 7.64% | $9.00 − $2.20 = $6.80 | Leftover | — |
| House Red Wine | 150 | 150 ÷ 720 = 20.83% | $11.00 − $3.00 = $8.00 | Crowd Pleaser | $11 × 5% × 150 = $82.50 (engine: $83) |
Rows show the raw units ÷ total-units calculation to two decimals; the engine rounds its fraction to two decimals for classification. Displayed impact rounds each result to the nearest whole dollar (for example, $94.50 becomes $95). These are not expected results or a promise of revenue.
With eight items, an equal-share item would be 1 ÷ 8 = 12.5%. The engine applies 70% of that share: 0.70 × 12.5% = 8.75%. Its two-decimal fraction rounding makes the displayed comparison threshold 9.00%; an item at or above it is high-popularity.
Add every item's contribution, then divide by all units: $7,356.20 ÷ 720 = $10.22. That weighted average is the profitability line. It gives high-profit status to an item at or above $10.22 in this illustrative menu.
The 70%-of-equal-share rule follows the Kasavana–Smith (1982) method; the rounding and at-or-above comparison described here are this browser engine's implementation. The thresholds are comparison lines, not universal targets. Re-run them for each comparable menu period, and investigate items close to either line before making a permanent cut, price change, or layout change.
Signal: high mix and high contribution margin.
Playbook: keep quality consistent, preserve visibility, and avoid training guests to wait for a discount.
Check: watch margin and mix after supplier or portion changes.
Signal: high mix but below-average contribution margin.
Playbook: test a modest price move, portion or recipe-cost improvement, and a clearer margin-aware placement.
Check: compare units and contribution after the change; demand may move.
Signal: high contribution margin but low mix.
Playbook: improve description and placement, then give FOH a relevant one-sentence prompt.
Check: confirm that added visibility increases profitable volume without hurting guest fit.
Signal: low mix and low contribution margin.
Playbook: check execution, demand, and role in the menu before removing or reinventing the item.
Check: account for prep complexity, waste, and dietary or menu-balance reasons to keep it.
If your team uses newer guest-facing names while an older book or export uses the classic labels, the mapping below keeps the vocabulary aligned. The calculator engine stores the singular label in the final column; renaming a quadrant does not change its economics.
| MenuWright guide name | Classic name | Engine label | Plain-language read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | Stars | Star | Popular and profitable |
| Crowd Pleasers | Plowhorses | Plowhorse | Popular, thinner margin |
| Hidden Gems | Puzzles | Puzzle | Profitable, under-sold |
| Leftovers | Dogs | Dog | Low popularity and margin |
The following are illustrative, testable operating heuristics — not guarantees about guest behavior. Use accurate descriptions and POS evidence; never invent scarcity, popularity, or a bestseller claim.
One Star to protect, one Hidden Gem to cue, and the facts FOH needs.
Review mix, margin, waste, and objections against the two thresholds.
Test one price, portion, or placement move and annotate the comparison window.
For ingredient-only pricing on an individual dish, pair this matrix with the food cost calculator. It estimates food-cost percentage and contribution margin; this calculator adds popularity so you can decide what to reprice, promote, or review.
Move from a quick calculation or comparison to the next practical step for your menu.
Menu engineering is the practice of classifying each menu item by profitability and popularity, then using that matrix to decide what to promote, reprice, bundle, or remove. It turns your menu into a profit lever instead of a static list.
The Kasavana-Smith method (1982) plots every item on two axes — popularity (menu mix %) and profitability (contribution margin) — producing four quadrants: Stars (high/high), Plowhorses (popular, thin margin), Puzzles (profitable, under-sold), and Dogs (low/low).
Yes. The matrix, contribution margins, and per-item classification are free with no signup. Enter your email to unlock the prioritized action plan ranked by estimated dollar impact.
The calculation runs entirely in your browser; pasted item rows and item names are not uploaded. Only if you ask us to email the plan, your email, optional restaurant name, and an aggregate plan summary are sent for delivery: item count (capped at 10,000), rounded totals for revenue, units, and scenario opportunity, plus Plowhorse/Puzzle counts and rounded estimated impacts. No item names or pasted rows are included.
This calculator does manually, for one snapshot, what MenuWright does from your Square POS data: your menu and sales data sync automatically, and you run each analysis on demand for updated classifications, AI recommendations, bundle and cannibalization detection, and reports.