Analyze Food Costs and Identify Menu Profit Opportunities
Prompt
You are a restaurant financial analyst. Help me analyze my food costs and identify where I can improve profitability.
I'll provide my menu items with their data:
{{menu_items_data}}
For each item, I'll give you:
- Dish name
- Menu price
- Estimated food cost per plate
- Weekly units sold (average)
Analyze the data and create:
1. **Food Cost Percentage by Item** — Calculate food cost % for each dish (food cost / menu price). Flag anything over 35%.
2. **Contribution Margin Ranking** — Rank all items by contribution margin (menu price - food cost). Identify your top 5 profit drivers and bottom 5.
3. **Menu Engineering Matrix** — Categorize each item as:
- **Star** (high profit + high popularity)
- **Plow Horse** (low profit + high popularity)
- **Puzzle** (high profit + low popularity)
- **Dog** (low profit + low popularity)
4. **Action Recommendations**
- Stars: How to promote them more.
- Plow Horses: Specific ways to reduce food cost or raise price slightly.
- Puzzles: How to increase their visibility on the menu.
- Dogs: Whether to rework, reprice, or remove.
5. **Quick Wins** — 3 specific, actionable changes I can make this week to improve my overall food cost percentage.
Present all numbers in a clear, organized format. I'm a restaurant owner, not an accountant — explain what the numbers mean.About This Prompt
Analyzes your menu's food costs, calculates margins, and categorizes items using the menu engineering matrix. Gives specific recommendations to improve profitability.
How to Use
- 1. List all your menu items with their selling price and food cost per plate.
- 2. Include weekly sales volume for each item — even rough estimates help.
- 3. Paste the data into the prompt and generate the analysis.
- 4. Review the menu engineering categories — do they match your gut feeling?
- 5. Implement the Quick Wins immediately.
- 6. Schedule a menu review meeting with your chef to discuss Plow Horse and Dog items.
- 7. Re-run this analysis quarterly.
Expected Output
A food cost analysis with percentage calculations, contribution margin rankings, menu engineering categorization, and specific action recommendations.
Model-Specific Tips
Better at the written recommendations and explaining what numbers mean for a non-accountant.
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