This is how to make menu pricing easier

Menu pricing, if I'm being honest, is not straightforward. There are "protocols" and step-by-step techniques, but you cannot be sure. One factor that determines the success of the prices is people, and people are not always predictable. But there are some tools to make life easier.

One method to price a menu is after calculating the costs of each product you sell and then adding the corresponding percentages of each area of the restaurant. The second method is the one we are going to know and make use of some tools.

The price policy is the first tool you need to understand before putting a price to anything - this is going to be your guideline and a good friend. After defining your prices policy, you'll be able to determine the right price for each product and how much you should spend on it as well. With this tool, you will also determine the kind of customers you receive, the amount of them, social groups and more. That is why you have to be careful setting this down.

Second, the percentages - try to investigate what percentage of restaurant materials are spent in relation to the production of dishes and beverages during at least the last six months. After getting those numbers, you can see the parameters where you can move with the prices of special offers, promotions, gift cards, etc.

For example - if you have an income of €50,000 per month and you spend €15.000 in materials for production then we have a 30% of our incomes in production-costs (on this grove and average calculation). In the praxis, if we occasionally go up to 35% or down to 20% won't be harmful. In conclusion, when we are going to price a spontaneous special dish of the day, we know that after the costs, we have to charge an extra 65-80% to have a quite right price for it - in addition to the price policy which is going to put it higher or slower.

These first two tools are 100% useful, but when you get used to them, you will see they work differently for beverages than for food, which brings us to the third great tool.

This is called the pricing system, and it is used in this way. Here we have to create a sub-category for each big section of the products we sell; for example - spirits, food in general, coffees and so on. Write down these sections and implement the first two tolls on each one. Then, you are going to be a master of menu pricing (or at least someone who really knows what is happening with the money in the restaurant)!