Menu Design Menu Engineering 2

Question 1

On a standard two-page restaurant menu, which area is considered prime real estate for placing high-profit items?

Accepted Answer

Upper right corner

Answer

Eye-tracking research shows customers naturally scan a two-page menu to the upper right area first, making it the prime location for Stars and high-margin items.

Question 2

The 'anchor pricing' technique in menu design involves:

Accepted Answer

Placing a high-priced item to make surrounding items seem more affordable

Answer

An anchor item sets a high reference point in the customer's mind, causing adjacent mid-range items to appear more reasonably priced by comparison.

Question 3

If a menu item has a food cost percentage of 30% and sells for $20, what is its food cost?

Accepted Answer

$6.00

Answer

Food cost = selling price × food cost percentage, so $20 × 0.30 = $6.00 in ingredient cost for this item.

Question 4

The recommended strategy for improving 'Plow Horse' menu items is to:

Accepted Answer

Raise prices or reduce portion sizes to improve their profit margins

Answer

Since Plow Horses already sell well, operators can improve profitability by incrementally raising the price or slightly reducing portion size without significantly hurting demand.

Question 5

According to menu psychology research, the ideal number of items per category on a restaurant menu is approximately:

Accepted Answer

5–7 items

Answer

Research based on Miller's Law suggests 5–7 items per category keeps customers from feeling overwhelmed while still offering meaningful choice.

Menu Design Practice Test

Menu Design Practice Test

Menu Design Menu Engineering 2