Smart restaurant owners boost profits 15-30% by focusing their marketing on one underperforming category instead of spreading efforts thin. Most hospitality entrepreneurs scatter their marketing across all products, creating zero impact. Targeting the right category transforms your bottom line.
Analyze your current sales figures
Start with hard data, not hunches. Your signature dish might feel popular, but numbers reveal the truth.
💡 Example:
Restaurant De Smaak serves 200 covers per week:
- Pasta: 80 portions (40%)
- Meat: 70 portions (35%)
- Fish: 30 portions (15%)
- Vegetarian: 20 portions (10%)
Pasta dominates in volume.
Extract these numbers from your POS system or track manually. Review the past 4 weeks for accurate patterns.
Calculate profitability per category
Volume means nothing without profit. A high-selling category with razor-thin margins doesn't deserve your marketing euros.
💡 Example profitability:
Average selling price and food cost per category:
- Pasta: €16 sales, €4.80 cost = €11.20 profit
- Meat: €28 sales, €9.80 cost = €18.20 profit
- Fish: €32 sales, €12.80 cost = €19.20 profit
- Vegetarian: €18 sales, €4.50 cost = €13.50 profit
Fish delivers highest profit per portion but sells least.
Calculate using VAT-exclusive prices. With 9% VAT, divide menu prices by 1.09.
Identify your biggest growth opportunity
Here's one of the most common blind spots in kitchen management: owners chase high-volume categories instead of profitable underperformers. The sweet spot? Categories with strong margins but weak sales.
⚠️ Watch out:
Never promote low-margin categories, even if they're popular. You'll boost revenue while killing profits.
In our example, fish represents the perfect target: exceptional profit per portion, terrible sales volume. Marketing fish dishes could dramatically improve both revenue and profit margins.
Test your choice with a small action
Before committing your budget, validate your theory. Run a one-week test on your chosen category and measure results.
- Feature the category prominently on your menu
- Train staff to recommend these dishes
- Create one targeted social media post
- Track weekly sales increases
💡 Example test result:
After one week promoting fish:
- Baseline week: 30 fish dishes
- Promotion week: 45 fish dishes
- Additional sales: 15 portions × €19.20 profit = €288 extra
That projects to €1,152 monthly profit increase with sustained effort.
Account for seasons and trends
Certain categories fluctuate with seasons. Heavy meat dishes struggle in summer heat; fresh salads thrive.
Monitor external trends too. Plant-based options are expanding, but only if your customers want them. Study your clientele: young urban professionals versus traditional diners have different preferences.
Measure and adjust
Marketing requires ongoing optimization. Review sales data monthly and pivot your focus as needed.
- Has your target category grown?
- Did other categories suffer?
- Do profit margins still hold?
- Have ingredient costs shifted?
Food cost calculators help you track which dishes perform best, so you can base marketing decisions on real data instead of assumptions.
How do you choose the right category? (step by step)
Gather your sales figures
Pull from your POS system how much you sell per category over the last 4 weeks. Count manually if you don't have a digital system. Note the number of portions per category.
Calculate profit per portion
Subtract the ingredient costs from each average selling price (excl. VAT). This gives you the profit per portion per category. Multiply by the number of portions sold for the total profit per category.
Find the underperformer with high profit
Choose the category that is profitable but sells relatively little. This offers the best growth opportunity. Test for one week with extra attention and measure the result before you scale up.
✨ Pro tip
Pull your sales data from the past 6 weeks and identify categories with profit margins above 65% but representing less than 20% of total sales. These underperforming gems offer the highest marketing ROI potential.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
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Frequently asked questions
Should I always promote my best-selling category?
Absolutely not. Your bestseller already has momentum. Target profitable categories with poor sales - that's where you'll find untapped growth potential.
What if my most profitable category barely sells?
There's usually a reason: price point, unfamiliarity, or audience mismatch. Test with small promotional efforts before investing heavily in marketing.
How often should I shift my marketing focus?
Review numbers monthly but avoid constant changes. Give each category at least 3 months to show growth before switching targets.
Can I promote multiple categories simultaneously?
You can, but it dilutes impact. Focused marketing creates stronger recognition and results than scattered efforts across multiple categories.
📚 Sources consulted
- EU Verordening 852/2004 — Levensmiddelenhygiëne (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 853/2004 — Hygiënevoorschriften voor levensmiddelen van dierlijke oorsprong (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 1169/2011 — Voedselinformatie aan consumenten (2011) — Official source
- NVWA — Hygiënecode voor de horeca (2024) — Official source
- NVWA — Allergenen in voedsel (2024) — Official source
- Codex Alimentarius — International Food Standards (2024) — Official source
- FSA — Safer food, better business (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- BVL — Lebensmittelhygiene (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen (2024) — Official source
- WHO — Foodborne diseases estimates (2024) — Official source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) — https://www.food.gov.uk
The HACCP standards shown in this application are for informational purposes only. KitchenNmbrs does not guarantee that displayed values are current or complete. Always consult the FSA or your local authority for the latest regulations.
Written by
Jeffrey Smit
Founder & CEO of KitchenNmbrs
Jeffrey Smit built KitchenNmbrs from 8 years of hands-on experience as kitchen manager at 1NUL8 Group in Rotterdam. His mission: give every restaurant owner control over food cost.
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