A popular dish can be a profit killer. Many teams focus on what guests love, but forget to look at what it brings in for the restaurant. In this article, you'll learn how to explain to your team why popularity and profitability are two different things.
Why popularity doesn't equal profit
Your team sees every day which dishes are ordered frequently. That feels like success. But a dish that sells 50 times a week at a loss of €2 per portion costs you €5,200 a year.
💡 Example: The popular pasta
Pasta carbonara - 60 portions per week sold:
- Selling price: €16.50 (excl. VAT: €15.14)
- Ingredient costs: €6.80
- Food cost: 44.9%
Loss per portion: €1.34 (at 35% target food cost)
Annual loss: €4,180 on this single dish
How to explain this to your team
Don't start with numbers, but with recognition. Tell your team you're proud of their work and the quality of the dishes. Then explain that you can work smarter together.
- Step 1: Show the numbers for your 3 most popular dishes
- Step 2: Compare with 3 less popular but profitable dishes
- Step 3: Show how much extra profit is possible
⚠️ Note:
Don't make it an attack on the kitchen. It's not about bad cooking, it's about smarter math. Your team needs to feel supported, not criticized.
Explaining the four types of dishes
Use the menu engineering model to show your team that each dish falls into one of four categories:
- Stars: Popular and profitable (keep and promote)
- Plowhorses: Popular but not profitable (raise price or adjust recipe)
- Puzzles: Profitable but not popular (promote more or improve presentation)
- Dogs: Not popular and not profitable (remove from menu)
💡 Example: Menu engineering in action
Analysis of 5 main courses:
- Star: Steak (30 portions/week, 28% food cost)
- Plowhorse: Pasta carbonara (60 portions/week, 45% food cost)
- Puzzle: Duck breast (8 portions/week, 25% food cost)
- Dog: Vegetarian lasagna (5 portions/week, 40% food cost)
Action: Raise pasta price, promote duck breast more, remove lasagna from menu
Concrete actions for your team
Give your team concrete tools to think about profitability:
- Portion size: Show how much 20 grams of extra meat costs per year
- Garnish: Explain that every extra potato costs money
- Presentation: Make profitable dishes more attractive on the plate
- Suggestions: Train service staff to recommend profitable dishes
💡 Example: Impact of portion size
Steak - standard 200g, chef often gives 220g:
- Extra meat per portion: 20g
- Meat costs: €32/kg
- Extra cost per portion: €0.64
- At 30 portions/week: €998 per year
Solution: Weigh all portions for 3 days, discuss results
Keeping motivation during change
Don't change everything at once. Pick 1 popular but loss-making dish and work on it together. Let your team think of solutions:
- Can we source the ingredients more cheaply?
- Can we adjust the portion slightly without losing quality?
- Can we raise the price with better presentation?
- Can we use a cheaper alternative ingredient?
Celebrate successes. If you make a loss-making dish profitable, share with the team how much this saves per year. Make it tangible: "This means we have an extra €3,000 this year for new equipment or team outings."
How do you analyze popularity vs profitability?
Collect sales data per dish
Note for your 10 best-selling dishes: how many portions per week and what the exact ingredient costs are. Use till data from the past 4 weeks for a reliable average.
Calculate food cost percentage per dish
Divide the ingredient costs by the selling price excluding VAT and multiply by 100. A food cost above 35% is usually loss-making for restaurants.
Create a popularity vs profitability matrix
Place all dishes in four quadrants: popular+profitable (stars), popular+loss-making (plowhorses), not popular+profitable (puzzles), and not popular+loss-making (dogs). Focus first on the plowhorses.
✨ Pro tip
Start with your 3 best-selling dishes. If those are profitable, you've solved 70% of your problem. The rest of the menu is secondary compared to your top sellers.
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
How do I respond if my chef says quality is more important than profit?
Explain that quality and profitability aren't opposites. A restaurant that loses money can't deliver quality in the long run because there's no money for good ingredients and staff. Profitability actually ensures sustainable quality.
What if guests get upset because we raise prices on popular dishes?
Don't just raise prices, improve presentation and quality first. A dish going from €16 to €18 is less noticeable if you add better vegetables and present it more beautifully. Test price increases on 1-2 dishes first.
How often should I do this analysis?
Check your top 10 dishes every 3 months for food cost and popularity. Ingredient prices change, and seasons affect what guests order. Make it a routine in your monthly team meeting.
What if I don't have time to calculate this manually?
Use a system like KitchenNmbrs that automatically calculates food cost and links your sales data to your recipes. Then you immediately see which dishes are popular but not profitable, without manual calculations.
Should I always remove popular but loss-making dishes from the menu?
Not necessarily. Try first to lower the food cost by using cheaper ingredients, smaller portions, or a higher price. Some dishes are 'traffic drivers' that attract guests to your restaurant, even if you don't make much on them.
📚 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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