Every menu has two or three dishes the owner feels fond of and almost nobody orders. The chef created them with enthusiasm, the ingredients for them sit in the fridge, and by the end of the week some of them end up in the bin. The temptation is simple: we remove them and the menu gets shorter. Sometimes that is right. But often we remove a dish that was good, only it was not seen.
This article is about the question that comes before deleting: how to tell a dish that does not sell from a dish that is not seen.
First: how rare is “rare”
Before you decide, look at what you actually know. We mostly remember the dishes that annoy us, not necessarily the ones that are really ordered rarely. So for a week or two, note down every dish ordered on a sheet of paper, or ask the till and the kitchen what goes out most often. You do not need complicated figures: it is enough to see which five or six dishes hardly go out at all.
Do not measure in a period when the guests are different. A light salad that does not sell in winter in the mountains may be a hit in summer. Compare with a similar period.
Second: four reasons, before you delete
A dish may lag behind for one of four reasons. Each can be checked in a few minutes if you sit at the table as a guest.
Its place in the menu
A menu is rarely read to the end. I am not claiming exactly how many guests stop where, but it is reasonable to assume that some of them do not reach the bottom of a long list. If the dish is down there, at the end of a column or under a category the guest skips, it may simply not have reached their eyes.
Check: where the dish is and how many dishes are around it. If it is among ten similar ones, it gets lost. If it is the only vegetarian one in a section of meat, it is probably not found when the guest looks for it.
What to try: move it to a more visible place or put it in a smaller category where it gets noticed.
The name
The name is the first thing the guest understands. If it is in dialect, in a foreign word, in a chef's name or in something only the kitchen understands, they will choose the familiar. The opposite also happens: a name that is too general, such as “Chef's special”, says nothing.
Check: would a guest who has never been to your place understand what they will get from the name alone and a short description? Ask a waiter what they say when asked about this dish. If the explanation is long and repeated, the name is not doing its job.
What to try: let the name say the main thing (meat, method of preparation, side), and keep the description to one sentence. The old name can stay in brackets.
The price
The price is not just a number. It is compared with the neighbouring dishes. If one main course costs a few euros more than all those around it and it is not clear why, many skip it without thinking it over. If the portion is large and meant for two, and the menu does not say so, the price looks high.
Check: what the price is compared with similar dishes and whether anything is said about the portion size.
What to try: add the portion size or what is included. Do not lower the price first, because that way you lose profit before you know whether the problem is the price.
The lack of a photo
When half of the dishes have a photo and one does not, it looks less important. The opposite is also true: a good photo of one dish gives it an advantage over the others, including over better dishes without a photo.
Check: whether the dish has a photo, and whether it shows the real portion rather than something different. A photo that promises more than arrives on the plate brings disappointment.
What to try: an honest photo in daylight that shows the real portion.
Third: one change at a time
The most common mistake is to change four things at once: a new name, a new price, a new place and a new photo. Afterwards, if the dish starts to be ordered, you do not know which one helped. And if it does not, you do not know which one held it back.
It is better like this: you choose one dish, change the most likely cause, wait two or three weeks and see whether anything has changed. Then you move on to another cause. Write down every step with a date.
Two weeks is a guide, not a law: in a venue with many guests the difference shows sooner, and in a guest house with dinner on request a longer period may be needed. Some dishes simply stay weak.
When to remove it
After you have shown the dish clearly and it still is not ordered, removing it is an honest decision. Here are the signs:
- the dish is shown in a visible place, with a clear name, a normal price and a photo, and it still rarely goes out;
- the ingredients for it spoil or require a separate order just for it;
- preparing it takes time in the busiest hour and slows down other orders;
- it is kept only because someone loves it, and the guests do not ask for it.
Removing it is not a loss: a short menu is read faster and is easier to maintain. If the dish is seasonal, do not delete it but hide it for a while, so that you do not start from zero next time.
When to show it better
Keep the dish and give it a chance if:
- it is rarely ordered, but the guests who try it like it and mention it;
- it has a good profit and the ingredients are used in other dishes too;
- the problem is clearly in one of the four reasons above, and you can fix it in a short time;
- it suits the venue: for example a local recipe that guests have not seen elsewhere.
If every change means new printing
If every change means new printing, you will put these checks off. That is why it is useful for a change to be quick and not depend on a print shop; the topic is covered in the comparison of the paper and the digital menu.
Where ISKA Menu helps
In ISKA Menu a dish is edited from the portal and from the phone: you can change its place, name, price and photo without waiting for a print. Changes are a draft until published, and the link to the menu stays the same, so the code on the table does not change. Photos and the QR code are in the Plus plan; the free plan is a basic menu. The current prices are on the pricing page.