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Managing food service operations to achieve a specific food cost percentage has long been a fundamental principle of the restaurant business. Management bonuses and other rewards are often based on achieving these predetermined goals. Available tools such as menu engineering and contribution margin, although sound in theory, are not frequently used. Demonstrates the use of menu engineering and contribution margin concepts in terms of customers served. Concludes that the goal of any restaurant should be to apply marketing techniques based on menu engineering and contribution margin concepts in order to achieve the highest possible financial results.

Profiles the development of menu‐engineering models and, in particular, the movement supporting the quantification of all costs associated with the production of a menu item. Reports the findings of a study of upscale restaurant menu planners. While all menu planners adopted elements of menu engineering when planning menus, most rejected the opportunity to factor in non‐material direct costs as a major component of determining menu content and prices. In particular, individual dish labour cost was not considered an important menu‐planning criterion. Dishes which attracted low sales, but which planners felt added interest to the menu, were included on the menu. This supports the view of most advocates of quantitative menu analysis that the profitability of individual dishes on the menu is only one of several important criteria when designing the menu.

Takshshila, the owner of Sandwichworkz, a trendy restaurant in Ahmedabad, India, is worried about the diminishing profitability of her restaurant. Recent promotional offers have increased the footfall, but not profitability. To address this issue, she knew she had to optimize and redesign their menu. She also realizes that to properly address this issue, they would beed to take into account factors such as popularity of each menu item and their per unit profitability. She contacts Nick, a restaurant consultant who further dwells into calculating the costs involved in making each item, to determine the per unit profitability. He proposed plotting the popularity vs. popularity graph (as per Kasavana Smith model) and making qyadrant specific re-enginering decisions. Post his analysis using this menu re-engineering tool, he calls Takshshila with his recommendations. During the call, they come across a new costing methodology which may affect his recommendations. Which methodology should Nick use? Should Takshshila invest in capturing data for the new methodology?

The paper is a reflection on the changes that have taken place in the area of food and beverage and serves as a reminder that it is still one of the most complex activities within the area of hospitality.

The paper highlights major changes, with particular emphasis on marketing and the rising influence of design. However, the basic argument is that the changes that have taken place during the last two decades are essentially add‐ons to the basic activities of the function: very little has fallen away. In other words, although technological advances, particularly in the kitchen, and the invasion of modern business techniques, such as branding and business process engineering, have brought new activities, the need for the traditional knowledge and skills remains. This makes modern food and beverage management an even more complex activity but an exciting one.

The paper acknowledges the changing career patterns of those with food and beverage backgrounds but suspects that it is skill the bedrock of hotel management.

The paper defends the case for food and beverage training within hospitality management courses but acknowledges the problems associated with this.

The conclusion drawn is that educational decisions need a full appraisal of the functions of modern food and beverage management: which is the purpose of this paper.

The aim is to enable debates about the need for changes in the restaurant's management posture regarding food waste.

This study is a teaching case about a restaurant and was prepared based on information collected from the authors' experiences in teaching, consulting, and academic research. The plot, company name, and characters are fictitious.

The results are related to the classroom application to promote discussion and knowledge of topics such as finance, costs, sustainability, food waste, and the Demonstration of Results for the Exercise.

The main limitation is that it is a fictitious study, but it allows applied research based on the authors' scientific knowledge and professional practice.

The theme contributes to anchoring decision-making by managers in the face of day-to-day business challenges. Furthermore, in a contemporary perspective, it involves a small establishment concerning the possibilities of contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, due to the richness of details, the case constitutes an intriguing teaching tool to be applied in the classroom.

It impacts social actions, according to the examples found in the narrative used in the teaching case.

Its originality is related to its interdisciplinarity and how it involves the themes of finance and sustainability applied in business practice.

This research paper aims to examine whether using menu engineering (ME) together with activity‐based costing (ABC) for menu analysis gives new insights about true menu profitability. The traditional ME approach only uses food cost to determine the contribution margin of individual menu items. This combined approach uses both food and traceable operating costs to estimate contribution margins more accurately.

An improved menu engineering model was developed and tested in a buffet restaurant in Hong Kong. Direct observation of restaurant activities allowed most costs to be traced (not simply allocated) to individual menu items.

The results found that only three of 20 dinner menu entrées were profitable. This unique insight would not have been possible using traditional ME methods alone. The results also showed that ABC methods are applicable to a buffet‐style restaurant.

Only a single restaurant and only the dinner menu were examined in this study. Future research should apply the model used herein to other restaurant types located in different geographical areas in an effort in order to validate the approach.

The paper suggests that ME can be improved upon by first assessing variable costs using ABC methods. Thus, the extra effort required to apply ABC in a restaurant appears to be worthwhile.

The paper combines two disparate analytic techniques (ME and ABC) in a new approach that reveals a menu's true profit and loss picture. The paper also makes several modifications to the traditional ME approach.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a multi‐dimensional, holistic model that: avoids the variable interdependency found in earlier tools; and integrates multiple factors that characterize menu item costs more accurately by considering more than gross profit.

Using data gathered during a three‐month period from three same‐brand units of a full‐service chain restaurant firm, the paper applies data‐envelopment analysis (DEA), a non‐parametric approach that accounts for both controllable (discretionary) and uncontrollable (non‐discretionary) variables, producing a single relative‐to‐best index based on an efficiency rating calculated on a 0 to 1 scale.

The findings suggest that the DEA‐equipped model, which is not constrained by the limitations of traditional matrix approaches, supports a more robust approach by incorporating more cost determinants than traditional menu engineering approaches.

The paper consists of only a single restaurant concept and the evaluation results are purely theoretical. Future research should include the application of the menu analysis recommendations to an actual menu to determine the effectiveness of the model on actual operation profitability.

The research suggests that DEA is an effective tool in the evaluation of a restaurant menu by evaluating individual menu items based on attributes of labor and profitability factors.

The paper shows that by combining DEA with traditional menu analysis methodologies, a more efficient menu analysis tool may be utilized to evaluate menu items without the arbitrary allocation of non‐food costs.

This paper aims to examine whether using menu engineering (ME) together with activity-based costing (ABC) for menu analysis provides new insights into true menu profitability. The traditional ME approach only uses food costs to determine the contribution margin (CM) of individual menu items. This combined approach uses both food and traceable operating costs to estimate CMs more accurately.

An improved ME model was developed and tested in an oriental restaurant in Brazil. Direct observation of restaurant activities allowed most costs to be traced (not simply allocated) to individual menu items.

The results revealed small differences in the rankings between the traditional approach and ABC/ME, demonstrating that the integration of ABC with ME made it to possible to identify increased food-costs and lower CMs for all groups of menu items. The results also show that ABC methods are applicable to an oriental-style restaurant.

Just one restaurant and only 80 per cent of the menu were examined in this study. Future research should apply the model used here to other restaurant types located in different geographical areas to validate the approach.

The results suggest that ME can be improved upon by first assessing variable costs using ABC methods.

This paper combines two different analytic techniques (ME and ABC) into a new approach that reveals the true picture of profit and loss for a menu from a restaurant in Brazil.

The purpose of this study is threefold: to use an innovative metafrontier‐to‐data‐envelopment analysis (MDEA) model incorporating multiple outputs and inputs – including the item revenue, gross profit, food costs, time‐driven labor costs, and other operating expenses (OOEs) – to distinguish four quadrants based on efficiency and profit to offer different strategies to the restaurateur under study; to compare the proficiency levels of the different meal categories of the à la carte and combo set menus using the metatechnology ratio (MTR) via the MDEA; and to use slack‐based analyses with simulation to improve the financial performance of a teppanyaki‐style restaurant.

Six months of point of sale (POS) data are obtained from a teppanyaki‐style restaurant. The proposed inputs are categorized into total food costs, total labor cost, the number of processes, and OOEs. Two outputs (total revenue and gross profit) are used to assess the efficiency of the menu items. The MTR is used to differentiate the proficiency level of the heterogeneous meal categories and to create four quadrants based on the efficiency index and financial performance.

The MTR is lower for the combo set category than for the à la carte category. Four quadrants are obtained based on the efficiency and financial performance to provide further menu suggestions. The MDEA analysis yields menu suggestions that could enhance the overall efficiency and profitability of the menu items. A simulation using these two models is conducted and shows that the restaurant profitability would be 22 percent greater using the MDEA than using the menu engineering model.

Because there are no publicly listed teppanyaki‐style restaurants in Taiwan and it is difficult to find the same menu in different restaurants, this study consists of only a single restaurant, and the results may not be generalizable to other types of restaurants.

This paper contributes to menu analysis by establishing an efficiency index and using financial performance as criteria for determining which menu items to improve in a teppanyaki‐style restaurant. The MTR of the metafrontier model can differentiate the proficiency level of the heterogeneous categories, such as à la carte and combo set menus. This paper offers empirical results pertaining to the classification of menu items and describes a slack‐based analysis for improving menu items.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the foodservice and restaurant literature that has been published over the past 10 years in the top hospitality and tourism journals. This information will be used to identify the key trends and topics studied over the past decade, and help to identify the gaps that appear in the research to identify opportunities for advancing future research in the area of foodservice and restaurant management.

This paper takes the form of a critical review of the extant literature that has been done in the foodservice and restaurant industries. Literature from the past 10 years will be qualitatively assessed to determine trends and gaps in the research to help guide the direction for future research.

The findings show that the past 10 years have seen an increase in the number of and the quality of foodservice and restaurant management research articles. The topics have been diverse and the findings have explored the changing and evolving segments of the foodservice industry, restaurant operations, service quality in foodservice, restaurant finance, foodservice marketing, food safety and healthfulness and the increased role of technology in the industry.

Given the number of research papers done over the past 10 years in the area of foodservice, it is possible that some research has been missed and that some specific topics within the breadth and depth of the foodservice industry could have lacked sufficient coverage in this one paper. The implications from this paper are that it can be used to inform academics and practitioners where there is room for more research, it could provide ideas for more in-depth discussion of a specific topic and it is a detailed start into assessing the research done of late.

This paper helps foodservice researchers in determining where past research has gone and gives future direction for meaningful research to be done in the foodservice area moving forward to inform academicians and practitioners in the industry.