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Menu-based ‘nudges’ hold promise as effective ways to encourage a shift away from ruminant meat and towards more environmentally friendly plant-based options when dining out. One example of a menu-based nudge is including an inferior ‘decoy’ option to existing items on menus. Decoys have been shown to influence decision-making in other domains (e.g. Lichters, Bengart, Sarstedt, & Vogt, 2017), but have yet to be used to promote sustainable food choices. Two online randomized controlled trials tested whether the addition of higher priced ‘decoy’ vegetarian options to menus influenced the number of diners choosing a ‘target’ vegetarian option. Adjusted Generalized Estimating Equations on data from four menu conditions showed no main effect of intervention group in study 1 (decoy absent vs. decoy present; odds ratio (OR) 1.08 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.45 to 2.57). Replicating the trial in study 2 across seven menu conditions and testing a more expensive decoy also showed no main effect of the intervention (decoy absent vs. decoy present; OR 0.68 (95% CI 0.41 to 1.12). Further analyses revealed that our price-based decoy strategy (a £30% price increase) did not significantly influence the numbers who chose the inferior decoy dish, potentially due to the fact that dish choices were purely hypothetical. Further research is now needed to clarify which attributes of a dish (e.g. taste, portion size, signature ingredients etc.) are optimal candidates for use as decoys and testing these in real world choice contexts.

İnsanoğlu yaşamını sürdürebilmek için, düzenli olarak beslenmek zorundadır. Bu yönüyle beslenme kültürü, insanlığın var olduğu dönemden itibaren başlamaktadır. Bu düzenli beslenmeyi sağlayabilmek adına insanoğlu günlük, haftalık ya da aylık temel ihtiyaçlarını karşılamış ve bu ihtiyaçları belirli bir düzen ve sıra içerisinde tüketmiştir. İnsanların yeme-içme ihtiyacını karşılayan ve para kazanma amacı güden işletmelerde belirli sırada sunulan yiyecek içecek listeleri ‘menü’ olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Menü, yiyecek-içecek işletmelerinin faaliyetlerinin başlangıcıdır. İşletmenin amaçlarına ulaşmasının ve ne şekilde yönetileceğini ve o işletmenin tasarımının ve düzeninin nasıl olacağını belirler. Bir yiyecek-içecek işletmesinin ana kar merkezini ve imajını tayin eder. Menü, işletmenin kendi benliğini ifade eder. İşletmeye gelen misafirlerin, yaş durumları, cinsiyetleri ve istekleri sayesinde şekillenir. Kısaca hedef müşteri kitlesine göre belirlenip, sunulmaktadır. Bu çerçevede yapılan çalışmamızın amacı sektör temsilcilerinin menü tasarımları ve planlarına ilişkin yönelimlerinin belirlenmesidir. İstanbul ilindeki on iki (12) aktif üst düzey sektör çalışanı ile odak grup görüşmesi yapılarak, değişen teknolojik ve pişirme yöntemleri üzerinde de incelemeler ve fikir alışverişinde bulunulmuş; yiyecek ve içecek işletmelerinin menü planlama süreci incelenmiştir. Odak grup görüşmesi, 1 Uluslararası Zincir Hotel Genel Müdürü, 1 Zincir Restoran Ar-Ge Müdürü, 1 Zincir Restoran Türkiye Müdürü, 1 Zincir Restoran Mutfaklar Koordinatörü, 1 Zincir Restoran Türkiye Mutfaklar Koordinatörü, 1 Zincir Restoran Yiyecek İçecek Direktörü ve Marka Danışman Şef, 5 5 Yıldızlı Otel Executive Chef ve 1 Uluslararası 5 Yıldızlı Otel Exe.Sous Chef ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Odak grup görüşmesi yöntemiyle toplanan verilerin analiz edilmesinde nitel veri analizi yaklaşımlarından betimsel analiz tercih edilmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında menü planlama ve tasarım aşamalarında farklı disiplinlere ait paydaşların planlama sürecini yönetmesi farklı çözüm önerilerini dikkate alınması açısından önemi ortaya konulmuştur. Araştırma bulgularında yoğun rekabet ve değişen tüketici beklentileri, restoran ve otel işletmeleri yöneticilerinin menülerinde birbirinden farklı ve birtakım uygulamalara yöneldikleri görülmektedir. Otel işletmelerine ait restoranlarda misafirlerin memnuniyet seviyeleri diğer konaklama imkanları ile bir bütün olarak ele alınırken restoranlarda memnuniyet seviyesi tamamen sunulan gıda hizmeti açısından ele alındığı görülmüştür. Bu kapsamda her iki yiyecek içecek işletmesi yöneticilerinin birbirlerinden farklı noktalarda ürün geliştirdikleri ve bu ürünleri menülerinde planladıkları gibi; aynı zamanda sürdürülebilirlik ve çevresel kaygıları gözettikleri saptanmıştır. In order to survive, humankind has to feed regularly. In this respects, the culture of nutrition begins from the period when humanity existed. In order to provide this regular nutrition, human beings met their daily, weekly or monthly basic needs and consumed these needs in a certain order and sequence. Food and beverage lists presented in a certain order in businesses that supply the food and beverage needs of people and aim to make money are defined as 'menu'. Menu is the beginning of the activities of food and beverage businesses. It determines how the business achieves its aims and how it will be managed, how the design and layout of that business will be. It determines the main profit center and image of a food and beverage establishment. Menu refers to the business's individuality. It is shaped by the age, gender and wishes of the guests coming to the business. Briefly, the target is determined and presented according to the customer mass. The purpose of our study in this context is to determine the orientation of the sector representatives regarding menu designs and plans. A focal group interview was held in with twelve (12) active senior sector employees in the city of Istanbul, examined and exchange of ideas on changing technological and cooking methods; menu planning process of food and beverage companies was investigated. Focal group discussion realized with, 1 International Chain Hotel General Manager, 1 Chain Restaurant R&D Manager, 1 Chain Restaurant Turkey Manager, 1 Chain Restaurant Kitchens Coordinator, 1 Chain Restaurant Turkey Kitchens Coordinator, 1 Chain Restaurant Food And Beverage Director And Brand Consultant Chef, 5 5 Star Hotel Executive Chefs ve 1 International 5 Star Hotel Executive Sous Chef. Descriptive analysis, one of the qualitative data analysis approaches, was preferred for analyzing the data collected by the focal group interview method. Within the scope of the research, the importance of menu planning and design stages in terms of managing the planning process of stakeholders belonging to different disciplines and considering different solution proposals was revealed. In the research findings, it is seen that intense competition and changing consumer expectations, restaurant and hotel management administrators tend to practice different from each other applications in their menus. While the contentment levels of the guests in the restaurants belonging to the hotel enterprises are handled as a whole with the other accommodation facilities, it is seen that the contentment level in the restaurants is handled in terms of food service. In this context, as the administrator managers of both food and beverage enterprises develop products at different points from each other and plan these products in their menus; at the same time, it was determined that they consider sustainability and environmental concerns.

Menu engineering is a popular technique deployed by restaurant operators to assess menu item popularity and profitability, and guide key decisions including menu item pricing, sell strategies, and menu design. While traditional menu engineering models have been criticized for their underlying assumption of menu item interdependency, there has been little focus in the literature on addressing this shortcoming. In this paper, we address one type of interdependency, menu item substitution. We propose a holistic 5-stage approach to menu item pricing and menu placement that leverages own- and cross-pricing elasticity data to account for within-category substitutes. We present a field experiment, using two years of data from 48 outlets within a U.S. steakhouse restaurant chain, to demonstrate how this approach can be applied in a restaurant setting. We also provide empirical support for the positive net revenue effects of menu item pricing, and menu placement, decisions that account for within-category substitutes.

Background The aim of this research was to investigate whether increased portion sizes of vegetables and decreased portion sizes of meat on main dishes increased the amount of vegetables consumed in a real-life restaurant setting without affecting customer satisfaction. The participants were unaware of the experiment. Methods A cross-over design was used in which three restaurants were randomly assigned to a sequence of an intervention and control condition. In the intervention period, the vegetable portion sizes on the plates of main dishes were doubled (150 g of vegetables instead of 75 g) and the portion sizes of meat on the plates were reduced by an average of 12.5%. In the control period, the portion sizes of the main dishes were maintained as usual. In total, 1006 observations and questionnaires were included. Results Vegetable consumption from plates was significantly higher during the intervention period (M = 115.5 g) than during the control period (M = 61.7 g). Similarly, total vegetable consumption (including side dishes) was significantly higher during the intervention period (M = 178.0 g) than during the control period (M = 137.0 g). Conversely, meat consumption was significantly lower during the intervention period (M = 183.1 g) than during the control period (M = 211.1 g). Satisfaction with the restaurant visit did not differ between the intervention period (M = 1.27) and control period (M = 1.35). Satisfaction with the main dish was significantly lower during the intervention period (M = 1.25) than during the control period (M = 1.38), although in both cases, the scores indicated that participants remained (very) satisfied with their main dish. Conclusions This study showed that increasing vegetable portions in combination with decreasing meat portions (unknowingly to the consumer) increased the amount of vegetables consumed and decreased the amount of meat consumed. Furthermore, despite the changes in portion sizes, participants remained satisfied with their restaurant visit and main dish. The findings of this study suggest that modifying portion size in restaurants is an effective tool for stimulating vegetable consumption and consequently healthy and sustainable diets.

This study assessed the performance of entrees in Chinese chain restaurants based on revised menu engineering that incorporated factors including labor costs and indirect operating expenses (IOEs) and variable return-to-scale (VRS) data envelopment analysis (DEA). We collected panel data on 20 entrees covering three-month periods that included both the peak and slump operating periods of the year for two same-brand chain restaurants. The empirical results indicated that revised menu engineering and output-oriented VRS-DEA may provide specific criteria for identifying entrees to be replaced and retained, respectively. The DEA further provided return-to-scale and output surplus analyses of each inefficient entree for further improvement, which the menu engineering could not offer. The financial performance observed when using the VRS-DEA model is expected to be better than the performance observed when using a revised menu engineering model.

The decision about which dishes should appear on the menu is crucial to attracting customers and maximizing restaurant profitability. There is a paucity of empirical research on quantifying the effects of particular menu items on the efficiency of a restaurant. The present research used an innovative metafrontier-to-data-envelopment analysis method to aid decision making when distinguishing between desirable, improved, and undesirable menu items by efficiency measurements to increase a restaurant’s profitability. The metatechnology ratio obtained via the metafrontier approach compared the technology level in different meal periods. The results, based on real data gathered during 3 months from two same-brand units of a chain restaurant, show that the efficiency of the metafrontier-to-data-envelopment analysis method increased the profitability of the restaurants by more than 15% compared with the traditional menu-engineering method. The metatechnology ratios also identified that the skill level differed between the meal periods, which was because of the presence of different operators. Managerial and strategic implications for menu planners and future research are described.

This article describes a cross-cultural study, which examines the relevance of menu engineering and design to enhance the profitability of Asian restaurants. Many entree items analysed were classified as unpopular and/or unprofitable and the menus sampled lacked merchandising effects. Despite that, the foodservice operators were content with the current menu items performances and retained these dishes to add menu variety. In addition, the operators were unwilling to change the current menu formats which they claimed were working well for the businesses. Education regarding the application of menu engineering and design is considered an effective way to develop the operators’ commitment to these systems.

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.