Menu pricing

Price psychology and dish markup

Details

  • Food cost

    Price = cost/target food cost; café 25–30%, restaurant 28–35%, delivery lower.

  • Anchor

    An expensive 'anchor' item next to the main one makes the mid price look reasonable.

  • Psychology

    99 vs 100 — left-digit effect; no currency sign — less 'price pain'; round prices — premium.

  • Menu engineering

    Stars (margin+sales) — push; workhorses (sales, low margin) — raise price; dogs — remove.

Pricing 'by feel' destroys food cost: every item is calculated from cost to target %; a 'tasty' dish at 45% food cost is a debt, not a menu.