Pizza Today - April 2022 - 28

S
ales reporting is fundamental
to business. Reporting is
essential to making informed
decisions about your restaurant. Not
having a Point of Sale producing
real-time reports is akin to letting a
ship float without a captain.
We pizzaioli don't always get it
right when it comes to our menu
offerings and our menu prices.
Here's the scenario: Customer
says, " You should offer such and
such topping, everyone will order it. "
Or: " You are missing out on customers
by not offering a vegan pizza. "
How about, " You really need to have
this on your menu because your
competitor does. " At first you resist,
but that same customer persists,
even to your crew when you are not
there. Then your crew tells you they
are getting tons of requests for the
item. Finally, you cave and add it to
your menu, pricing it much the same
way you've priced everything on
your menu; by comparing it to your
competitor's price. It turns out that
it was not lots of customers asking
for the menu items a few times, but
instead was a few customers asking
for the menu item lots of times. The
item doesn't sell, has a terrible food
cost and has distracted you from
focusing on your core product. You
might even have made the mistake
of throwing more time and money
away by marketing the item, thinking
that was the problem.
There is a better way.
For your menu to be 'right', you
must evaluate two components.
First, do you offer the right items
for your customers? Second, is each
item on your menu priced 'right'?
The RIGHT menu items.
Lee Iacocca, during his turnaround
of Chrysler Corporation,
had a method that served him
well. Every year, he required every
division to terminate the bottom
10-percent performers. Let us apply
28 / PIZZATODAY.COM / APRIL 2022
For your menu to
be 'right', you must
evaluate two components.
First, do you
offer the right items
for your customers?
Second, is each item
on your menu priced
'right'?
that method to our menu. Once per
year, remove at least one bottom
performing menu item. How do we
measure this? Your POS system will
give you an annual report showing
each menu item and the number of
units sold. Select the item(s) that
sells the least number of units and
axe it.
Let us apply another time-honored
method to our menu: K.I.S.S.
KISS is an acronym for Keep It
Simple Stupid. The simpler your
menu, the better chance you have
of your crew making what you do
offer exceptional. KISS applied
means this: do not add an item to
your menu unless you remove one
at the same time. In other words, to
add a menu item, you must sacrifice
something you already offer.
By applying these two methods,
your menu will reduce in size
slightly (by at least one item) every
year, bringing more focus to your
core menu items.
Menu priced RIGHT.
The man who first introduced
this concept to me was Big Dave
Ostrander. We met at Pizza Expo
back in 1989 (yeah, I'm that old).
Big Dave taught two measurements
used to determine if a menu
item was priced correctly. The first
measurement is the Ideal Food Cost
Percentage. The second is Contribution
To The Bottom Line.
Ideal Food Cost Percentage
means this: Make a large pepperoni
pizza exactly to your recipe,
with the exact amount of dough,
sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Calculate
how much these ingredients
are costing you exactly. Then take
that cost dollar amount and divide it
into the price your charge for a large
pepperoni pizza. Format it as a percentage.
IF there were no mistakes,
no theft, no remakes, no waste and
the pizza was made exactly to the
recipe, you now have your ideal food
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Pizza Today - April 2022

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