Sample result
Profitable Menu Builder for Restaurants
The owner asked this:«I am renewing the menu. I have 34 references, 24 people and two locations. Tell me how many dishes this can carry and how they split up.»
① The size, defended in one line
| Category | References today | Proposed | Consumption reason it serves | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters and picadas | 6 | 4 | Craving for home cooking | Cold and fryer |
| Soups and broths | 5 | 4 | Working lunch | Stockpot |
| Traditional mains | 8 | 7 | Working lunch and family celebration | Grill and oven |
| Fish | 3 | 2 | Family celebration | Grill |
| From the stove (casseroles) | 4 | 0 — folded into mains | — | Stockpot |
| To share | 3 | 2 | Family celebration | Grill and oven |
| Desserts | 5 | 5 | Craving for home cooking | Cold |
| Total | 34 | 24 |
The line that defends the number, and it is not the one you expect. The bottleneck is not kitchen speed: with 4,458 tickets a month across two locations —about 74 per location per day— and the peak concentrated at the Tuesday-to-Friday lunch, the grill never saturates. The bottleneck is mise en place: 12 of the 34 references sell under 40 units a month, and the three «to share» dishes add up to 35 units between them while still forcing fresh seafood in the walk-in every week. 24 references is what 18 operations people sustain with full weekly rotation on every ingredient. Each surplus reference is not paid in kitchen time: it is paid in cold storage, in waste, and in the shift's break-even point, which climbs in silence.
«From the stove» disappears as a category for the same reason: four references, 129 units a month and a station of its own. Its two worthwhile dishes move into traditional mains; the other two come off.
② The crossed-ingredient map
Every lead ingredient works in two or three preparations. One that shows up only once needs a written justification, because it drags its own rotation and its own waste.
| Lead ingredient | Slots it works in | Alert |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | Platter, Posta negra, Oven-baked flank, Charcoal tenderloin, Beef sudado | Healthy: 5 slots |
| Chicken | Sancocho, Ajiaco, Stuffed breast, Chicken casserole | Healthy: 4 slots |
| Pork | Platter, Valluna cutlet, Meaty chicharrón | Healthy: 3 slots |
| Beans | Platter, Bean casserole, Frijolada | Healthy, but two of the three slots add up to 201 units against the platter's 620: beans cross almost on their own |
| Plantain | Platter, Patacón with hogao, Sancocho | Healthy: 3 slots |
| Trout | Garlic trout | Orphan with a written justification: 210 units a month and 44,900 COP of unit margin. It stays, and the reason goes into the blueprint |
| Shrimp and seafood | Seafood casserole, Shrimp casserole, Surf and turf platter | Disguised orphan: three slots, 68 units a month between them. Three dishes are not a crossing if none of them rotates |
| Pumpkin | Pumpkin and coconut soup | Orphan with no defence: 27 units a month. Off it goes |
| Arequipe | Figs with arequipe | Dessert orphan at 130 units: it stays if the second high-band dessert uses it |
| Lulo | Lulo ice cream | Dessert orphan at 115 units: it carries itself, but it goes on the record |
The rule that comes out of this map, and that corrects the instinct: seafood does not come off because it sells little. It comes off because it costs cold storage, waste and a weekly purchase that only it justifies. The trout, with the same number of slots —one—, stays: 210 units pay for their own logistics. The criterion is not the number of dishes, it is whether the ingredient's rotation can carry the purchase.
The full example has 1 more part(s): you see them inside the library, with your account.