What aspect of menu management can help control costs?

Regular menu engineering and analysis is crucial for controlling costs in a quick-serve restaurant. This process involves examining the performance of each menu item based on factors like sales volume, food cost, and contribution margin. By analyzing this data, management can identify which items are profitable and which are not, allowing for informed decisions regarding pricing, promotion, or removal of underperforming items.

Menu engineering also helps to highlight high-margin items that should be promoted to increase their sales, ultimately maximizing profitability. It creates a strategic approach to menu management that aligns menu offerings with both customer preferences and operational costs, making it a powerful tool in cost control.

Frequent redesigns, seasonal changes, and increasing variety may seem appealing for novelty and customer engagement but can complicate inventory management and increase waste, ultimately leading to higher costs without the same level of strategic focus that comes from regular engineering and analysis.