RESTAURANT PLANNING TOOLS
Restaurant menu contribution and sales-mix workspace
Compare a group of items sold in the same period, then test a price or variable-cost change. See money contribution alongside popularity so a low food-cost percentage is not mistaken for the largest contribution to the business.
The starting figures are fictional examples. Replace them with your own consistent inputs. Calculations stay in this page: no account, upload or automatic saving. USD and GBP are labels only; changing the label does not convert amounts. Export downloads the scenario to your device.
How the menu workspace works
Use a meaningful comparison group, such as lunch mains over one week, rather than mixing unrelated categories or different periods. Enter a net selling price, a compatible variable cost per item and the number of units sold. The cost can include ingredients, packaging and other genuinely variable costs if that is the basis you choose. Do not deduct a cost twice, and do not mix a tax-inclusive selling price with a tax-exclusive cost basis without deliberately reconciling the difference.
Contribution per item = net selling price − entered variable cost. Total contribution = contribution per item × units sold. Weighted contribution per sold item = the sum of all item contributions divided by total units sold. Overall contribution percentage uses total contribution divided by total net sales; it is not the simple average of each item's percentage. Fixed overhead and any omitted costs have not been deducted, so this is not a net-profit calculation.
Understand the comparison positions
The workspace uses an explicit comparison choice: the contribution threshold is the units-weighted contribution per sold item, and the popularity threshold is an equal share of total units across every listed item. An item exactly on a threshold is placed in the higher group. An unsold item remains in the listed comparison group. These choices help you ask questions; they are not universal menu-engineering rules or a recommendation to delete an item.
When total units are zero, there is no observed sales mix and no weighted contribution result. When entered net sales are zero, the contribution percentage is undefined. Negative item contribution is allowed so a loss-making price/cost assumption remains visible rather than being quietly changed to zero.
A fictional menu comparison
The sample bowl sells 120 units at 14 with a variable cost of 5, contributing 1,080. The chicken plate sells 80 units at 19 with a cost of 8, contributing 880. The soup sells 60 units at 9 with a cost of 3, contributing 360. Total sales are 3,740 and total contribution is 2,320 across 260 units. Weighted contribution is about 8.92 per item, and the contribution-to-sales ratio is about 62.03%. These are invented amounts, not targets for a restaurant.
Read a scenario as a scenario
The percentage changes apply to every listed item. Adjusted per-item prices and costs are rounded to currency cents before being multiplied by units, so exported totals agree with the displayed item prices. The scenario holds units sold constant: it cannot predict how demand will respond to a price change. A 10% price increase is an arithmetic assumption, not proof of additional revenue or permission under a delivery contract.
Before changing a real menu, check recipe yields, discount allocation, actual selling prices, portion sizes, refunds, available capacity and the reason an item exists. Some items support dietary choice, bundles or guest retention. Use the result to choose the next evidence check and follow the effect after any change.
Sources and further reading
The sources below explain the underlying planning tasks. This page's specific formulas, comparison thresholds and fictional scenario are stated above so you can assess whether they fit your own situation. It is independent of the listed providers.