menu engineering Archives

2022 Q3 Germany Edition: Guest Behaviors in an Inflationary Environment

To better understand how consumer behavior is shifting, RMS surveyed German respondents once again and compared results to our Q1 2022 survey. How have price perceptions and dining habits changed in the past months? Are guests starting to cut back on their restaurant...

2022 Q3 UK Edition: Guest Behaviors in an Inflationary Environment

To better understand how consumer behavior is shifting, RMS surveyed UK respondents once again and compared results to our Q1 2022 survey. How have price perceptions and dining habits changed in the past months? Are guests starting to cut back on their restaurant...

Innovation for Quick-Service Restaurants in a Post-Pandemic World

Customers continue to count on restaurants for innovation across all channels.RMS findings indicate that it’s not value that compels guests, it’s quality. In a world gone hybrid, it might seem as if all available creativity has been spoken for, used in its entirety...

Industry Experts Weigh In on Redefining the Restaurant Value Equation

About today’s value equation, The Elliot Group Chief Brand Officer Sarah Lockyer said: “It’s not just one value equation per brand, it’s the value equation of off-premise, the value equation of dining in, and the value of price and our collective ability to help...

Part one: QSRs Look Beyond Increased Prices to Address Inflation

Key Takeaways: Quick-service restaurants (QSR) can address inflation with a combination of menu engineering and pricingConsider product availability, and analyze your menu for what’s working and what isn’tInstead of resizing, reconfigure and consider what works from...

5 Restaurant Trends You Need to Know for 2022

A new year brings a new RMS report and trend predictions for 2022. Nearly two years into pandemic life, one might wonder, “Have we reached the end of the ‘new normal?” because as the latest findings indicate, the more things stay weird, the less they seem to change...

Research finds blind spots, opportunities for online restaurant menu design

Since COVID-19, the restaurant industry has relied heavily on online sales for takeout and curbside pickup. Consumers have followed suit, turning to restaurant-prepared meals not just for dining out but for dining in at home, as well. In fact, RMS found that 67% of...

Ghost Kitchens Stick Around

As vaccines roll out, ghost kitchens — the brick-and-mortar spaces that sprang up as revenue lifelines during the closed dining-room days of the pandemic — are not silently ceding their turf. Quite the opposite. According to real estate firm CBRE, pre-pandemic, ghost...

Post-Pandemic Menu Optimization (Podcast)

Restaurant menus will stay lean, efficient and smart in 2022

RMS research explores how casual restaurants can use their menu to capture the new digital consumer

More than half of all quick-service and limited-service restaurant sales will be digital by 2025, according to market research firm Incisiv. Is your menu ready? As digital sales rose like a rocket ship this past year, the use of printed menus shot down in the opposite...

Drive-Thru Traffic Isn’t Stopping: Tips for Getting Your Share

In the most recent episode of Revenue Stream, Revenue Management Solutions VP of Consulting Services Chris Norton and Director of Behavioral Research Dr. Christina Norton talk about drive-thrus and restaurant loyalty trends. What can restaurants do to stay relevant...

Restaurant Consumer Trends in Dining 2021

2021 Forecast: Cloudy with a strong chance of in-home dining Product developers and differential calculus buffs have a term: forcing function. The term refers to a function in an equation or system that forces conscious attention upon something. In calculus, it...

Why quickserves had an edge in the year of off-premises dining

Recommended for youCommunityLook out Millennials! RMS had its first Gen Z internJuly 2017InsightsWhat to consider when designing your menu as we head into the new yearNovember 2019NewsRevenue Management Solutions' CMO Honored as One of Tampa Bay's 2019 Businesswomen...

Temporary disruption or here to stay? 5 restaurant trends to include in your recovery plan

To stay alive during the pandemic, brands, owners and operators have had to adapt. Many restaurants found it necessary to kick long-term plans into immediate action, such as adding drive-thru, while many made changes no one ever would have anticipated — fine dining...

Restaurant Pricing in the Time of Corona

“Should I take price?” has been the primary question from our restaurant clients of late. Our answer, surprisingly, remains the same now as it was pre-COVID: “That depends.” We remain in the midst of the greatest challenge the restaurant industry has ever faced. Yet...

Reduced restaurant menus offer opportunity for profitability and simplicity

Q&A with RMS menu engineering expert on top 7 reasons to reduce your menu The analogy may be obvious, but as with any successful recipe, a sustainable and profitable restaurant also comes down to using the correct mix of ingredients. Now that most everything we...

Finding New in the Old: The Rise of QR Codes during the coronavirus pandemic

When it comes to restaurant cravings these days, limited contact is what’s on the menu. In fact, “avoiding contamination” has replaced “food quality” as the most significant consideration when deciding where to dine. According to our survey of 1,200 U.S. customers,...

Consumer preferences have changed. These insights will help your restaurant recover.

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left”...

Winning families back for dinner

Insights from in-depth interviews with moms and dads in Germany, South Korea, UK and US As we begin on the road to recovery, RMS is finding ways to shed some light on the dramatically changed consumer attitudes and behavior. In April, we conducted a global consumer...

How fast casual PDQ continued to serve quality to customers

Before March 2020, new menus could take a year to launch, with every item in every medium checked and rechecked. But the pandemic changed everything. Fast casual chicken concept PDQ launched a new menu just days after the WHO announced the pandemic, deleting certain...

Restaurant CEOs on Leading Their Brands Now and Beyond Coronavirus

On April 29, Revenue Management Solutions and EZ CERT supported Franchise Times’ lively webinar discussion with Peter Cancro, Founder and CEO of Jersey Mike’s Subs, Joe Koss, President and CEO of Culver’s Restaurant, and Chris Newcomb, Co-Founder and CEO of Newk’s...

Field Report: How is Singapore Responding to COVID-19?

If there’s one thing that’s been consistent across the globe during the pandemic, it’s how differently each country is handling restaurant restrictions. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, there’s no handbook — government, corporate or otherwise — to help...

Restaurants in ‘Survival Mode’ Trim Down Their Menu Offerings

Recommended for youInfographicsSeries 6 - How did each gender's relationship with food and their dining habits change during COVID-19?May 2020Client Successes, NewsFresh Brothers Pizza hires Revenue Management Solutions to consult on menu optimization and menu pricing...

The Psychology of restaurant menus: Part 2- Engineering

In Part 1 of our look at the psychology of restaurant menus, we examined how consumers react to design and what operators can do to ensure maximum impact for their offer. In this second part of the series, we’re looking at menu engineering. Revenue Management...

The psychology of QSR menus: engineering

Biometric research on menu design challenges three decades of thinking

What to consider when designing your menu as we head into the new year

Holistic revenue management has been a big topic and will remain so into 2020. Growing traffic is a challenge and brands are working hard to ensure their menus and service proposition are as profitable as possible. Alongside sustainable food and provenance, the focus...

Groundbreaking Research To Study Menu Design In The New Era Of Online Ordering

Study uses eye-tracking software to reveal how digital natives and non-natives react to menu medium and design TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 1, 2019 — Revenue Management Solutions has partnered with the newly opened Center for Marketing and Sales...

Menu design plays a key role in maximising food sales for hospitality operators

What role does our brain play in the way we read menus? In the first in a series on menu design and engineering, we take a look at current industry practices on how operators use menu design to drive sales. The saying goes that we eat with our eyes and there’s...

Noodles’ easier-to-read menus come with price increases

4 Proven Strategies to Raise Check Sizes

While restaurant traffic was down in 2018, many restaurants saw flat to positive sales growth due to increases in average check size. And while many brands raised their prices between 2–4 percent in 2018, others were able to achieve higher check growth through...

How to Grow Your Convenience Foodservice Business With Strategic Menu Modeling

Most convenience stores have made huge strides in foodservice but are uncertain of the “next step.” Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and fast-casual brands have spent more than 50 years examining every aspect of customer behavior, so their experiences can...

Engineering Seasonal Menus: Maximizing Margins for Thanksgiving

Seasonal menu changes are always a popular move, and give diners the chance to try something new or rediscover a forgotten favorite. Holidays also offer an opportunity to showcase innovative ideas and seasonal ingredients. For seasonal menu changes, it is important to...

European QSR chain looking to evolve its value platform amidst food cost inflation

Our Client’s Challenge A quick-service European restaurant group with more than 300 locations relied heavily on its value platform to drive traffic. The platform, products and price points had not changed in 5 years. But with food costs rising by 4% and with...

Boosting sales by taking it up a notch on customer segmentation

Our Client’s Challenge A Mexican QSR chain with 900 corporate restaurants and over 4,000 franchise locations faced an uphill battle. The previous year the brand had launched a highly successful promotional campaign. Now it had to top that significant sales lift....

Fresh Brothers Pizza hires Revenue Management Solutions to consult on menu optimization and menu pricing strategies

Relationship with Southern California company is a good example of how up-and-coming restaurants can benefit from RMS’ 20 years of industry leadership experience TAMPA, Fla., July 6, 2017 — Fresh Brothers Pizza, a fast-growing award-winning chain of...

9 Ways to Maximize Menu Profitability

Mitigate cost pressures and avoid giving guests sticker shock with these tips Too often, restaurant menus have catchy descriptions, gorgeous photos and an attractive layout, but are missing a key ingredient: They aren’t driving profitability. Certainly, you should...

How to Address Same-Store Sales Declines

Since March, our inboxes have been flooded with news of same-store declines, restaurant closures, and discussions of a recession. However, this news begs the question, are customers spending less? Or are they just spending elsewhere and our data simply doesn’t capture...

Related resources

Stay in the loop