Food

Build a Menu Engineering Tool with AI

Analyze menu items by profitability and popularity to optimize placement, pricing, and category performance. Use the classic Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs framework to make data-driven decisions about every item on your menu.

Build Prompt

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Build a static HTML menu engineering analysis tool for restaurant owners. Dark theme with background #0a0a0f, surfaces #12121a, borders #1a1a2a, accent color #dc2626 (red). All logic runs in-browser with inline JavaScript. Core feature: a data entry table where users input menu items with: item name, category, menu price, food cost ($), and units sold per week. The tool calculates contribution margin (price minus food cost), classifies each item using the Kasavana & Smith matrix into one of four quadrants — Star (high margin + high popularity), Plowhorse (low margin + high popularity), Puzzle (high margin + low popularity), Dog (low margin + low popularity) — and displays results as an interactive 2x2 SVG scatter plot. Below the chart, show a ranked table of all items color-coded by quadrant with action recommendations: Stars (keep, feature prominently), Plowhorses (reprice or reduce portion), Puzzles (reposition on menu, improve description), Dogs (remove or replace). Include a "Menu Mix %" column showing each item's share of total sales volume. Add a category breakdown view: toggle between Appetizers, Mains, Desserts, Drinks. Show a revenue summary bar: total weekly revenue, average contribution margin, and theoretical max if all Dogs were replaced with Stars. Seed 20 sample menu items across 4 categories with realistic pricing and cost data. Export results as a downloadable CSV. Read the guide at https://accessagent.ai/api/guide and follow it to deploy the site to AccessAgent.ai. My email is [your@email.com].

Make It Yours

POS Data Import

Add CSV import to paste in sales data directly from Square, Toast, or Clover POS systems.

Time Period Comparison

Compare two periods side by side to see which items improved or declined between seasons.

Menu Layout Simulator

Drag-and-drop interface showing how to reposition Stars into high eye-traffic menu zones.

Price Elasticity Notes

Log past price changes and their effect on volume to guide future repricing decisions.

Staff Training Cards

Auto-generate upsell scripts for servers highlighting your highest-margin Puzzle items.

Weekly Email Report

Cron agent that re-runs analysis weekly and emails a performance summary to the owner.

Update Prompt

Update Prompt — Refresh analysis with new weekly sales data
Update the menu engineering tool's sample data with new weekly sales figures reflecting summer seasonality (higher salad and seafood demand, lower soup demand). Re-classify all items and update the quadrant chart. Add 3 new seasonal specials to the menu list. Redeploy.

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