Volume 4, No.

12 December, 2023
p-ISSN 2721-3854 | e-ISSN 2721-2769

MENU ENGINEERING ON FOOD TO INCREASE REVENUE AT LAKU CAFÉ,

GADING SERPONG

Sherlen Frelinsia Goh, Wiwik Nirmala Sari

Pradita University
Email: [email protected] , [email protected]

ABSTRACT
The Food and Beverage industry is an industry that has existed and developed for a long time until now.
The Food and Beverage sector is engaged in the manufacture and serving of food and beverages and also
provides services to customers. Merdeka (2022) emphasizes that Food and Beverage is a part of
hospitality that is centered on food and beverage services which aims to achieve customer satisfaction.
The method used is descriptive research with a qualitative approach. Research data collection was carried
out using documentation studies to determine the level of menu profitability using a menu engineering
system. Based on the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that among the menu items sold, there
are several menu items that are less popular and there are also menus that bring low profits. There are
many ways to increase revenue, including: increasing the attractiveness of the menu, increasing menu
prices by switching to cheaper raw materials with the same quality, reducing portion sizes or creating
combination packages with other menus that have low costs, removing several menus from the list. menu.
Keywords: Café, Menu, Menu Engineering

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is an activity of moving from place of origin to destination which involves individuals and
groups (Hartman, 2023). Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 of 2009 concerning tourism,
regulates that tourism has the meaning of tourist activities supported by facilities and infrastructure
supported by the community, entrepreneurs, government and local authorities (Brata et al., 2023).
According to (Riadi et al., 2019), tourism is a travel activity undertaken by individuals or groups to a
temporary area with the aim of seeking tranquility, happiness and peace (Purves & Wartmann, 2023).
Tourism is divided into several types of tourism, namely marine tourism, ethnic tourism, sports
tourism, culinary tourism, cultural tourism and many other types of tourism. Currently, the type of tourism
that is developing rapidly is culinary tourism (Alfiah & Wati, 2022). This trend provides great opportunities
for new entrepreneurs, especially young entrepreneurs. Culinary tourism is part of the Food and Beverage
industry.
Food and Beverage industry is an industrial sector that has existed and developed for a long time until
now (Lloyd & Payne, 2023). The Food and Beverage segment is engaged in the production and serving of
food and beverages as well as providing services to customers. Merdeka (2022) states that Food and
Beverage is a part of hospitality that is centered on food and beverage services which aims to achieve
customer satisfaction.

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 Menu Engineering on Food to Increase Revenue at Laku Café, Gading Serpong

In the world of food and beverage, of course there are types of restaurants based on their management
system (Carlbäck et al., 2023). There are formal restaurants and non-formal restaurants (Bogossian-Porto
& Bogossian, 2023). Types of formal restaurants such as Gourmet, Grilled Restaurant, and Main Dining
Room which serve food formally using a table set-up (Rahmi, 2023). Types of non-formal restaurants such
as cafeterias, canteens, coffee shops and cafés. Café is a place that millennials like as a place to hang out
or a meeting place for business people. According to (Philibert et al., 2023), a café is a place to eat that
provides snacks and drinks such as bread, iced chocolate and coffee.
Laku café was founded in 2022 and offers several menu choices in the form of pastries, snacks and
main courses that customers can enjoy (Dewi & Satyawan, 2023). The menu plays a very important role
and is a product presentation at Laku Café. With so many menus being sold, it is possible to make a profit
or a loss. The way to avoid losses is the importance of evaluating sales. To carry out analysis in anticipation
of menus that are less popular with customers in sales, you can apply menu engineering.
According to Nenimeler (2013) in (Juliana et al., 2023) explains the meaning of menu engineering as a
strategy in making an assessment of provisions related to prices and menu design now and in the future.
From the menu offered, there are several possibilities that can occur in assessing profits. There are 4
assessment categories in the engineering menu, namely: Star, Plow Horse, Puzzle, and dog so that this
classification method can make it easier to implement strategies related to food menus that will be sold
in cafes.
According to (Juliana et al., 2023), there are 2 important elements in basic menu engineering which
focuses on this analysis, namely: Menu Mix (MM) is an analysis to calculate the popularity of a menu sold
within a certain time. To find out the popularity index of a menu, it is necessary to count the number of
menu types sold with all existing menus (Man Him IP & Chark, 2023). A menu can be said to be popular if
the menu's sales results are at 70% of the targeted sales (Özgür Göde & Ekergİl, 2023). The calculation of
the menu mix percentage is obtained from the results of calculating a menu item sold by the total number
of menu items sold multiplied by 100. Contribution Margin (CM) is a calculation of the difference between
the selling price of food and the cost price which will determine the profit contribution of each item on
the menu. The way to calculate contribution margin is the selling price minus the cost price. To get the
average contribution level, it can be calculated from the contribution margin divided by the total number
of menu items sold.

Figure 1 – Engineering menu

From the explanation above, the researcher will explain this problem in detail in the form of written
work or scientific work with the title " Menu Engineering on Food to Increase Revenue at Laku Café, Gading
Serpong" with the aim of maximizing income from menu engineering to keep the business running
smoothly and develop. From the results of the analysis above, it can be seen which menus should be
improved, what menus should be maintained, what menus can be profitable and detrimental, and which

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Sherlen Frelinsia Goh, Wiwik Nirmala Sari

menus should be deleted. It can be concluded that menu engineering is an appropriate and
implementable way to find solutions and answers in determining a menu in a restaurant.

METHOD
To write this journal, the author used a qualitative descriptive method. Descriptive research.
Sugiarto in Tysara (2023) states that qualitative research is used to study the status of objects with the
researcher's position as the key instrument, data collection techniques are followed by triangulation, data
analysis is qualitative and research results emphasize meaning rather than generalization. Data collection
in the research was carried out with a documentation study to determine the level of profitability of the
Laku Café menu using a menu engineering system / menu engineering from data obtained in the form of
food menu sales data for 3 months starting from January to March 2023.
Menu engineering techniques are used to evaluate each menu by evaluating the level of income
and contribution margin for each menu item. According to (Oktaviani & Anggraeni, 2023), menu items
that are worth maintaining can be seen from the classification results on the menu. Based on the data
that has been obtained, there are 3 menu categories, namely, Pastry, Snacks. Main course. The research
results from the data have been calculated using menu engineering techniques to determine the
popularity index of what menu items are popular, unpopular, worth maintaining or not. With the
popularity index calculation, it can be seen from Figure 1 which is attached to all the results for the food
menu items and Figure 2 shows the popularity index results per category. To find out the popularity index,
it can be formulated as follows.
a. Menu Mix Percentage
To get the percentage from the mix menu, the percentage can be calculated by dividing the mix menu
by the total mix menu, multiplied by 100%.
Formula:
Menu Mix (MM) x 100%

Total Menu Mix

b. Menu Mix Category

To get the Mix Category Menu, multiply the number of menus by 70%, then multiply by the total
menu mix.
Formula:
1 x 70% x Total Menu Mix
Total Menu

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 Menu Engineering on Food to Increase Revenue at Laku Café, Gading Serpong

Figure 2. Calculation of Menu Popularity Index for All Items in the Period of
January – March 2023
Source: Author (2023)

Figure 3. Calculation of Menu Popularity Index Per Category in the Period of

January – March 2023
Source: Author (2023)
The results of the popularity index shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 are different because Figure 2
calculates the entire popularity index without dividing by category, by calculating the total number of
portions of one menu item divided by the total number of menu portions sold. Meanwhile, Figure 3 is
divided by category.
Contribution Margin
Contribution margin is a calculation of the gross profit obtained from the sale of each menu item.
According to Wiyasha in (Wardani et al., 2023) contribution margin is the difference between the selling
price and the variable budget per unit. Based on the definition above, the contribution margin results are
obtained by subtracting the sales of menu items from the sales price. The higher the contribution margin,
the higher the profits obtained. To find out the profit obtained, you can look at the contribution margin
compared to the average contribution margin.
The way to calculate the average contribution margin is the total profit divided by the total
number sold. It can be understood that if the contribution margin level of an item is below average, then
the menu item is called "low" and if the contribution margin level is above average it is called "high". From
the explanation above, Contribution Margin and Average Contribution Margin can be calculated as
follows:
a. CM (Contribution Margin) = Selling Price – Base price
b. ACM (Average Contribution Margin) = Total Profit: Number Sold
c. Percentage Contribution Margin
Obtained by dividing the total contribution margin per item by the total contribution margin,
and multiplying by 100%
Formula:
Contribution Margin (items) x 100%

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Sherlen Frelinsia Goh, Wiwik Nirmala Sari

Total Contribution Margin

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The menu can be classified into 4 categories namely: Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle, and Dog. All
classifications are categorized based on menu popularity and contribution margin.

Figure 4. Menu Item Class Percentage

Source: Author (2023)

The percentage results from the data above show the menu item class in the entire menu. A very
popular and profitable menu is “Star”. The menu included in the star category contains 6 menu items or
33%. A menu with a high level of popularity but low profits is "plowhorse". Menus that fall into the
plowhorse category contain 5 menu items or 28%. A menu with low popularity but high profits is " puzzle".
The menu includes the puzzle category there are 2 menu items or 11%. and finally "dog" which is a menu
with low popularity and profits. The menu that includes the dog category contains 5 menu items or 28%.
Apart from that, the level of popularity of the menu can also be calculated at the same time as
the profit obtained. The following are the results of data analysis for the Engineering Worksheet Menu in
the Period January-March 2023.

Figure 5. Data Analysis Results of the Engineering of Pastry Worksheet Menu in the Period January-
March 2023
Source: Author (2023)

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 Menu Engineering on Food to Increase Revenue at Laku Café, Gading Serpong

Results in figure 5 above shows that of the 4 types of pastry menus, there are 2 menus in the item
class "plowhorse" with a high level of popularity but low profits. The menu in the "plowhorse" category is
Chocolate Danish and Hazelnut Bomb. In order not to experience losses, one strategy that can be used to
increase sales is by increasing menu prices by exchanging cheaper raw materials but of equal quality.

Figure 6. Data Analysis Results of Menu Engineering of Snacks Worksheet in the Period
January-March 2023
Source: Author (2023)

The results in Figure 6 above show that of the 6 types of snacks menus sold, there is 1 menu in
the "plowhorse" item class and 2 menus in the "dog" item class with low levels of popularity and low
profits. The menu in the "plowhorse" category is French fries, while the menu in the "dog" category is Tofu
Meatballs and Fried Meatballs. The strategy that can be implemented in the "plowhorse" category is to
increase menu prices. Strategies that can be implemented in the "dog" category include removing menus
or lowering prices.

Figure 7. Data Analysis Results of the Engineering Menu of Main course Worksheet in the
Period January-March 2023
Source: Author (2023)

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The results in Figure 7 above show that there are 8 types of main course menus. There
are 3 types of menus that fall into the "dog" category, namely Indomie Kuah Laku, Nasi Rendang,
and Fried Chicken Rice. Efforts that can be made to avoid losses are by eliminating several menus
in the "dog" category or reducing prices and reducing food portions.

CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that several menu items can be
maintained and also eliminated. Of the 18 types of menus sold, there are 6 types of snacks and There are
2 types of menus that must be eliminated, namely tofu meatballs and fried meatballs. There are 8 types
of main courses being sold, there are 3 main courses that must be removed, namely Indomie Kuah Laku,
rendang rice and fried chicken rice. In total, there are 5 menu types that will be deleted which are classified
as the "dog" menu item class.

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