The Demand

Walk into your next menu or promotion planning conversation and apply the test this article sets: name, in one sentence, the specific capability you already have that the offer is meant to amplify. If you cannot name it, you are looking at a discount dressed as an LTO, not a legitimate tool — and the capability being amplified is nonexistent. Decide before you launch it whether you are showcasing something built or subtracting from a margin already under pressure.

The Work

Name a current or planned LTO, promotion, or discount:

The capability test:

The specific human or kitchen capability this offer is meant to amplify, in one sentence:

Amplification or substitution — which one is actually happening:

If substitution — what traffic need is it carrying instead of a capability:

The cost-pressure check:

Is rising cost pushing you toward gimmickry or toward the standard — name the pressure and your response:

What does the gimmick response subtract from Guest expectation, trust, and standard on top of already-compressed margin:

Run the two operators forward five years — which one are you building, the discount-trained Guest base or the price-tolerant one:

The capability you will build first, before you install the next amplifier, and the date you will have it built by: