The Demand
Before you touch your menu pricing again, take your most-ordered item and answer the positioning test: is this a neighborhood restaurant Guests visit three times a week, or a destination restaurant Guests visit to celebrate something they’ll remember? Name your value proposition in one sentence, then decide whether your current price on that item reflects the relationship you’ve built or just recovers your food cost.
The Work
Name your most-ordered menu item and its current price:
The positioning test:
Neighborhood restaurant or destination restaurant — which is this:
Your value proposition in one sentence:
Cost-recovery or relationship pricing:
Was this price derived from Ideal Food Cost, from the competitor down the street, or from what you’ve built and what the Guest knows it’s worth:
Rate how much your current pricing is a Road 1 ceiling (priced at the competitor) versus a Road 2 relationship price (1-5, 5 = fully relationship-priced):
The Road 1 ceiling check:
Does pricing at the competitor currently tell your Guest this restaurant is worth exactly what the place down the street is worth:
The one item you will reprice this month based on the relationship you’ve built, not the ingredient cost:
44 years. 200+ independent operators coached. 34 restaurants opened from scratch.
I work with restaurant operators who know something is wrong and are ready to find out what it actually is — and with leaders who are ready to build something that lasts.
The complete framework is in my new book: The Operator’s Playbook
Call or text: +1-817-797-2929 Email: Jeffrey@JeffreySummers.com
