Price for the margin
Dynamic menu pricing software, with a person on every price
A price set against last year’s cost of tomatoes is a guess nobody re-checked. The dish you think pays may be the one losing money.
Last reviewed 1 Oct 2026
- 1CostA price set against last year’s cost of tomatoes is a guess
- 2Four kindsEvery dish placed as a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog
- 3SuggestedWhere a margin is thin, a suggested price and the reason
- 4ManagerA manager confirms every new price: nothing changes on its own
- 4 kindsof dish: Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles and Dogs
- Suggestedprices where a margin is thin, with the reason
- A managerconfirms every new price: nothing changes on its own
- Monday9 am: the menu-health report, in the app and by email
01At a glance
How a price change is found, and made
- Every dish placedItem performance plots each dish by how well it sells and what it makes, from your own sales and costs.
- Four kinds of dishStars sell and pay. Plowhorses sell on thin margins. Puzzles pay but do not sell. Dogs do neither. Each wants a different move.
- A suggested priceWhere a margin is thin, the report suggests a price and gives the reason, beside the dish’s units sold and margin.
- Applied by a personA manager presses Apply and confirms with “Yes, apply price”. The change is checked against their permission and recorded.
- Off the menu, if it must beA dish that should not be served tonight can be marked off from the same view.
- The Monday reportAt 9 am every Monday: the last 30 days in four counts, and up to four moves worth making. Raise a price, rework or drop a dish, or promote one.
02In detail
What is menu engineering, plainly?
Menu engineering treats a menu as a set of bets rather than a list. Every dish has two numbers that matter, how often it sells and how much it makes, and crossing them gives four kinds of dish. Stars are protected, Plowhorses repriced or re-portioned, Puzzles promoted, and Dogs reworked or dropped.
The value is in doing it with this month’s numbers. Costs move, and a dish that was a Star in March can be a Plowhorse by October. Item performance places every dish from your own recent sales, so the picture is current when you look at it.
Why does a person confirm every price?
A menu price is a promise to the guest at the table, and a change to it is a decision about your restaurant, not a calculation. CountStand does the arithmetic and shows its reason; a manager makes the call, and the change is recorded with their name.
That is also why there is no surge pricing here. The aim is a price that is honest to what the dish costs and how it sells, set one dish at a time, a few times a year.
03Questions
Questions about menu pricing
No. It suggests a price where a dish’s margin is thin, and a manager applies it. Nothing changes on its own.
In Reports, Item performance: every dish placed as a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog, with a suggested price where one is due. It is in every plan.
An agent’s summary every Monday at 9 am: the last 30 days in four counts and up to four moves worth making, in the app and by email. It is in every plan.
No. It keeps each price honest to what the dish costs and how it sells, one dish at a time, and a person makes every change.
Price the menu to what it costs today
Item performance and the Monday report are in every plan. Apply for access, and we reply within two working days.