Menu engineering looks at the sales history, selling price, and cost of food for menu items.  It relates their profit or contribution margins and their menu mix percentages to determine which items are both popular and profitable.  Each item is assigned to one of the four categories: Stars (popular and profitable), Plow Horses (popular but not as profitable), Puzzles (not popular but highly profitable), and Dogs (neither popular or profitable). See Percentage Method  Contribution Method - Menu Engineering is part of the CookenPro Suite.  See the Calendar Menu