Glossary
Restaurant & menu glossary
The vocabulary of menus and restaurant economics, defined in plain English.
- 86 (eighty-six)
- To 86 an item is restaurant shorthand for declaring it unavailable, because it has sold out or been pulled from service.
- À la carte
- À la carte means every dish is listed and priced on its own, so guests build their meal by choosing and paying for items individually.
- Allergen menu
- An allergen menu is a reference that maps each dish to the common allergens it contains so guests and staff can order safely.
- Anchor pricing
- Anchor pricing places a deliberately expensive item on the menu so the prices beside it read as reasonable by comparison.
- Average check
- Average check is total sales divided by the number of covers, showing how much each guest spends on average.
- Charm pricing
- Charm pricing ends a price just below a round number, such as $9.95, so it reads as meaningfully cheaper than it is.
- Contribution margin
- Contribution margin is the dollars a dish leaves behind after its food cost is subtracted from its menu price.
- Covers
- A cover is a single guest served during a meal period, the basic unit restaurants use to count volume.
- Day part
- A day part is a defined service period within the day, such as breakfast, lunch, happy hour, or dinner, each with its own menu and demand pattern.
- Decoy effect
- The decoy effect introduces a third option that is deliberately worse value, nudging guests toward the item you want them to choose.
- Food cost
- Food cost is the total amount a restaurant pays for the ingredients that go into a dish, or across all dishes in a given period.
- Food cost percentage
- Food cost percentage is a dish's ingredient cost divided by its menu price, showing what share of the sale goes to food.
- Gross margin
- Gross margin is the share of a sale that remains after the cost of goods sold is subtracted, expressed as a percentage of the price.
- Gross profit
- Gross profit is total sales minus the cost of goods sold, the dollars left to cover labor, overhead, and profit before those expenses are applied.
- Menu engineering
- Menu engineering is the practice of designing and arranging a menu to maximize profit by analyzing each dish on two axes: how popular it is and how profitable it is.
- Menu mix
- Menu mix is the percentage of total units sold that each menu item represents, showing how guest demand spreads across the menu.
- Menu psychology
- Menu psychology is the use of layout, wording, and pricing cues to steer guest attention toward the items a restaurant most wants to sell.
- Mise en place
- Mise en place is the practice of prepping and arranging every ingredient and tool a station needs before service begins.
- Plate cost
- Plate cost is the full ingredient cost of one finished dish, including the protein, sides, garnish, sauce, and oil that reach the guest.
- Point of sale (POS)
- A point-of-sale system, or POS, is the software and hardware a restaurant uses to ring orders, take payment, and capture every sale as data.
- Prep list
- A prep list is the written set of tasks and quantities a kitchen must complete before service to be ready for the expected volume.
- Prime cost
- Prime cost is a restaurant's total cost of goods sold plus total labor, the two largest controllable expenses combined into one number.
- Prix fixe
- A prix fixe is a set multi-course menu sold for one fixed price, usually with a limited choice within each course.
- Specials
- Specials are temporary dishes offered outside the printed menu, used to feature seasonal ingredients, test new items, or move inventory.
- Table d'hôte
- Table d'hôte is a fixed-price menu of multiple courses with a limited set of choices, served as a complete meal.
- Table turn
- A table turn is one complete seating of a table, from when a party sits down to when the table is cleared and reset for the next guests.
- Upselling
- Upselling is guiding a guest toward a larger, premium, or additional item to raise the value of their order.
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