Latest articles tagged plowhorses

The number one decision in managing your Sunday Brunch operation is the size of the staff for a given forecast. The staffing should include one or more people at the host stand. If your patrons know each other, you should consider seating people close to one another by opening zones in your dining room. Dining patrons will tend to spend more time in conversations thereby giving their digestive system ample time to send the 'I'm full!' signal.

Anyone who has used the popular Kasavana/Smith menu engineering model is familiar with the term 'Plowhorses'. A Plowhorse refers to an entree which is highly popular and has a relatively low contribution. My brother Paul is an Executive Chef at a major resort in California. We love to discuss menu engineering theory and we question the characterization of these under-performers as Plowhorses. Paul prefers to refer to the popular items with low profitability as deterrents.