{"id":25421,"date":"2021-11-03T10:11:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T14:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:45:14","slug":"make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient\/","title":{"rendered":"Make data a main menu ingredient"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Technology helps restaurants make menu changes efficiently and profitably.<\/h2>\n<p>For years, restaurants have been urged to streamline menus for increased profits. Smaller menus come in many flavours\u2014cross-utilization, menu makeovers, LTOs, quarterly menus\u2014all of which require data-driven decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Operators learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly on menu changes for survival. Long-term success, however, takes more than gut decisions, according to Gordon Food Service Business Solutions Specialist Eric Schamp.<\/p>\n<p>You can make some decisions without data, but it\u2019s so important to get it right that you should be calling on data, whether it\u2019s your POS system, a recipe program, an inventory program\u2014you\u2019ve got to use that data to make decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He suggests several ways operators can use menu data to manage profits while dealing with the labour shortage, <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/answering-your-questions-about-supply-chain-challenges\">supply-chain challenges<\/a> and unstable pricing.<\/p>\n<h3>Develop a menu strategy<\/h3>\n<p>Ideally, a new menu should be built once a year. Your Gordon Food Service Sales Representative can show you a menu guide to help with decision-making, Schamp says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can create a worksheet for <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/labour-pains-right-size-your-menu\">right-sizing your menu<\/a> or ask about value-added products that actually save time and labour for your kitchen staff,\u201d he said. \u201cUltimately, you want to build recipes your team can prepare consistently with items that are in stock.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Be ready to adjust<\/h3>\n<p>After the menu launch, don\u2019t be afraid to make changes, Schamp notes. That includes making tweaks, thinking about LTOs or even creating a quarterly or seasonal menu. Things to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What recipes are causing kitchen jam-ups?&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Are there speed-scratch or value-added solutions?<\/li>\n<li>What menu offerings are most\/least profitable?<\/li>\n<li>Can they be tweaked to improve profits, or should they be dropped?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Call on menu technology<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cSignificant or long-term changes work best when supported by data. Your POS system and our Recipe Manager tool can really help,\u201d Schamp said. \u201cOperators who aren\u2019t using Recipe Manager see it as an overwhelming project that takes a lot of time, but you don\u2019t have to go all in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He suggests starting small. Use your POS to define your 10 best-selling menu offerings. Then work with your Gordon Food Service Sales Representative to plug those into the Recipe Manager application to see if you can find ingredients that will improve profits without compromising quality or affecting labour. \u201cEven just starting with the top five can make a difference, then next month you can add a few more recipes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Make menu changes easy<\/h3>\n<p>Operators start out with planning and expectations, then technology enables them to quickly assess menu performance. Single-page paper menus and digital menus accessible with QR codes allow flexibility when pricing or product changes occur.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s critical with inflation that once you start a menu, you come back to it often\u2014every month or every two months,\u201d Schamp said. \u201cThen you can make changes or start another menu. It doesn\u2019t have to be a large overhaul, just small changes here or there.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The menu is never done<\/h3>\n<p>The menu is the most important document in every restaurant, but it can be a burden if an operator doesn\u2019t know how it\u2019s performing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most critical part comes after the menu is done. How is the menu actually providing benefits to the business?\u201d Schamp asked. \u201cYou don\u2019t just want to design a menu and be done. You want to utilize technology to build a profitable menu that can change to always perform better.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technology helps restaurants make menu changes efficiently and profitably. For years, restaurants have been urged to streamline menus for increased profits. Smaller menus come in many flavours\u2014cross-utilization, menu makeovers, LTOs, quarterly menus\u2014all of which require data-driven decisions. Operators learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly on menu changes for survival. Long-term success, however, takes more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Make data a main menu ingredient | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make data a main menu ingredient\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Technology helps restaurants make menu changes efficiently and profitably. For years, restaurants have been urged to streamline menus for increased profits. Smaller menus come in many flavours\u2014cross-utilization, menu makeovers, LTOs, quarterly menus\u2014all of which require data-driven decisions. Operators learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly on menu changes for survival. Long-term success, however, takes more [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-03T14:11:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T14:45:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Quarterly-Menu-2_1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cody.rivers@gfs.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Make data a main menu ingredient | Gordon Food Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Make data a main menu ingredient","og_description":"Technology helps restaurants make menu changes efficiently and profitably. For years, restaurants have been urged to streamline menus for increased profits. Smaller menus come in many flavours\u2014cross-utilization, menu makeovers, LTOs, quarterly menus\u2014all of which require data-driven decisions. Operators learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly on menu changes for survival. Long-term success, however, takes more [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-data-a-main-menu-ingredient\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2021-11-03T14:11:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T14:45:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Quarterly-Menu-2_1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cody.rivers@gfs.com","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374"},"headline":"Make data a main menu ingredient","datePublished":"2021-11-03T14:11:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T14:45:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/"},"wordCount":581,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Quarterly-Menu-2_1.jpg","articleSection":["Catering &amp; Small Business","Hotels &amp; Hospitality","Restaurant &amp; Bars","Running Your Business","Senior Living &amp; Healthcare","University"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":["WebPage","CollectionPage"],"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/","name":"Make data a main menu ingredient | Gordon Food Service","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Quarterly-Menu-2_1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-03T14:11:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T14:45:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Quarterly-Menu-2_1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Quarterly-Menu-2_1.jpg","width":760,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/les-donnees-un-ingredient-principal-du-menu\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Make data a main menu ingredient"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/","name":"Gordon Food Service","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization","name":"Gordon Food Service","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GFS-EN-Logo-og-image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GFS-EN-Logo-og-image.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Gordon Food Service"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GFSDelivers","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gordonfoodservice\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/gordon-food-service\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374","name":"Cody Rivers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cody Rivers"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/cody.rivers@gfs.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38481,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25421\/revisions\/38481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}