Seven Principles for a Winning Menu, My Industry Insights

After years creating and refining menus for restaurants, hotels, and high-volume operations, one question always comes up: What makes a menu truly great?

Here are the seven principles I’ve used to deliver success for clients like Holborn Dining Room:

• Seasonality – build around ingredients at their peak. They taste better, cost less, and create natural points of interest. Short seasons demand agility.
• Kitchen suitability – design dishes your kitchen can execute efficiently without costly upgrades.
• Team capability – ensure your team can consistently deliver each dish to the highest standard.
• Menu engineering – balance premium and lower-cost dishes to hit your GP% targets without compromising quality.
• Supplier reliability – partner with suppliers who guarantee consistency, quality, and value.
• Dietary considerations – guests now expect vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options as standard.
• Testing & feedback – trial new dishes as specials before committing them to the menu.

With season-led planning, menus often only need updating four times a year — saving resources while keeping offerings fresh.

Beyond the dishes, success also depends on:

• Tested recipes & accurate costings
• Professional photography & FOH reference guides
• Marketing support & staff training

Provenance matters too – linking dishes to seasons, events, or traditions creates selling moments: strawberries during Wimbledon, the first grouse on 12th August.

A winning menu isn’t just a list of dishes – it’s a strategic business tool, aligning kitchen capability, team strengths, supplier reliability, and guest expectations to turn ideas into profit.

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