Guides for restaurants

Short, clear answers on costing, menu analysis, menu information rules and tastings.

• Menu informationDo restaurants in the UK have to show allergens and calories?Yes. Every food business must be able to tell customers whether a dish contains any of the 14 regulated allergens, and in England businesses with 250 or more employees must also show calories, in kcal per portion, since 6 April 2022. In Palato, allergens and calories come from the recipe and show on every dish of your QR menu.
• CostingHow do you calculate the cost of a recipe?A portion's cost comes from each ingredient's purchase price and the wastage; set against the selling price, it tells you whether the dish really pays. Keeping that current by hand is hard when prices move. Palato costs every portion automatically from the purchase prices in stock and shows each dish's margin next to the guests' score.
• Menu analysisWhat is menu engineering?Menu engineering sorts every dish by two measures so you can decide what to keep and what to fix. The classic method looks at units sold; Palato's menu analysis looks at the guests' score: every dish's margin and the share of guests who loved it, on one screen.
• TastingHow do you test a new dish before it goes on the menu?Have 10 to 15 guests score the new dish at a tasting and read the result next to its cost: if it is loved and the margin holds, it goes on the menu. In Palato, guests sign in from a QR code and score each dish; every dish gets a result showing how many loved it and how far the taste drifted from your target.
• ComparisonSpreadsheet, QR menu, POS report or Palato?A spreadsheet shows recipe costs, a QR menu shows the digital menu, and a POS report shows sales; none of them tells you what guests thought of the dish. Palato adds the guest's score and shows how much guests love each dish next to its cost and margin, on one screen. It works alongside your current till.