How Rooster & Co. Used Menu Data to Boost Profitability

In hospitality, the difference between a good menu and a great one often comes down to one thing: data.

When it comes to designing a menu that drives revenue, gut instinct only gets you so far. Today’s most profitable restaurants are using real-time sales insights to optimise their offerings, and Rooster & Co. is a perfect example.

Let’s take a closer look at how this Melbourne-based quick service restaurant used Lightspeed’s POS data to redesign their menu, cut low performers and increase profitability without compromising their customer experience.

• Why does menu design impact profitability?
• What is menu engineering and how does it work?
• How can data help spot poor-performing menu items?
• How did Rooster & Co. redesign their menu using Lightspeed Insights?
• What are the risks of keeping low-selling items on your menu?
• How can Lightspeed help identify your most profitable menu items?
• What role does sales and margin data play in menu layout?
• How often should you review your menu?
• How can you balance customer favourites with profitability?
• What Lightspeed tools support ongoing menu optimisation?
• The bottom line

Why does menu design impact profitability?

Your menu is your most valuable sales tool. A well-designed menu does more than showcase your best dishes. It guides customer choices, drives upsells, reduces kitchen inefficiencies, and even shortens wait times.

When menu items aren’t pulling their weight—whether because they take too long to prep, don’t sell enough or have thin margins—they cost you. Removing or reworking them can create space for higher-margin items that drive revenue.

The structure, flow and even the language of your menu can influence spending habits. Strategic placement of high-margin items, bundling suggestions and visual cues like borders or icons can subtly guide customers toward more profitable choices. Every detail matters, because when your menu does the selling for you, your staff can focus on delivering a great experience.

What is menu engineering and how does it work?

Menu engineering is the process of analysing the profitability and popularity of your menu items to determine which should stay, which should go and which should be repositioned.

In practice, this means regularly reviewing real-time data on sales volume, food costs, contribution margins, prep times and seasonal trends to understand how each item performs across multiple dimensions.

Armed with this information, you can categorise each menu item to guide your strategy:

• Stars are high-margin, high-popularity items. Keep them front and centre. 
• Plough Horses are popular but lower margin . Consider raising prices or adjusting portions.
• Puzzles have strong margins but low popularity. Rework their name, placement or description to boost appeal. 
• Dogs are low-margin and low-selling. Remove them or rethink their place on the menu.

Smart operators use this framework to refine their offering and lift average spend per head.

How can data help spot poor-performing menu items?

Let’s be honest, every menu has its underperformers. The dish you love that just doesn’t sell or the low-margin crowd-pleaser that keeps the kitchen stuck on prep. Maybe even a seasonal special that quietly overstayed its welcome.

It can break your heart to remove them and, without data, these items can go unnoticed for months—or even years.

Rooster & Co. avoided that trap by using Lightspeed Insights to monitor real-time performance.

“Whenever I’m designing a new menu…I’ve got the data in front of me to suggest, this is what you sell. This is what you don’t sell much of…Why am I giving so much real estate on my menu board for something that’s not necessarily selling?” – Nick Ghionis, Founder and Owner of Rooster & Co.

This kind of clarity helps operators make changes confidently. You’re no longer relying on memory or hunches. You’re making decisions backed by hard numbers.

How did Rooster & Co. redesign their menu using Lightspeed Insights?

Rooster & Co.’s owners, Nick and Sharifa, are growth-minded operators who use data to guide everything from staffing to menu design.

When it came time to revamp their menu board, they turned to Lightspeed to get the full picture.

“I’m going through the whole new menu board at the moment based on the last 12 months of what’s going, what’s not going, what is good, what isn’t good about our menu board, using the data from Lightspeed.” – Nick Ghionis, Founder and Owner of Rooster & Co.

With this data in hand, they could pinpoint which items were flying off the shelves—and which ones were dead weight. The result? A smarter, tighter menu that reflects what their customers actually want to eat.

What are the risks of keeping low-selling items on your menu?

Hanging on to low performers might seem harmless, but it adds up. Every item on your menu demands:

• Staff training
• Inventory storage
• Prep time
• Menu real estate

Items that rarely sell still soak up resources, slow down service and clutter your board. Rooster & Co. recognised that cutting these was a key step in scaling.

How can Lightspeed help identify your most profitable menu items?

Lightspeed POS and Insights give hospitality businesses the tools to track item-level performance across any timeframe.

You can see:

• Sales volume per item
• Gross profit per dish
• Food cost trends
• Menu performance over time

“There’s a lot of reporting that helps me make decisions when it comes to rostering or looking at sales by hours.” – Nick Ghionis, Founder and Owner of Rooster & Co.

With that level of granularity, Rooster & Co. could build a menu not just around what sells, but what sells profitably.

What role does sales and margin data play in menu layout?

Menu layout matters so much more than you’d think. 

High-margin dishes should be placed where eyes naturally land: at the top. You might even consider putting them in highlighted boxes or with appealing photos. 

Low-margin fillers, on the other hand, can be downsized or tucked away towards the bottom of your menu where the customer’s eyes aren’t immediately drawn.

By combining sales volume with margin data, you can decide which items to spotlight, bundle or upsell.

Rooster & Co. also used Lightspeed to prompt upsells at the point of sale.

“There’s an opportunity to upsell, an opportunity to prompt the person taking the order to increase the sales… Those upselling requirements through Lightspeed, which are a lot more intuitive…” – Nick Ghionis, Founder and Owner of Rooster & Co.

How often should you review your menu?

A static menu is a missed opportunity.

Rooster & Co. reviewed their data across a 12-month period, but many venues assess performance quarterly, or even monthly.

Frequent review allows you to:

• Adjust for seasonality
• Test new items
• Phase out slow movers
• Respond to customer trends

With Lightspeed, historical data is easy to access and compare, so trends jump out quickly. And with this data on hand, you can review your menu with the confidence that only the most profitable items remain.

How can you balance customer favourites with profitability?

Sometimes, customer favourites don’t deliver great margins. It’s a harsh truth, but that doesn’t mean you scrap them.

Instead what it does mean is there’s an opportunity to review portion sizes, whether any ingredients can be substituted or removed or even whether the pricing can be adjusted.

Rooster & Co. didn’t have to guess. Their menu redesign used concrete data to balance crowd-pleasers with business goals.

“This is what you sell. This is what you don’t sell much of… Why am I giving so much real estate…?” – Nick Ghionis, Founder and Owner of Rooster & Co.

What Lightspeed tools support ongoing menu optimisation?

Rooster & Co. use a combination of Lightspeed products to manage their menu lifecycle from end to end:

• POS: Real-time sales tracking helps you see exactly what’s selling, while built-in upsell prompts make it easier for staff to increase order value without added pressure.
• Insights: With access to both high-level overviews and granular reporting, you can dive into performance data by item, time or staff member to guide smarter decisions.
• Inventory: Lightspeed’s inventory tools allow you to monitor ingredient costs, reduce waste and plan more effectively, especially when making changes to the menu.
• Capital: Armed with reliable historical sales data, Rooster & Co. used Lightspeed Capital to fund new growth initiatives, knowing the numbers are there to back it up.

“Using the data collected from Lightspeed, you can go backwards and go okay… I’m already about 10% higher than last year. So you know what? I can probably afford to take X amount…It’s a one-stop shop, so to speak.” – Nick Ghionis, Founder and Owner of Rooster & Co.

It’s all about staying agile, especially in a fast-moving QSR environment.

The bottom line

Rooster & Co.’s journey is proof that data-led decisions drive real results. By using Lightspeed to monitor their menu performance, they were able to cut low-selling items and highlight winners, creating a simpler, more profitable menu.

It proves that, for growing hospitality businesses, menu data isn’t a luxury, it’s a must.