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Glossary

Plow Horse

A dish that sells well but earns thin margin.

Definition

In menu engineering, a plow horse is a dish with high popularity but low contribution margin. It drives footfall and sales volume but eats into profit. The fix is usually a small portion or recipe tweak, or a ₹10–₹30 price increase tested on a soft week.

Tags

menu-engineering
Related terms
Star (Menu Engineering)
A dish with high popularity AND high margin — the ideal.
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Puzzle
A dish with high margin but low popularity.
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Dog (Menu Engineering)
A dish with low popularity and low margin.
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Menu Engineering
The discipline of analyzing dishes by popularity × margin to optimize the menu.
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Plow Horse — Indian HORECA glossary | Forkcast