1. Chapter 9:
Sales History

2. Sales History Background
Sales history, also known as a scatter sheet mix, is a daily record of the menu items that have been sold.
Uses for sales history include:
To forecast
To keep a daily record of which food items were sold
To keep a daily record of how many menu items were sold
To predict sales volume
To record information that will aid management in forecasting accurately
To aid management in predicting a sales analysis
To project the annual budget
To aid management in determining the dollar amount that customers are willing to pay
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009

3. Sales History Background Cont’d
To accurately, forecast the number of customers for each meal period it is necessary to have pertinent information that influences sales on that particular day. Examples include:
Day of the week
Date
Weather
Time of day
Meal period
Special events within the community that will produce more sales (e.g., concerts, conventions, meetings, and bus tours)
Employees who are absent from work that day
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009

4. Sales History Background Cont’d
To accurately, forecast the number of customers for each meal period it is necessary to have pertinent information that influences sales on that particular day. Examples include:
Day of the week
Date
Weather
Time of day
Meal period
Special events within the community that will produce more sales (e.g., concerts, conventions, meetings, and bus tours)
Employees who are absent from work that day
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009

5. Benefits of a Scatter Sheet
At the end of each meal period, the food items that are sold must be recorded onto the sales history ledger.
If a restaurant is losing sales, the sales history record can be helpful in determining the problem.
Most restaurants lose sales because customers do not like the approach that the restaurant is taking in one or more of these areas:
Sanitation
Quality of the food
Quality of the service
Prices
Atmosphere
Location of the restaurant
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009

6. How a Scatter Sheet Works
Column 1: includes the week ending date, the menu item listings, a remarks area, and a meal period area.
Column 2: includes the name of the restaurant and space for the weather and the days of the week
Column 3: shows the weekly total of the individual menu items that were sold
Column 4: shows the selling price of the individual item.
Column 5: shows the item sales
Column 6: shows the total of weekly sales
Column 7: shows the percentage contribution to sales
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009

7. Production Sheet
Is a schedule that provides employees with information:
Who will be doing which task
When they will be doing the task
Where they will be doing the task
The equipment needed
The quantity of a product needed
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009

8. Menu Engineering
A method of analyzing the popularity and contribution margin of each menu item
Determines how much profit each item is contributing by determining each menu item’s contribution margin and popularity.
Four classifications
Stars
Plowhorses
Puzzles
Dogs
Fundamentals of Menu Planning 3rd edition. (McVety, Ware and Ware) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 2009