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Too Many Dishes, Not Enough Margin: The Decision Marc Had Been Putting Off for Months

Claire Brunaud
Jun 24
2 min read

The Context

Still at Marc’s restaurant, after the tuna tartare revelation, another question resurfaces: his menu is long. Too long, according to his sous-chef, the servers, and even some customer feedback (“hard to choose,” “lacks clarity”).

But here’s the thing: every dish has a story, a season of success, a loyal customer who “comes just for that.” And Marc, out of culinary loyalty, has always struggled to remove anything.

The Problem

In the kitchen, stress is building. Prep is scattered, storage is harder to manage, supplier orders are less stable. In the dining room, slow-moving dishes lead to waste. And on the numbers side ? Margins aren’t keeping up.

But Marc doesn’t want to rely on gut feeling. He doesn’t want to “kill a dish” just based on a hunch.

Enter Fyre

After the success with his tartare, Marc digs deeper. He uses Fyre’s built-in BCG Matrix analysis, which automatically categorizes his dishes into four groups :

Stars: High sales + high margin
Cash Cows: Low sales, high margin
Question Marks: High sales, low margin
Dead Weight: Low sales + low margin

And that’s when the revelation hits.

What Fyre Reveals

Three dishes are deep in the red zone :

Long prep time
Low sales (1–2 per week)
Gross margin below €2.50
Food cost above €9

Marc had kept them out of habit. But they had no strategic purpose. They slowed the kitchen, cluttered the menu, and hurt profitability.

The Actions Taken

Marc tests a change: those dishes are removed from the menu for one month, replaced with a simple message to guests (“this dish will be back as a special soon!”).

Client feedback? Non-existent.

In the kitchen, it’s a breath of fresh air. The menu is clearer, service runs faster, stock is easier to manage.