Most menu changes are expensive bets. You develop the dish, train the team, shoot it, print it, and hope it sells. If it doesn't, you're stuck with it for the print cycle or you eat the sunk cost.
The low-cost test
Run the dish as a verbal-only special for two weeks. No menu board, no print, no photo. Section staff describe it at the table. Track:
- Attachment rate (how many tables ordered it as a percentage of covers)
- Repeat rate (did anyone order a second, or come back and ask for it?)
- Kitchen feedback (did it slow the pass, was prep annoying, any waste?)
The decision point
If the dish does better than 12% attachment and kitchen says it's clean, add it to the next print run. If it underperforms, you've spent one prep batch and two weeks. That's cheaper than six months of a menu anchor nobody orders.