The lunch set menu: build it to fill tables and pay

How do you make a profitable lunch set menu?

The set lunch has two roles. For customers, it is a promise: a homemade meal, quick, at a clear price. For you, it is a management tool: it fills lunch service, keeps fresh produce moving and limits waste. The two work well together as long as you do not slash prices: a set menu that fills the room but earns nothing wears the team out for nothing.

This guide is part of our Growing a restaurant guide. For the detailed cost of a plate, see food cost and menu pricing.

Which set menu should you offer at lunch?

The right format depends on your lunch customers: office workers in a hurry, tradespeople, residents, tourists. Look at how long they stay and how much they spend today.

Many restaurants offer two levels, for example starter + main or main + dessert at one price, and the full menu a little higher. The customer chooses, and the step up to the full menu raises your average spend without any selling effort. More ideas to lift the bill without pushing are in increasing restaurant average spend.

How many choices?

Few. Two starters, two mains (one vegetarian) and two desserts are often enough. More choice means more preparation, more waste and slower service, while the lunch customer wants to be served quickly.

How do you price a lunch set menu?

A set lunch is costed like a dish on the menu. Add up the food cost of each plate, convert the price including VAT to the price before VAT, and see what is left.

An example

A fictional example: a starter + main menu sold at €16 including VAT. With 10% VAT on a meal served on the premises in France, the price before VAT is 16 ÷ 1.10 = €14.55. The starter costs €1.20 in ingredients and the main €3.10: €4.30 in total. Food cost is 4.30 ÷ 14.55 = 29.6%, leaving €10.25 of gross margin per menu to pay staff, rent and everything else.

If the full menu (with a dessert costing €0.90) sells at €19.50 including VAT, or €17.73 before VAT, the cost rises to €5.20 (29.3%) and the gross margin to €12.53. The dessert therefore brings €2.28 of extra margin for a little preparation.

These figures are examples: your target percentage depends on your other costs. If the menu includes a glass of wine, the share of the price for the alcohol is subject to 20% VAT in France: details in restaurant VAT in France.

How do you put the set menu together without losing time?

The set lunch must be easy to produce in batches and build on what you already have.

• Start from deliveries and seasonal produce: often better and more affordable.
• Use products that need using up in a controlled way (market vegetables, cuts for slow cooking), never past a use-by date.
• Share bases with the main menu: the same stock, side dish or pastry.
• Choose dishes that can be prepared ahead and plated fast: stews, oven dishes, composed salads.
• Keep a vegetarian main: many tables ask for one.
• Write a simple recipe card for each dish of the day, even if it rarely comes back.

Rotation

A menu that changes every day makes people want to come back, but it takes work. A weekly rhythm (one dish per weekday, reviewed every month) is easier for a small team. Plan the week on the previous Friday, alongside your orders: you buy just what you need, which also helps against the waste covered in reducing restaurant food waste.

What must you display for a set menu in France?

The set menu follows the display rules for restaurants. According to Service Public Entreprendre:

• the set menu and the menu of the day must be displayed outside during service, at least from 11.30am for lunch and from 6pm for dinner;
• the menu must state “drink included” or “drink not included”;
• if a menu is only served at certain times (for example weekday lunch only), those times must be stated;
• if the price includes service, this must be stated;
• dish names must be accurate and not misleading;
• the origin of meat must be stated, on the menu or on a notice;
• prices on the bill must match the prices displayed.

The “fait maison” (homemade) label is reserved for dishes prepared on site from raw ingredients: only use it if it is true. The full list of displays, inside and outside, is in mandatory restaurant signs in France.

Chalkboard template

SET LUNCH, served Monday to Friday, lunchtime

Starter + main or main + dessert: €[price]
Starter + main + dessert: €[price]
Drink not included. Service included.

Starters: [starter 1] / [starter 2]
Mains: [main 1, origin of the meat] / [vegetarian main]
Desserts: [dessert 1] / [dessert 2]

How do you get people to know your set menu?

Lunch customers often decide the same morning, or even at 11.45am. Your menu must be visible where they look at that moment.

• The chalkboard by the door: readable from a distance, with the price in large letters.
• Your Google listing: a post with a photo of the dish of the day, and an up-to-date menu on the listing. Our guide adding your menu to your Google listing explains how.
• Instagram and Facebook: a simple photo every morning, at the same time, with the dishes and price.
• Nearby companies: a message to their teams or a poster in their break room, with their agreement.
• Your regulars: with their consent, a message on Monday with the week’s dishes.

Regularity matters more than photo quality: a customer who knows they will find your menu every morning at 10am gets into the habit of checking it. To organise posts over the year, see the restaurant marketing plan.

How do you serve fast without lowering quality?

Lunch customers often have less than an hour. If service is slow, they will not come back, even if it was good.

• Full prep before noon: starters partly plated, mains ready to send.
• Quick order taking: the server announces the set menu on arriving at the table.
• Orders sent to the kitchen by table, so everyone is served at the same time.
• Bill brought with the coffee, or payment at the table.
• A floor plan designed for groups of colleagues at lunch.

If your dining room is full and customers leave, lunch bookings and takeaway are two ways to serve more people: the second is covered in restaurant takeaway and click and collect.

How do you know whether your set menu works?

Track a few figures every week, from the till:

A fictional example: 60 starter + main menus a day at €14.55 before VAT bring €873 of turnover and €615 of gross margin. If product prices rise, adjust the dishes before touching the price. If the room stays half empty, the problem is often visibility or the offer: our guide getting more restaurant customers helps find the cause.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bars and cafés
• Restaurant social media

Go further

• How to grow a restaurant
• Food cost and menu pricing
• Restaurant menu design
• Increase restaurant average spend
• Mandatory restaurant signs in France