The Omnès method: consistent menu prices
The Omnès method does not look at what sells, but at how a family's prices are built. It can be checked as soon as a menu exists, without waiting three months for sales.
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The price range: a ceiling
Within a family — starters, mains, desserts — highest price ÷ lowest price should not exceed 2.5, or 3 when the family has more than nine dishes. Beyond that, customers can no longer place the restaurant's price level: they cannot tell what their meal will cost.
It is a ceiling, not a floor: a short, tight menu — six dishes from €12 to €21 — meets the principle perfectly.
Worked example: a family of eight dishes, before and after
The prices, including VAT, of a family of main courses.
| Before — €10 · 12 · 14 · 16 · 18 · 20 · 24 · 28 | range 2.8 |
|---|---|
| Low / middle / high zones (cut at €16 and €22) | 37.5% / 37.5% / 25.0% |
| After — €12 · 15 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 22 · 24 · 28 | range 2.33 |
| Low / middle / high zones (cut at €17.33 and €22.67) | 25.0% / 50.0% / 25.0% |
Before, the range exceeds the 2.5 ceiling and the middle zone holds only three dishes out of eight. Raising the first price and moving two dishes towards the centre is enough: the range drops back under the ceiling, and half the family sits in the middle — where customers look for their reference.
Three price zones
Cut the gap between the lowest and highest price into three equal bands. The middle zone should hold at least as many dishes as the other two together — the target split is 25 / 50 / 25. Without a central reference, customers fall back on the lowest price, and the average spend follows.
Promote the middle of the range
Dishes of the day and specials are picked from the middle zone of their family. They are there to try new products and prices without distorting the range.
Neither menu engineering nor a law
Menu engineering ranks dishes on margin and popularity; it needs sales history. The Omnès method looks only at prices. These are benchmarks, not an absolute rule: successful menus depart from them — knowingly.