Wingstop. The longer the menu, the closer to the edge.
Britain's biggest restaurant groups saw profit fall 44% in a year. A chicken shop's rose 78%. The difference is the menu.
THE GIST ON WINGSTOP: "The Wing Stop Experts One Thing"
Why is Wingstop growing when restaurants are not?
Britain's 100 biggest restaurant groups saw profit fall 44% in a year. In the same time, a chicken shop reported profit up 78% and opened its 100th British site. That's Wingstop.
The difference is in the menu, because the longer the menu, the more ways there are to lose.
What has happened to restaurant profits?
A year ago, industry-wide profits were up 18%. Now that's been cut in half, even though revenue has risen. The cost of everything has exploded: wages, national insurance, ingredients like beef, olive oil, chocolate and coffee. Hospitality businesses are losing money.
Wingstop is smashing it because they keep it simple.
What does a short menu change?
It's all one ingredient in a different costume. Chicken and sauces. You feel spoilt for choice, and the kitchen has to buy one thing, store one thing, and train a teenager to cook one thing.
A normal restaurant menu has 40 dishes, 40 ingredients and 40 prices, all of which can go up. Wingstop only has one to worry about.
Why can't the big menus just shrink?
Breadth is a one-way door. Widening looks like growth, narrowing looks like retreat, and the regular who came for the dish you've cut doesn't come back. They've been announcing simplified menus for decades and it still doesn't work.
Look at the high street and see what's thriving. Everything that's opening sells one thing done well. The ones you grew up with, the big family menus with a bit of everything, are the ones going under. That phone book of a menu is a multiple choice of volatile costs. You just have to count the dishes. The longer the list, the closer to the edge.
Do you prefer a short menu or a long one?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
How did restaurant profits and Wingstop's compare?
Britain's 100 biggest restaurant groups saw profit fall 44% in a year, while Wingstop reported profit up 78% and opened its 100th British site.
Why does a short menu help?
The kitchen buys one thing, stores one thing and trains someone to cook one thing, so there is far less exposure to rising costs.
Why can't restaurants just simplify their menus?
Narrowing looks like retreat, and the regular who came for a cut dish doesn't come back.
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