This month we look at: chicken thigh and wing prices, how small plates can boost your bottom line, best practices for using ChatGPT, inflation and national restaurant sales trends from April.
I hope this newsletter reaches you feeling rested and refreshed from Mother's Day last weekend. Before the big day, we asked our community to provide some words of encouragement and wow, did you deliver! We compiled a bunch of the responses on our social channels, which you can check out here (warning: it's very mushy-gushy, warm-fuzzy, so get some tissues ready).
This month's edition is all about doing more with less, so naturally, we're covering best practices for using ChatGPT to help your restaurant operations and making the case for adding more small plates to your menus.
Lastly, May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so we've released a Gift Guide highlighting some incredible products brought to us by AAPI-owned and operated restaurant businesses. Head here to check it out and show your support!
We're looking forward to summer starting and bringing with it warmer weather, longer days and some truly incredible produce (I dream about summer heirloom tomatoes all year long). See you in June!
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- Rachel & the MarginEdge team
P.S. If you took our very, very accurate Restaurant Personality Type quiz, your May mantras are here!
The trailing 4-week (28-day) average of year-over-year (YOY) sales for Fast Casual came in at +2.47% and Full Service at -0.78% at the end of April compared to 2024 sales.
Food costs averaged 28% of sales last month, reflecting a 1% increase from March's average.
Feeling some deja vu? You're not alone. Last month, we looked at chicken breast prices, and it turns out our poultry pals aren't off the hook just yet.
Many of you are probably still suffering from the whiplash of chicken wing price increases during the pandemic, so we'll start with the good news first. Chicken wing prices are down 26% from 6 months ago and 36% from a year ago for MarginEdge customers.
The bad news? Boneless chicken thigh prices are heading the opposite way. Long loved as a cheaper (and waaay better) alternative to chicken breasts, it seems thigh popularity is making an impact on the market (and no, we can't blame the Kardashians this time). The median price per pound for MarginEdge customers is up 34% from 6 months ago and 28% a year ago.
The current price increase may just be thanks to consumers figuring out, and demanding, what chefs and culinary connoisseurs have known all along: thighs are just better.
South Block | Multiple Locations
Summarize & analyze your numbers
Just because you have software tools that track sales, order timing, customer satisfaction and more doesn't always mean it's easy to digest those numbers at a glance. Start with downloading reports and numbers from your POS or BOH software, then ask the tool to analyze customer reviews, sales data, or inventory reports to identify trends and actionable insights, like best-selling menu items or common customer feedback themes. AI can also help uncover deeper patterns, like why certain menu items underperform or which time slots need more staffing.
✨ Prompt example: "Analyze the sales data from the past three months and identify the top five best-selling menu items, the least popular items, and any noticeable trends in customer preferences (e.g., time of day, day of the week, or seasonal patterns). Provide actionable insights on how to optimize the menu and improve sales."
Generate ideas
Brainstorming and idea generation are one of the strongest benefits of using generative AI. You can use it to brainstorm creative menu concepts (be warned: some suggestions will be real creative 👀), marketing campaigns, or seasonal promotions. AI can help spark an idea or a new way to approach your challenge.
Blindly trust the data
AI provides useful insights, but asking it for benchmarks or statistics will always mean verifying the information with actual, reputable sources. You should also tailor your asks to your specific market, but understand: the more niche the request, the less accurate it's likely to be.
Copy-paste marketing copy
AI-generated drafts are helpful, but you should always personalize them to fit your restaurant’s voice. How many times have you seen a social post, read the caption, and thought, "Wow, that is cheesy as hell. Who wrote that?" ChatGPT. ChatGPT wrote that. Don't let that be you. Authenticity will always perform better, but when resources are tight, generative AI is a great jumping off point. Just don't let it lead you off a cliff.
AI enhances efficiency, improves decision-making, and fuels creativity without replacing the human touch. Use it smartly by focusing on what it does best while tailoring its output to your restaurant’s needs. With the right approach, AI can give your operations a competitive edge.
💬 Ask [me] anything!
Really. Each month we’ll take a look at the questions we get and answer one here. Have a question about our product, accounting, or restaurant operations in general? 💌 Email me or message us on our social media channels.
Oak Steakhouse | Alexandria, VA
The April 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report is in, and indicates the following month-over-month changes in food inflation:
Full Service Meals: Up 0.6% from March, and by 4.3% YOY.
Overall, inflation came in at 0.2% up from March, putting year-over-year inflation at 2.3%, a 0.1% decrease from last month's YOY. While still up, these numbers were below economists' expectations, but not low enough to change the Fed's plans to pause any rate cuts until the summer.
Tl;dr - Grocery inflation went down last month, restaurants went up, more for Full Service compared to Limited Service.
Fountainhead Pub | Vancouver, BC
Move over, appetizers, the era of small plates is upon us. Whether we blame foodie culture, Ozempic or a slowdown in consumer spending, small plates are having a bit of a moment as guests search more and more for lighter menu fare.
And while diving into a 6-inch square-sided blate (that's a bowl-plate for those in the know) full of patatas bravas or three flame-grilled lamb chops is appetizing enough on its own, the even better news is that small plates are great for your bottom line too. Here are four arguments for featuring more small plates on your menu:
Picky eaters and adventurous foodies alike appreciate the mix-and-match vibe of a small plate menu. Small plates give diners the freedom to order more items without feeling like the food will go to waste (since not everyone eats their leftovers) or that they're paying for more food than they're hungry for.
Smaller portions also mean guests may end up ordering more plates during their meal if the first round doesn't fill them up.
Small plates use less food per dish but still benefit from higher perceived values for the cost of those plates. So let's say you're a burger joint that sells tater tots as a side with every burger. You might charge $3 for those tots as a side, but as a loaded tater tot small plate, you can easily get away with charging three times that amount because of the perceived value. Adding toppings like bacon bits, shredded cheese, sour cream and green onions adds flavor, and value (hello, bacon!), without drastically increasing food costs. And if you've got a product that's only used in a small number of dishes, this is a great way to get more out of it.
You may also be able to save on ordering less to-go packaging with smaller portions, as guests won't have food leftover. Realistically, it's probably not a ton of savings, but every percent counts!
As guests are increasingly becoming more cost-conscious, lower-priced menu items are going to hold a lot more power on your menu, and create the perception of greater freedom when it comes to adding more to their ticket. If your entrees are all priced in the $25-$35 range, adding on appetizers or a dessert might feel like it's breaking the bank for some guests. With lower-cost small plates, guests may feel like they can add that tiramisu, oh, and let's get another round of cocktails while we're at it, too.
You can also pair small plates together, kind of like a soup/salad/sandwich combo. Say, for example, a small Caesar salad, truffle fries and Diet Coke combo (iykyk).
Using less product while still maintaining higher margins means small plates are the perfect vehicle for trying out new menu items with your guests. Research and development can be pretty costly, and many operators don't have the downtime to dedicate to building and revamping their menu every quarter. This is by no means a new technique, but it lowers the stakes a little bit compared to trying out new menu items as an entree-sized special, thanks to higher margins and less product usage.
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