Ask George: Is there an optimum number of items for a restaurant menu?

Is there an optimum number of items for a restaurant menu? —Donna L., St. Louis

I read you loud and clear: Too few menu items, and you can’t find anything that looks appealing; too many, and your eyes glaze over on the third page.

There is no optimally sized restaurant menu (especially today) because of the myriad factors involved: the concept, how the owner interprets the concept, the size of the kitchen, the total number of seats/patrons being serviced, the size and capabilities of the staff, and the availability of raw materials. (The latter two points are especially relevant, given recent supply shortages.)

Some restaurateurs feel they need to be all things to all people, to cast the widest possible net (especially in tough economic times when the dine-out crowd tends to dwindle). On many occasions, I’ve voiced my displeasure against quadruple-fold-out-type menus: If food quality and consistency is an issue (and isn’t it always?), then less is more with restaurant menus. (Mexican and some Asian menus are two exceptions to this rule, due to cross-utilization of ingredients.)

Some restaurant chains will argue that quality and consistency can be maintained even with massive menus, but personal experience has proven otherwise. I’ve been served too many pieces of old fish (from a restaurant with a dozen on the menu), too many off-tasting sauces, and too many steam-table-weary side dishes. In my opinion, a restaurant’s batting average goes down as its number of food offerings goes up.  

I’ve long been a proponent of what I used to call “The Culpeppers Theory.” Back when Culpeppers was a thriving, always jam-packed single entity in the Central West End, there were 10–12 items on the menu, and every one came out perfectly every time they were served—an exaggeration perhaps, but it proved that broad, sweeping menus were unnecessary and counterproductive. Matt McGuire’s restaurants—Louie and Wright’s Tavern—follow the same basic premise: a single page menu broken into several categories (less than two dozen options in all), each one expertly presented and served.  

A restaurant’s menu should contain only as many items (and in the proper mix) as its kitchen can efficiently crank out when fully taxed. For a menu to be ultimately successful, it must also contain just enough items to appeal to everyone who reads it, which means a mix of meat and seafood proteins, plus vegetarian/vegan offerings. Another example is the menu at Olive + Oak, where you’ll find duck breast, rack of lamb, baked Hama Hama clams, Dover sole, and vegetable curry, as well as staples such as oysters (three ways), chicken wings, halibut, beef tenderloin, and several sandwiches, including one of the best cheeseburgers in town. It’s a generalization to say that the most successful restaurants in town have smaller menus, but in most cases it’s true.  

The odds of getting a decent meal are also better when ordering from a smaller menu supplemented with appealing nightly specials than an overwhelming tome, but a menu can be too limited as well. When the erstwhile Fort Taco opened in 2014, for instance, there were initially just two items on the menu: a puffy taco and an enchilada. Not long after, however, the menu was expanded to include an enchilada, more taco options (including an ice cream taco), combo meals, and deals on a baker’s dozen. Simplicity can only be taken so far.

This article has been updated from an earlier version. 

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