Decisions to introduce a new menu or even just a new dish require a careful balancing of both culinary and business considerations. On the one hand, consumer taste preferences, flavor trends and gaps in current menus must be evaluated; on the other hand, raw-food costs and availability, equipment needs, ease of preparation by kitchen staff across multiple units and menu-price factors hold significant influence.

Ultimately, the questions to be answered are whether consumers will find the menu both enticing and a good value, and whether items can be menued and served with good margins.

Changes in consumers’ tastes and dining-out budgets as well as in operators’ food and labor costs have made creation and rollout of new menus a riskier proposition. But the questions that need to be asked and answered remain the same.

Guests usually don’t read menus aloud, but Matthew Dunn, executive chef and director of culinary for 117-unit, Houston-based Joe’s Crab Shack, says he tries to be cognizant of how the menu speaks to diners.

“We’re always thinking about what we call 'Joe’s voice’ and what a menu says when people are ordering or what a plate says when it’s placed in front of a customer,” says Dunn. In developing the new food and beverage choices introduced at Joe’s Crab Shack in May, Dunn says that he wanted the menu to say “quality, value and fun.”

“As a casual-dining spot, we’re looking for the most craveable item you can put on a plate,” Dunn says. “We want something that people can snack on while talking or having a beer. That’s the environment we want to foster: laid-back, family friendly, a place people can come and not be dressed up. The food and drinks have to say that.”

He adds: “There’s a little irreverence to what Joe’s always has been about. We try not to take ourselves too seriously; we’re not out to be on the cover of a culinary magazine. But we make sure the food is prepared with quality and care and integrity.”

The new menu’s Crab Nachos (tortilla chips topped with crabmeat, pico de gallo, cheese and black-bean-and-corn relish) spoke just the right message when the item was tested in selected markets as a limited-time offer, Dunn says.

Mussels Marinara (steamed mussels in marinara sauce, topped with cheese and served with garlic bread) also tested well, despite some internal doubts that mussels would be a hit with Joe’s customers. Unit kitchen staffs’ ability to properly prepare any item always has to be factored into menu rollouts. “Because the mussels are steamed, they’re not foolproof, but they’re easy for the cooks to work with,” Dunn says.

In the customer-segmentation study Mimi’s Cafe’s marketing department prepared two years ago, 11% of its target market was categorized as “value seekers.” This year, the label doesn’t exist. “Everyone’s a value seeker today,” says Adam Baird (r.), executive chef for the Tustin, Calif.-based casual-dining concept.

The need for greater sensitivity to menu pricing—especially for a chain heavily represented in states such as California, Arizona and Florida, where the subprime-mortgage crisis has hit hard—was only one of several challenges Baird and the culinary-development team faced in creating new menus, which launched in May. The chain also wanted to position itself more overtly as a three-daypart concept through the introduction of distinct lunch and dinner menus. It wanted many of its new dishes to be fresh, seasonal choices. And, finally, it wanted to keep true to its 28% food-cost target.

Those are diverse variables for menu planning, but Mimi’s Cafe succeeded, Baird says, because it knows its brand, its customers and its suppliers. “We’re not asking [vendors] for menu-innovation ideas—we’re good at that,” he says. “But we do ask and listen. What’s fresh? What will be available? What choice-quality meats are in our $5- to $6-a-pound range? They know us, so they can help us.”

To appeal to value seekers and to women—the latter of whom represent 65% of the chain’s clientele—Mimi’s Cafe introduced smaller-portion/smaller-price Just Enough lunch and dinner menus. Lunch choices range from $7.99 to $8.99; dinner options range from $8.29 to $11.49. “We’re reacting [to the economy] like everyone else, but we’re not cheapening our product, we’re just offering better value at various price points,” says Baird.

“You just have to keep on top of everything; there’s no secret to it,” says Tony Tammero, corporate executive chef for Washington, D.C.-based Palm Restaurant Group.

For Tammero and the high-end Palm restaurants, staying on top of things means maintaining quality while constantly monitoring food prices and making fast, smart purchases. “This market doesn’t wait for you to decide. We negotiated lobster prices in January for June, so we’re paying $7.75 a pound. Now it would be $9 to $11 a pound.”

Palm’s Summer Lobster Dinner for Two menu, available from June 1 through Aug. 31, offers guests a choice of a 4-pound ($95), 5-pound ($110) or 6-pound ($130) Nova Scotia lobster split for two.

“You have to give quality,” says Tammero. “If you worry too much about food costs, your days are numbered.” Still, he acknowledges that his directive is to keep to an overall 38% food cost. “You do that by making smart deals, not by cutting back. People want the Palm experience, and they’re willing to pay for it. Customers know more than we do, and they know value. We could do a 34% food cost if we wanted, but we don’t because our customers would know the difference.”

Jack in the Box takes the word “new” seriously when it considers menu additions. “We’ve always led the charge in menu innovation, but many of our competitors have looked at our success and stepped up their efforts, too,” says Tammy Bailey, the San Diego chain’s division vice president for menu marketing and promotion.

“We try to get in front of the trends. We had chipotle chicken before you saw it in other quick-service restaurants,” she says. The chain isn’t interested in me-too items, but Jack in the Box also doesn’t want to get too far in front of taste trends. “For us, it’s about leading the industry but not necessarily about getting something out there that’s totally unknown or unfamiliar.

“I think we want to push the envelope even more than we did before because the QSR industry is so tough these days. You really need to stand out.” Still, she adds, a flavor or ingredient “has to get to the point where it is mainstream enough for people to be familiar with it and be interested in trying [it]—so there’s balance we need to strike in pushing the envelope.”

Jack’s recent addition of a Kona Coffee Shake was a nod to the popularity of coffee drinks, but with a twist. “We felt we had a competitive advantage with our real ice-cream shakes. We recognized that we could put coffee into a shake and have a pairing that would be better than just a coffee.”

Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar’s Night Hunger menu for late-night noshers needed to be distinct while reinforcing the brand’s image and core products.

“We saw late-night as another eating opportunity,” says Kathy Benning, the Minneapolis-based chain’s senior vice president of marketing and brand development. “We focused on creating shareable foods with bold and unique flavors that keep that Buffalo Wild Wings edge.”

Foods that utilized existing ingredients in new ways, that met profit parameters and “that crew members would be proud to serve” were evaluated. New selections include a Ballpark Sampler of mini corn dogs, Cheeseburger Dippers and onion rings, and Pulled Pork Slammer mini sandwiches with shredded pork tossed with any of the chain’s wing sauces. These items help the chain “brand the daypart,” says Benning.