Simpler Menu Make Faster Money 🍝

Hey there,

Papa Johns just said the quiet part out loud: some items sell, but still make the whole operation worse. They’re cutting menu clutter because complexity is slowing the line and messing with execution. So this week, you’ll run an 86 lockout drill, clean up your ordering channels, and stop letting low-value complexity eat labor and guest trust.

1️⃣ The Signal

Chains are cutting menu clutter.

Here’s what’s really happening: Papa Johns said this week it’s dropping Papadias and Papa Bites even though those items helped drive incremental sales before. Why? Because they were breaking the rhythm of operations and adding complexity the line had to absorb.

That matters more than the headline. Big chains don’t cut items for fun. They do it when an item looks good on paper but creates drag everywhere else — prep, training, ticket times, packaging, and consistency.

Here’s why you should care: not every sale is a good sale. If one item slows down five others, it’s not helping you. It’s taxing your busiest hours. That tax usually shows up as labor creep, remakes, longer waits, and managers putting out fires instead of running the shift.

This isn’t random. Operators are getting more serious about protecting the core. Cleaner menus are easier to sell, easier to execute, and easier to make money on.

What this tells us:

Papa Johns will drop Papadias, Papa Bites from menu

2️⃣ 💰 The Margin Move

💰 This Week’s Margin Move: Run an 86 lockout drill

If you’re out of an item and it’s still live online, you’re selling a problem. This week, fix that. One clean 86 system will save more money than another discount ever will.

Do this:

Step one: Pull a list of every item you ran out of, substituted, or almost ran out of in the last 7 days. Don’t guess. Use actual shift notes, POS voids, and manager texts.

Step two: Write down who removes those items from every selling channel the second stock gets tight: POS, online ordering, third-party apps, server script, counter menu, whatever you use. One person owns it per shift.

Step three: For the next 7 days, make your manager do a live 86 check before each rush and once during it. If an item is running thin, shut it off early. Don’t wait until guests order it.

Quick rule: if the kitchen knows you’re out but the guest doesn’t, your system is late.

Why it works:

This protects cash flow and labor fast. You cut refunds, comps, remake risk, and the time your team wastes explaining around dead inventory. It also keeps average check cleaner because guests get steered into what you can actually execute.

Source: Burger King talks strategy at RBI investor day

3️⃣ 🧠 Operator Edge

Busy doesn’t mean healthy.

Outback just posted its first positive traffic quarter in years. Good news. But average check still slipped because guests traded into more value. That’s the lesson: traffic and margin are not the same win.

The sharper move in that story wasn’t the headline. It was the operating response. Outback said it’s putting more servers on the floor during peak times and tightening table coverage. That’s operator thinking. Don’t spread labor evenly across the whole day. Buy speed where the guest actually feels it.

If your busiest 90 minutes are sloppy, the whole day lies to you. Sales look fine. The shift still feels awful. Guests wait longer. Team stress goes up. Check average gets softer. The floor tells the truth faster than the P&L does.

Busy is not the same as healthy.

Source: Outback posts first traffic growth in 5 years

Why It Matters

Complexity is expensive.

Restaurants usually don’t lose margin in one dramatic move. They lose it in little leaks: an item that slows the line, an out-of-stock item still live online, a rush that runs loose because nobody owned it early enough.

Your move: run the 86 lockout drill, tighten who owns inventory changes by shift, and look hard at one item that creates more drag than profit. Cleaner menu. Cleaner floor. Better math.