I thought you might be amused by this article in the Wall Street Journal. It discusses the “art” of menu engineering and how casual restaurants struggle to find a balance that will attract the unadventurous diner without offending the more knowledgable foodies, the latter a growing category due to the popularity of food shows. For example, Olive Garden had trouble selling gnocchi, so they renamed it traditional Italian dumplings. Dumpling is a less threatening word. But today,more people know what gnocchi are and feel insulted if a restaurant “dumbs down” the menu.

A favorite part of the article explains how Olive Garden chefs “reverse engineer” dishes. What do you think?

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