Which dishes should you put on video?
Film the dishes where being seen changes the order: high-margin items that don't sell as well as they should, dishes people hesitate over because the name doesn't explain them, and anything with visible drama — a pour, a pull, a sizzle. Don't waste clips on items that already sell themselves or on low-margin staples. Roughly ten well-chosen videos will do more than fifty indiscriminate ones.
Start with the classic four boxes
Menu engineering sorts every dish by two numbers: how often it sells, and how much you make on it. High-profit and popular are your stars. High-profit and unpopular are puzzles. Low-profit and popular are workhorses. Low-profit and unpopular are dogs. You probably know which is which without running the report — and if you don't, your POS does.
Puzzles are where video pays for itself
A high-margin dish that doesn't sell is a dish people don't understand or don't believe in. That's a presentation problem, and it's exactly what a clip fixes. Filming your puzzles first is the highest-return decision on this whole page: the margin is already there, you just need guests to pick it.
Film your stars too — but for a different reason
Your best-sellers don't need help selling. They need to sell the restaurant. A star dish on video is what a stranger sees first, what your Instagram bio link opens onto, and what convinces someone who's never eaten your food to come in. Put two or three at the top of the menu and treat them as your storefront.
Skip the dogs, and be honest about workhorses
A dish that's unpopular and unprofitable doesn't need a video — it needs to leave the menu. And a low-margin favorite that already sells fine gains almost nothing from a clip; you'd be spending attention to sell more of the thing you make least on. Video is finite attention, so aim it where the money is.
The hesitation test
Here's the shortcut that beats any spreadsheet: which dishes do guests ask servers about? Those questions are the exact moments a clip removes. Unfamiliar names, regional dishes, anything where people ask "how big is it" or "what comes with it" — every one of those is a video that pays for itself in fewer questions and better orders.
Drama sells, so film what moves
Some dishes are simply more watchable: the cheese pull, the tableside pour, the birria dip, the trompo, anything served on fire or still bubbling. These earn their place even outside the margin math, because they're what gets rewatched, shared, and remembered — and they do double duty as social content.
Not sure which of your dishes to film?
Send us your menu. We'll tell you which ten dishes we'd shoot first and why — then film them for you if you want. Flat $100/month per restaurant.
Common questions
How many dishes should have video?
Ten is a strong start and covers most restaurants' signatures and puzzles. Dishes without a clip still show as clean rows with a photo and price, so you're never blocked from launching.
Should every item eventually get a clip?
Not necessarily. Drinks, sides, and simple staples rarely need one. Coverage matters less than filming the right items.
How do I know which dishes are high-margin?
Your POS sales report plus your recipe costs gets you close enough. You don't need precision — you need to know which handful of dishes you'd rather sell.
What if a dish doesn't film well?
Some don't — soups and brown braises are genuinely hard. Shoot the moment around them instead: the pour, the garnish going on, the steam when the lid lifts.