What is Menu Planning?
Menu planning is the process of making a list of the food items you are going to prepare and serve in any type of meal e.g. for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Menu planning helps you to decide what you will eat for each meal, to know how many meals to plan for, and the right time to serve them.
How is Menu Planning used?
Zippia reviewed thousands of resumes to understand how menu planning is used in different jobs. Explore the list of common job responsibilities related to menu planning below:
- Managed all back-of-house operations including menu planning, ordering, receiving and storing, food preparation and supervised 1-2 employees.
- Manage the operation of the restaurant including actively preparing meals, food ordering, menu planning, and food delivery.
- Plan and execute all levels of operation from menu planning/costing, order-taking, shopping, preparing and portioning foods and delivering
- Provided hands-on expertise in areas that included menu planning, cost control/analysis, staffing, budgeting, and marketing.
- Coordinated invitations, d cor, entertainment, marketing, menu planning, inventory and management of staff.
- Job duties entailed menu planning, food cost analysis, inventory control, and overall management of operations.
Are Menu Planning skills in demand?
Yes, menu planning skills are in demand today. Currently, 1,583 job openings list menu planning skills as a requirement. The job descriptions that most frequently include menu planning skills are chef/owner, restaurant owner, and chef/catering.
How hard is it to learn Menu Planning?
Based on the average complexity level of the jobs that use menu planning the most: chef/owner, restaurant owner, and chef/catering. The complexity level of these jobs is intermediate.
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What jobs can you get with Menu Planning skills?
You can get a job as a chef/owner, restaurant owner, and chef/catering with menu planning skills. After analyzing resumes and job postings, we identified these as the most common job titles for candidates with menu planning skills.
Chef/Owner
Job description:
A Chef/Owner is the owner of a restaurant who also manages the restaurant's kitchen through coordinating the food preparation team, deciding what dishes to serve, and adjusting orders to meet guests' requests. They also prepare budgets, manage and implement new menus and operational ideas.
- Menu Planning
- Kitchen Equipment
- Cuisine
- Payroll
- Food Preparation
- Fine Dining
Restaurant Owner
- Customer Service
- Menu Planning
- Food Safety
- Inventory Control
- Restaurant Operations
- POS
Chef/Catering
Job description:
A Chef/Caterer is responsible for cooking dishes at events. They direct the kitchen staff and wait personnel in serving the food, attending to food stations, and setting up buffet tables.
- Culinary
- Kitchen Equipment
- Menu Planning
- Food Safety
- Food Handling
- Chefs
Nutritional Yeast Supervisor
- Food Handling
- Patients
- Culinary
- Menu Planning
- Tray Line
- Food Safety
Nutrition Director
Job description:
A Nutrition Director directs and supervises all aspects of an organization's nutrition guidelines and initiatives. They also ensure the provision of safe, nutritious food services to members of organizations.
- Patients
- Nutrition Services
- Menu Planning
- Food Safety
- Nutrition Education
- Patient Satisfaction
How much can you earn with Menu Planning skills?
You can earn up to $45,199 a year with menu planning skills if you become a chef/owner, the highest-paying job that requires menu planning skills. Restaurant owners can earn the second-highest salary among jobs that use Python, $48,167 a year.
| Job title | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Chef/Owner | $45,199 | $22 |
| Restaurant Owner | $48,167 | $23 |
| Chef/Catering | $47,693 | $23 |
| Nutritional Yeast Supervisor | $54,781 | $26 |
| Nutrition Director | $80,617 | $39 |
Companies using Menu Planning in 2025
The top companies that look for employees with menu planning skills are Aramark, Sodexo Management, Inc., and Compass Group USA. In the millions of job postings we reviewed, these companies mention menu planning skills most frequently.
| Rank | Company | % of all skills | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aramark | 26% | 7,066 |
| 2 | Sodexo Management, Inc. | 18% | 4,717 |
| 3 | Compass Group USA | 10% | 23,006 |
| 4 | Atria Senior Living | 6% | 1,009 |
| 5 | Highgate Hotels | 5% | 1,199 |
Departments using Menu Planning
| Department | Average salary |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | $41,586 |