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Been wrestling with pricing on my more innovative menu items lately. It's easy to cost out a burger or basic salad, but when you're using foraged ingredients or incorporating techniques outside the norm, things get tricky. I’m trying to avoid the trap of either vastly undercharging (and losing money) or overcharging to the point where nobody tries anything new.
anyone have experience with this? Beyond the standard food cost percentage calculation, what factors do you consider when pricing dishes where the ingredient sourcing or labor is considerably different from your usual fare? Do you factor in the story behind the dish and if so, how do you quantify that? Such as, if I spend extra time sourcing a particular cheese from a small, local farm, is that a justifiable reason to bump the price beyond a simple ingredient cost markup? Or am I just overthinking this and should stick to a rigid formula? Maybe tiered pricing based on perceived customer value? Looking for some practical advice or different perspectives on this.