Menu market magic.

• Author: CAULK, STEVE
• Position: Data-Host Direct Inc.

A Denver consulting firm offers restaurateurs an appetizing array of marketing tools

On the way to a favorite restaurant recently, you probably began to consider your dinner choices well ahead of time. Tonight maybe you were in the mood for grilled halibut on rice pilaf, with a light Chardonnay.

Somehow instead you ended up with steak Diane and some kind of steamed-but-crispy potato slices. With a local microbrew.

Accident? Split personality?

No. More likely you encountered a menu engineered by the Greenwood Village-based restaurant consulting firm DataHost Direct Inc., which specializes in guiding diners to the meals they never even knew they wanted. DataHost's marketing technique transforms a menu from a simple list of available food items, creating instead a map through the meals that a restaurant's management encourages. Those meals are most compatible with the food the restaurant wants to buy and sell, with the dining experience that a customer anticipates, and with the profit levels the restaurant needs to succeed.

In 20 years the company has guided more than 5,000 menu projects, CEO Al Seidenfeld said. Some consulting firms design graphically appealing menus for their clients. But Seidenfeld likes to think his services go beyond design.

"We produce attractive menus, but that's not our main goal," he said. "Our goal is to sell food. We look carefully at the market, the kinds of items the client wants to sell, the client's marketing goals, the kitchen, restaurant decor. Then we begin to graphically design the menu."

For instance, a restaurant manager who caters to the lunchtime crowd will end up with egg on his face if he puts a meal on the menu requiring a half-hour of preparation. A fine dining experience is finest when customers get back to work on time. Customers won't be spending much money on those braised lamb shanks if they lose their jobs.

At the same time, some diners expect a leisurely dinner, and if the main course arfives before the customer has a chance to unroll the silverware from the napkin, the restaurant has a problem. That's where DataHost comes in.

"A lot of restaurants put together a menu and can't deliver," said Seidenfeld. "If you're serving lunch, you must be able to take the order, prepare the meal and have the customer out within an hour. Maybe (the restaurateur) wanted to create a dining experience. But the market doesn't want a 'dining experience.' For them 'leisurely' becomes 'slow.' What a restaurant...