A menu is a powerful tool.  It is a marketing and merchandising vehicle.  It establishes and reinforces the total restaurant concept, from the style of china and flatware to staff training needs.  It can assist the chef in organizing the day’s work, ordering food, reducing waste and increase profits.  The way a menu is developed or adapted, as well as the way menu prices are established is a reflection of how well the operation’s concept or business plan has been defined.   Sometimes, the menu evolves as the business plan is refined.  In other scenarios, the concept comes first and the menu comes later.  In short, the menu may be the guiding principle that gives the particular stamp to the way the restaurant concept evolves.