1. Price: Setting prices involves considering many factors, including the cost of food, cost of labor, what the competition is doing and what your target customers are willing to pay.

Pricing is the only part of the marketing mix which brings in revenue. -Once a price has been set, consumers will often show a great deal of resistance to any attempts to change it.
- Pricing frequently has important implications for the positioning of a product.
- Price is the marketing mix variable for which a competitive response can be most quickly implemented.

Comparing your menu with that of your competitors also helps. It not only opens more doors towards pricing your menu, it offers you a solid foundation on how to measure your profits. Performing a cross analysis helps uncover strengths and weaknesses in your pricing plan, specifically in terms of the way your items are priced and presented. By doing this, you determine which items are most popular, which are most profitable, which need extra publicity, and which need to removed or replaced.

2. Personal Health :The restaurant must have substitutes to replace those ingredients that might cause allergies or customer requests that chefs exclude them in food preparation. Religious restrictions, dietary demands, personal choices, special diets, and allergies cause people to ask for special cooking measures. Chefs learn to offer some regular meals that meet many restrictive needs or to change traditional preparations with substitute ingredients that keep the flavor.

* Religious restrictions: Mormons have certain eating restrictions, and some Christians abstain from meat on Fridays. Jews accept some or all of the kosher guidelines that allow no pork or shellfish, and they cannot eat meat and dairy products at the same meal. Muslims follow halal, which prohibits alcohol, pork, carnivorous animals, and sea creatures without fins or scales.

* Vegetarians: Vegetarians fall into four major categories, and vast segments of the population have embraced one of the four types.

* Lactose intolerant. People who have allergies to milk cannot digest milk sugar and suffer bloating and intestinal distress from eating dairy products.

* Food allergies. Common allergies include tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, corn, wheat, soy and eggs.

* Diabetics. Diabetics not only have sugar restrictions but also must limit carbohydrate intake because carbs turn to glucose in the blood, which stimulates production of insulin.

* Gluten free. Some people have severe gluten allergies. Gluten comes from wheat, rye, barley and oats. Gluten allergies cause celiac disease that could threaten the life of people who have it.

3. Competition: Restaurants are often up against stiff competition to attract the same customers. Restaurants do some reconnaissance work to see what are their competition is charging for similar menu items. You may not always have to beat their prices. You may make up for pricing differences by offering better customer service, higher quality ingredients or a more engaging dining atmosphere. Look for ways to set yourself apart from the competition. Pricing can be a big part of that strategy.