By Kerry Tyack

(Industry commentator and New Zealand Supreme Sausage Awards judge)

For some reason we seem to have developed a mindset that change is always and invariably good.

This concept of constant conversion pervades everything from school examination systems, to fashion, to telecommunications and light fittings.

But sometimes the most sensible decision is to leave things as they are.

There is a story about Johnnie Walker, the ubiquitous whisky brand, and a marketing company that suggested changing the famously oblong bottle shape. A wise head in the JW camp quickly squashed the idea insisting that the bottle shape was as much a part of the brand as the Scotch inside.

Modernise the label by all means he said but leave the bottle alone. His mantra – if it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixing!

I believe restaurateurs and chefs could take a lesson from this approach. I have no issue with making adjustments to menus to take account of product availability, seasonality, new ideas and concepts and non-performers. But in this era of tough competition, if there are dishes on the menu that remain popular and making money, then I see no reason to feel compelled to take them off.

Wholesale menu changes are not always a good idea and it make more sense to indulge in some gentle tweaking, removing non-starters and non-seasonal options but leaving the leaders alone.

This is particularly true where a restaurant has a reputation built around a signature dish (es). It makes no sense to compromise your reputation by eschewing those very dishes that have formed your fame.

Menu compilation is perhaps the most under considered aspect of restaurant management currently occurring in New Zealand. It is so pivotal in creating identity, positioning your brand and containing kitchen costs that it deserves a great deal of careful contemplation.

The simplest way to start is to identify the winners and preserve them. The next step is to make these stand out by surrounding them with complimentary dishes that enhance while providing the variety and seasonality that feed your creative urges.

Of course the opportunity always remains for a complete and through cleansing; a rethink, a new start, a total overhaul. But if such radical revolution is required then I suggest there is probably more wrong than simply a poorly constructed menu. At times like these it seems that keeping one or two favourites to work with is like trying to pick the dry bits out of a pile of wet wood.

As for the light fittings: beware the renovation requiring the replacement of the small glass in a few lamps. Recently I tried to do this and found that every single model of my current and perfectly fine fittings has been deleted. The only option is complete replacement with entirely new fittings at four times the cost of the four year-old originals. What happened to the “if it ain’t broke…” concept? Go figure!