Program Launcher settings

I would like to be able to set the width and height of the application launcher (menu) pop up box. I recently added a side panel to contain the pager and moved the menu to that panel. Now when the menu pops up it is orientated so that the tabs are arranged vertically on the left side. I like that layout, however the box is now too narrow to display the menu items. That is, for most items, only the first word is completely visible. Does anyone know how to set these values? One thing I notice is that the very first time I use the menu after a reboot the box is wide enough for all of the text of all items are visible. But the next time I use the menu, and for the rest of the session, it is back to "too narrow". Emmett