A restaurant’s menu board is a very important tool in the success of the business. A board that is easy to understand and informative will make for happy customers, and happy customers are return customers. Last time we explored the importance of a menu board’s style and good lighting. Here are a few more tips in designing a menu that is customer-friendly.
1. Menu Sections An important part of designing a menu board is to make sure its organized in a way that a customer can come in off the street, have a particular food in mind (such as soup, sandwich, hot items, meats-lovers, salad, vegetarian option, low-calorie, etc), and know instantly whether or not they can find the food they are craving in your restaurant. Once they have found the particular category they are looking for, they can then view the specific options available.
2. Item Descriptions Many restaurants use specialty names to describe their foods which leave the customer with no idea as to what ingredients are in the item they are considering. This is why descriptions of each item listen on the board is so important; if a customer doesn’t understand the item they are ordering, chances are they won’t order it. If that is the case there is no reason to waste the space on the board or to have the ingredients in your cooler to make the food selections. Then there are items like “ham and cheese sandwich” which make it clear what the customer would be receiving in the item’s title. Even then, there needs to be some sort of description: what kind of bread does the sandwich come on? Can the customer choose what kind of cheese they would like? Is the ham honey baked or smoked? Is it made with mayo, mustard, lettuce, onion, or pickle? Does it come with chips? All these things need to be clearly marked on the menu, it not with the particular food item, then with the section and category title. Any options and specialty foods unique to your restaurant need to be clearly marked.
3. Pricing The price for each item, upgrade (such as adding a cookie, an extra topping, etc), or other option should also be clearly marked and easy to understand. An important aspect of menu boards is that their font needs to be clear and legible. The same is true for pricing and numbers. A cookie that is $1 is reasonable, but if a customer reads the “1” as a “7”, there can be problems. Few customers will entertain the idea of what they believe to be a “$7” cookie. The same goes for other common mistakes in confusing 5 and 6.
4. Photographs Food, eating, and a good meal has a lot to do with presentation. A Thanksgiving feast is both deliciously nourishing for the body as well as a visual feast for the eyes. Why should every other day of the year be any different? Pictures are a stunning addition to a menu, particularly for specialty items that customers may have not come across before. Invest in the time and money to take professional photographs to get customer’s mouth’s watering with images of your most delicious foods.
.png){kind=icon}
