Don’t you feel the importance of a first-sight impression? Most probably. Then it would be reasonable to you to make the best use of the menu. This guide will give you an all-encompassing concept of how to make a menu.
A menu is not only a list of food and beverages you offer to your customers but also a valuable marketing tool. It provides your customers with necessary business information like pick-up and delivery service, business location, phone number, email, etc. Your brand logo and theme secures a place in their memories through this.
But when you become able to do so? Well, when your menu covers what the clients expect from you. The experts regard the menu as the ‘heart of every food operation’. In fact, mastering the art of making a restaurant menu is highly significant, and that’s the reason you are here.
Let’s get into the details now.
How To Make a Menu
You will come up with some workable menu design ideas and finally be able to create a robust menu to boost your restaurant business through this single post!
Determine Cuisine and Menu Items
At the outset, determining the cuisine and knowing how to make food menu items is important. And it should be according to your target customers. Think where they live, what they like most. When you are in London, you should not think Dublin.
Draft around 10-15 items that are favourable to your prospects. Then choose the most potential ones. Be selective. Experts generally suggest not more than 10 if you are a start-up. Try to select durable and easy-to-clean items. The categorisation can be like- appetiser, entree, dessert, etc. Make them reader-friendly and put them in relevant sections.
Also, the number of menu items should align with your restaurant’s seat capacity. The thriving restaurant businesses are also there for your inspiration.
Shape the Menu and Align with Brand Identity
If you know how to make a restaurant menu, you will prefer boxes. These are more attention-grabbing than anything else. This type of settlement raises the possibility of a higher profit margin. At the same time, it should bear the sign of your brand. So shape it by the brand logo along with subtitles you use on the website or your shop’s signboard.
Remember, making a menu is much more than preparing a list of your food items.
On Menu Prices
To make a restaurant menu, pricing is crucial. It is wise to balance the pricing with the target customers’ affordability. Have a clear idea of the average income of the local people. Also, portraying the price of the food menu is essential.
Use spreadsheet. Let not the customers be ‘too aware’ of their expenditure. In this case, you had better put yourself in your customers’ shoes.
Some pro-tips for pricing:
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Fix the unit cost of every item
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Avoid using currency signs
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Add a generous and believable reason for increasing the menu price like aid for staffs’ welfare, donation for Covid Campaign, Yemen War, etc.
A menu includes all the food and beverage items. So your pricing should cover them all. Don’t forget to mention discounts if you are thinking of a strategic approach.
Content Should Be as Attractive as Your Dish
Create the menu with the help of a creative mind. Hire an outstanding copywriter. Menu content quality matters a lot. You need to ensure an equal amount of content on every page, simple fonts, maximum of three types of fonts, and precise descriptions for the food items.
The menu content should be as entertaining as persuasive. Check whether the menu copy contains assertive and alluring words. The hired person must have cultural sensitivity. Also, let the copywriter talk with your chef. Or, you can give the writer a detailed notion of dish items. It will help the copywriter come up with a super-creative shot!
Prioritise Logical Order
Menus for restaurants are like boats for a lake. As a menu maker, preparing all the dish and beverage items logically is necessary. Following the common chronological food habit will be wise in this regard. Try to fix around three segments to make a standard menu. Of course, each of them will have subsections.
Set the order gradually with the points below-
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Breakfast
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Appetisers
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Lunch
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Soup
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Vegetable
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Exclusive
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Beverage
On Design
If you want to incite your customers’ appetite, you should know how to design a menu spot-on. If you’re going to provide them with a regal food experience, then an awesome restaurant menu design is necessary. Better go for a design expert who is proficient as a restaurant menu maker. Ensure the following things allowing the designer to create his best menu design:
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Be aware of the ‘golden triangle’. Do you know how our eyes work? Usually, they put their first glance in the middle of a page. So prioritise placing the food items in the middle.
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Many readers love to read the menu like a book. So be careful of the menu format. Placing the main dish to look at from the top left is also wise.
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Illustrations are more workable in some cases. Also, this is globally popular. You can impress customers of all cultures.
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Exceptional typography helps promote a brand. Just don’t use more than two typefaces to cover all the sections of a restaurant menu.
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All the top-notch restaurant menus or modern menus include a menu card. Ask your designer to discover a good menu card template.
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Selecting the apt colour can set your menu to the next level. Just be careful to match it with your restaurant theme. A good understanding of the aimed customers’ psyche shall help you ensure a perfect design. You should find out the apt colour to impact their hungry minds. Experts suggest that minimised use of red can draw attention to high-margin items. You can prefer orange to instigate their appetite. Also, try to ensure lighter background while designing your restaurant menu.
A special menu design persuades customers to pay more with pleasure. If you can make them feel aristocratic, they won’t hesitate to pay a bit more.
Design a Menu with Excellent Photography
Restaurant menu design requires high-quality pictures. Simultaneously, it should be printing-friendly. Thoughtful inclusion of pictures in the menu can be a great plus for your restaurant business. Don’t hesitate to pay a bit high to get a top-notch photographer. True that illustration may strike more, but photography still rocks. Don’t forget to get the shots in natural light. The bright colour dishes will be more impactful.
Make Your Own Menu
Is it possible to get free menu templates? Yes, you will have awesome restaurant menu design templates online. You can rely on free menu maker software like Adobe Suite, Microsoft Powerpoint by yourself too!
Simple menu design ideas can boost the restaurant business. You will find many modern menu design ideas both online and offline as your restaurant menu template. Finally, before printing, triple-check your menu layout and all the menu pages.
Make Menu Downloadable
You know how to create a menu. But this is not enough. In this online revolution age, it would be foolish to ignore a downloadable menu. And before that, learning how to make a menu online is urgent. You will have many free printable menu templates out there.
Else, you should have a website of your own. So make sure this. You can maximise the number of prospects by this.
Let Your People Opine
After completing all these for your online menu and offline menu, now it’s time to get opinions from your closest ones and common people. You can even let your ‘friendly competitors’ criticise the menu design. Engage all staff, i.e. chef, manager, and others, to evaluate the work. Ensure whether the menu has a well-coloured scheme, nice readability, excellent typography, or not. Make a menu that can win them all.
Wrapping Up
A simple restaurant menu can help you beat the competition. Whether you become a restaurant menu maker by opting for a fancy menu template or hire, design a menu that rocks. Anyway, as you were searching to know how to make a menu, we did our best. No doubt, it will be more than enough to shine in the restaurant business.
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