Unique Menu’s design tips for your restaurant menu
A restaurant’s menu is an incredibly important part of the overall restaurant as a whole. Menus occupy one of the first impressions on customers and first impressions, like everything in life, mean a lot. Many restaurant owners look past how essential it is to have a good quality menu with a great design. Menus influence what customers choose and purchase, so having an amazing menu is undeniably important. Something that trips up so many owners is that they do not know where to start, especially with the design. This is why we have created a list of five simple design tips that will elevate your menus and give your restaurant even greater success.
1. Don’t use the money sign ($)
If you have ever been to a fancy, expensive restaurant then you have most definitely seen this in their menus. Many people out there do not know the reasoning behind this when it is in fact very simple. By removing the money symbol, the customers feel like they are not really spending when in fact they are. It makes the customers want to spend more liberally as they are not being reminded of money. Instead it can be seen as more of an indication of how high quality the dish is. It breaks down the barriers of the customer feeling money conscious and allows them to just have a good time. If your selling cheap food, this should not be much of an issue, in fact you may want the money symbol as it shows how truly cheap the food is. This tip definitely depends on your type of business. If you are running a restaurant that sells food that is moderate to high cost, this is an easily psychological trick that will bring in more sales.
2. Make the high profit items stand out
In every restaurant there are a few select items which have a massive profit margin. From a business perspective, you want the high profit items to have the most sales and the low profit items to have the least. This will guarantee maximized earnings and profits for your restaurant. A way to do this and influence your customers to buy the high profit items is to make them stand out in your menu. You can do this in a myriad of ways. One way to do this is to make a high profit items text larger than the others. Since it is larger than the others, it garners greater attention leading to more sales. Another way to make the high profit items stand out is to include an amazing, thoughtful description. Use extremely fancy words and make the dish sound like it is the best meal to ever grace this planet. These are only a few of the many ways to make individual items gather more attention than the rest. By making high profit items stand out, it will lead to greater interest by the customers, in turn giving that item more orders. This will lead to greater earnings and profit in the restaurant overall.
Doing this is a no brainer for all kinds of businesses. Whether you’re a fine dining or super affordable restaurant, this is an easy simple tip that lead to greater profits for all.
3. Include short descriptions
There is always an item or items on a menu which we have no idea of what it is. This is when short, exquisite descriptions come in hand. Menu descriptions are short and concise and listed usually below the items name. This gives customers a better idea of the product and all the aspects of it. Apart from menu item name that many would not know, brief descriptions are also very useful for items that most could recognize. They help further show an image in the customer minds of what they are getting. This is far better than purely going by the name and not being one hundred percent sure with what is being ordered. With a lack of menu descriptions, this will increase the amount of questions customers have to ask staff/waiters. This wastes both parties valuable time when it could have easily avoided by providing a short, brief description. When it comes to writing a description, it needs to inform the reader while being pleasant to read at the same time. Don’t use heaps of fancy words without properly describing what the product actually is, this will further confuse the customer. This is the same the other way round. Don’t do a description that informs but is boring and tiresome to read. This will give a negative impression of that item to the customer. The best way to do this is by using the soft spot right in the middle of the two. This would be a description that informs and is pleasing to read at the same time. In short, include descriptions in your menu. They better educate the customers on the items and make the ordering and choosing process far easier for them and the staff.
4. Use attracting colours
Colours are important in all kinds of products across the world. They impact how the viewers feel and how much attention the product gets. This same principal can and is applied to menus. I’m sure you have seen a boring and uninspired menu that if fully black and white without a hint of colour. These menus are not inviting to the eye and are a pain to look at. Instead use bold colours that command attention and that are visually pleasing to look at. This will give the customers a better overall feeling about the company as it makes for a better experience when choosing their meal. A colour that really grabs attention is red. It is bold and bright and represents strength and excitement. Another colour for maximum impact is purple this colour represents authenticity and quality, exactly what you want your customers to think about your restaurant. A way to use colour more lucratively is to exclusively use the best and brightest ones (like red and purple) for your high profit items. This will give them much more attention over the other menu items, leading to greater sales of those high profit meals. Overall, attracting colours are a must for your restaurant. They make the menu look so much better, giving the customer a better choosing experience. It can also be used for highlighting the high profit items, giving them many more sales.
5. Don’t make it too cluttered
Menus need to look great. One thing that makes so many menus not achieve this is that they are far too cluttered. Cluttered menus do not look great, ever. A menu needs to have ample space for each item so that it can be seen and read clearly with no complications. Cluttered menus make choosing items a difficult process, far harder than with a more spaced out menu. This can annoy and anger the customer as they may not be able to properly read your items. With a menu with enough space between each item, reading and seeing items is a breeze and provides no complications to the reader. It gives the customer a good impression of the restaurant and it’s menu overall. Many restaurants have cluttered menus due the great number of dishes they serve. This however, can easily be averted by adding more pages, allowing the items to be more spaced out. Overall, a cluttered menu is not a great look and a spaced out one is a far better option that your customers will like far more.
All in all, the design of your restaurants menu is a key factor when it comes to running a restaurant. While many don’t know where to start, there are five basic rules that everyone should know. These are: don’t use the money sign, make the high profit items stand out, include short descriptions, use attracting colours, and don’t make it too cluttered. These design tips will not only make your menus far better, but also make your whole restaurant a lot better too.
