Creating a Unique Restaurant Menu

With the excitement of certain restaurants being able to open for outside dining from April 12, it is time to start thinking about how to draw in those eager customers.

One great way to do this is have a great menu that showcases just what you are offering your customers. Your menu has to sell your food when your servers aren’t there to do it, and it has to sell what your brand is all about.

But we have come up with some things you need to consider when creating a restaurant menu:

Fonts & descriptive language

First it is worth talking about what you should avoid. It is worth not having overly descriptive language on the items on your menu or hard-to-read fonts. Most customers like to know exactly what’s in the food, and don’t need descriptive language – leave it up to your servers to help sell the food when needed.

Watch out for eye scanning patterns

Many restaurants are still under the assumption that the customer’s eyes are drawn to the righthand corner and will tend to put their higher profit items there. However, research now suggests that customers now read menus like a book and start in the top left corner.

Divide the menu into sections

Your job is always to make your customers life easier, and splitting your menu up into sections does exactly that. This way if your customer is looking for something in particular, they can find it with ease.

Photos should be used sparingly

If you do decide to use photos, you have to use high quality imagery and use it sparingly. Select a few items from your menu to really sell certain meals. This way you are leaving it up to your customers imagination and excited by what to expect when they get the food.

Don’t emphasize currency signs

Studies have shown that customers are more likely to spend more when currency signs aren’t shown, as this way you aren’t making it too obvious how much they are spending.

Colours

Colours can be a great tool for your menu, but it is really important to only use colours that are based on your target audience and theme of your restaurant. People in design know that colours have different psychological effects on a viewer, so it is worth keeping this in mind when choosing your colours.

Ready for printing?

At Metro Repro we can help print your menu to a high-quality standard, ready for use when you reopen! Please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a quote on how we can help you!