For restaurant owners, running your business doesn’t end after you’ve perfected your set of recipes. In reality, there are other factors like marketing and promotion that must also be considered if you really want your business to stand out. Good word-of-mouth can come a long way, but you first have to strategize how to entice your first set of customers. What better way to do this than crafting a visually appealing menu?
Fortunately, for those who are not so confident about their layout and design skills, there are many ways you can maximize your restaurant’s menu all from the comfort of your own home—no expertise required! So, without further ado, let’s dive right in!
- Stick to a Theme
The first thing you have to consider when crafting your menu is your restaurant’s theme. This includes the words, colors, and fonts that are most commonly associated with your restaurant’s overall look. In other words, your business’s brand identity.
According to studies, brand consistency can actually increase revenue by 10-20%. This means that the more consistent you are with using designs that stick to your theme, the more your customers will be able to recognize and purchase from your store.
In terms of designing, sticking to a theme is also an effective tip because it keeps you from adding too many colors or fonts that would complicate or make your output appear cluttered. When designing your menu, always try to keep things simple and consistent!
- Utilize Free Online Tools for Designing
Although it’s a pretty simple task that anyone can accomplish, most restaurant owners actually hire designers to work on their menus. This can be useful in terms of saving you time and effort, but you should also know that designing your menu is something you can easily accomplish within minutes.
For instance, there are now various free tools online that you can use to help you create your menu. Not confident in your layout skills? Scroll through some free menu templates. Not confident in drawing abilities? Simply take advantage of free-to-use graphics online.
- Add Realistic Pictures
Some might say that adding real pictures to a restaurant menu should be a given, but not all restaurants actually do this. Some choose to stick with a simple one-page menu that is heavily text-based, which can make some customers skeptical about ordering certain menu items.
In reality, studies indicate that attaching high-quality pictures to your menu can actually boost sales by 30%. Customers generally prefer getting a glimpse of the actual food you are trying to sell. Plus, it’s your chance to further entice them if it’s something they’re already craving.
The only tricky part about adding pictures is knowing which ones to use and where to place them. But as long as you use realistic images of the menu items you are selling and lay them out in a way that doesn’t interfere with the text, you’ll already have an effective menu in the works!
- Organize Your Items Into Categories
It seems like a simple choice to make, but organizing the food items on your menu can actually make a world of difference. For starters, using categories in your menu helps your customer visualize their meal as they are ordering it. Words don’t appear too cluttered, and they will have an easy time going through each category.
Now, it’s important to note that categorizing your menu items doesn’t just mean putting simple headings or organizing them by page number. Instead, the effectiveness of this technique lies in how well you design your categories in a way that can be easily read by your customers.
For instance, make sure that your headings are easily distinguishable from your menu items and descriptions. You could simply change the font, increase the size, or even write them in a different color. As long as each category is identifiable, your customers will have an easy time to go through each item once or twice.
- Write Good Descriptions of Food Items
Although realistic pictures are integral to a menu, it is important to remember that descriptions can also make or break a customer’s interest in your menu items. In fact, did you know that 65% of diners report that customers mainly refer to a menu description when choosing which item to order?
That’s why, as a restaurant owner, it’s always a good idea to try to take your time when writing item descriptions in your menu. It doesn’t have to be essay-length or include fancy words, but it’s important to really capture the essence of your food item and describe it in a simple, understandable, and compelling manner.
Ready to Craft an Effective Menu?
Running a restaurant is one thing, but marketing it is another. There are various intricacies with seemingly simple tasks like creating the perfect menu, but it is important to know that it doesn’t have to be complicated.
As long as you follow basic design principles like consistency and take advantage of whatever free tools are available to start your layout, you’re already off to a great start in creating an effective restaurant menu!
