A restaurant menu contains a comprehensive list of foods and beverages that the customer can order. Therefore, the menu plays a vital role in any hotel as it is used as a planning control tool to help run the food service operation. Because of this, you should make sure to develop the menu following the appropriate planning taking into account the food trends. This will make your restaurant the go-to place by most food lovers.
Your restaurant’s menu also reflects its quality, and this then has an impact on the customers’ choices. So, you should try and make your menus clean, easy to read, and up-to-date at all times. In this article, you will be taken through the crucial factors to consider when designing a restaurant menu. With this in mind, you will be able to attract potential customers and keep hold of the current ones.
Essential factors to consider for planning a restaurant menu
- Offer a variety of items. As a hotel owner, you should include a variety of items to make sure your customers are entrained and have a meal to remember. This means that the menu should consist of all dishes that everyone will find appealing.
- Use engaging language. You should take note of the language used to communicate with your customers. Therefore, make of a tone that best showcases the dining experience and overall brand of the restaurant. You can do this by either choosing to be seductive, serious, or funny to create a unique identity.
- Design layout. The menu’s layout should be one that helps your customers to choose their desired meal conveniently. This means making sure the menu is well arranged. For instance, you may decide to start with appetizers and drinks and then conclude with desserts.
- Include basic information. As you write up the menu, make sure also to include necessary details such as phone number, address, website, and business hours. Doing this is essential as most customers might save the menu as a souvenir to remember the occasion. Therefore, make sure they have somewhere to get such information.
- Ensure the menu suits your hotel’s concept. When designing your hotel’s menu, it needs to get its inspiration from the theme and décor of the restaurant. This makes the menu play a similar role as that of a distinct artwork in your restaurant. You can use many techniques of making your menu unique, for instance, using complex fonts, including artwork as well as incorporating color.
- Include background information. The menu should also include other aspects of your hotel, not only the food available such as its background and setting. To help you do this, it is best to profile yourself as the hotel owner or a chef, get a history of the locality, or any other details about the hotel’s background.
Dinner Menu Template (Grey, 1965)
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Resturant Menu Template (Skin, 1969)
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How should a takeout menu design be formatted?
Have folds in mind
You should also make sure it is possible to use the takeout menu to send direct mails to local residences. To do this, confirm that the selected free menu template for the delivery orders or takeout is standardized for mail. A trifold template is usually used for delivery menus and takeout.
Leave space to add coupons
If you are planning to include coupons, then the ideal place would be positioning them on the right-hand side of the page, which is facing you. According to research, this is the first place where your eyes will come into contact when you take hold of the piece of paper. As you keep increasing the coupons, the paper’s length also increases to accommodate them.
Position special and expensive dishes strategically on the menu
This is vital regardless of whether the menu is tri-fold or bi-fold because the lavish and special meals need to be taken into consideration. You should place the expensive meals at the entrée list’s top, whereas the specials out on the page where the coupons are. It would also be best to highlight them further using labels such as “Chef’s pick.”
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Ways of making your restaurant’s menu more user-friendly and appealing
- Provide soups and sandwiches. Such items are usually quick and cheap to make and can be served with a wide variety of palettes.
- Offer numerous prices. Some persons will go for the cheapest meal in the restaurant whereas others want dishes that are moderately priced. Therefore, your prices should best reflect the needs of all these types of individuals.
- Be cautious when handling sensitive meals. You should consider the needs of the many persons who have special dietary needs due to health complications. This is crucial as some items on the menu might be appealing to food-sensitive persons. Because of this, you should, for instance, include soups in your menu that include gluten-free meals.
- Consider making use of numbers for every dish. If your restaurant sells dishes that are either difficult to pronounce or unfamiliar, then you should consider using numbers to make sure the customer makes the right order. This is usually the case when your menu includes a long list of choices or sell ethnic meals. Thus, it would be best to keep it simple and use numbers to prevent any confusion.
Conclusion
The menu of your restaurant is an essential component that will determine whether your business will succeed or not. Therefore, you should make sure it makes it easier for your customers to select their preferred dishes while still standing out from that of other hotels. This will eventually make customers love your restaurant due to the unique experience it offers.
