Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Superior Tips for Your "Superior" Menus

Your menu is your biggest form of marketing. More than a list of food items and prices, your restaurant’s menu is a reflection of your brand and a means for driving profits. Not to mention, it may be the only marketing tool that nearly all of your customers read.

Taking the time to plan, organize, and design your menu can go a long way in terms of driving your restaurant’s success. Consider the following five tips for creating superior menus that can help take your restaurant to the next level.

  1. Think quality over quantity. Focus on your best and most popular dishes. While providing hundreds of options may seem like an easy way to please choosy customers, limiting options makes it easier for patrons to find and select what they want.

    Menu engineer Gregg Rapp says that diners tune out anything more than seven options. His advice? Choose no more than five appetizers, entrées, or desserts. Anything else is overkill.

  1. The eyes have it. For years, restaurants have assumed that customers’ eyes are naturally drawn to the upper right hand corner. However, new research suggests that diners tend to read menus like books, starting in the top left corner. 

Consider how your customers read your menu and organize items accordingly. Give your signature dishes prominent placement.

  1. Keep it simple. Organize items in a logical manner and choose words that are easy to understand. Make it easy for customers to search for dishes by arranging items sequentially and in logical groups, starting with the appetizers and ending with desserts.

  2. Picture this. While incorporating images of your food items may seem like a natural fit, keep food photography to a minimum. For one thing, not all dishes will appeal to all customers. Plus, high quality food photography can be expensive — and tricky to get the optimal results.

    In general, it’s often better to leave the quality of the food to the customer’s imagination. Consider using illustrations instead.

  1. Type matters. Choose typography that best communicates your restaurant’s brand.  It should be legible and sized appropriately. If your customers can’t read your menu, they won’t be able to order anything off of it.

In the end, there are no hard fast rules when it comes to menu design. What works for some establishments may fall flat for others. Do what’s right for your restaurant’s brand and personality. Don’t be afraid to experiment — and count on Superior Menus to help!
We offer custom printing and design services – Call 1-800-527-6368 and mention code AUGB14  for $10 off your next custom printing order of $100 or more.

Superior Solutions
Whatever your restaurant’s style — classy and contemporary, fun-loving and wild, kid friendly and colorful — Superior Menus offers a wide range of menu stock covers, inserts and sleeves that make it easy to update and change your menu.

  • Stock Covers and Sleeves — Update and protect your menu as little or as often as you wish. Simply slide your choice of menu paper inserts between the sleeves. Superior Menus offers a variety of stock covers and sleeves in a wide range of styles, sizes and materials.
  • Menu AccessoriesAdd and expand your menu as needed with flexible and functional menu accessories.
    • Menu paper inserts are a tasteful and affordable way to update and enhance the look of your menus — and are available in 25 different styles.
    • Add-A-Pages are a convenient and easy way to quickly make updates.
    • Vinyl page protectors prolong the life of your menu papers and help prevent moisture and food from creating undesirable stains.


What’s YOUR strategy for designing superior menus? What works best for you? We’d love to know. Please post your thoughts and comments below.