You can consider your menu as your 'silent salesperson'. A well-designed menu is the one marketing piece you will produce which is sure to be read by the guest. Once a patron is looking at your menu, your menu can determine what they order, how much they will spend and ultimately, create repeat business.
Your menu should entertain and educate your guests and should also be designed in such a way to maximize your profits. Too often, we see poorly-designed menus which just aren't doing their job. See some of the common errors below:
1. Typos! It's unbelievable but even some of the finest restaurants still have typos on their menus. In recent weeks we have seen PORK LION (Farm-raised felines fed only on the best pigs perhaps?) and CHILDREN MENU (I'll have the six year old girl with a house salad). There is no excuse; it just makes your restaurant seem sloppy and demonstrates that you just don't care. OK, we'll admit that because of our industry, we are more critical than most but typos ARE noticed, even if only subliminally and the message they give is that the restaurant just can't be bothered to get things right. And if they can't even get the menu right, what else is going to be wrong?
2. Dirty menus. Again unbelievable but true. You know, or you should, that I am going to hold your menu in my hand and look at it for almost two minutes (it's estimated that the average time spent perusing a menu is 110 seconds) and that I'm going to see that wine stain. And it's only logical for my next thought to be "if the menu is dirty, I dread to think what the kitchen are going to be like".
3. Lack of management commitment. A poor menu is going to show that the restaurateur didn't devote the time and effort that the menu deserves. Does that mean that I, a paying guest, will not get the time and effort I am paying for? Leaving menu design decisions to your chef or your printer, rather than your design company, will cost you money.
4. Lack of readabiltiy. If the menu has small type, or a busy background, or dark type on a dark background it's showing a lack of consideration for your guests; showing that their comfort is not a priority for you.
5. Price focusing. When a menu shows prices which are aligned, you can bet that guests will make their decisions on price,
6. Boring design. Your menu should excite and stimulate your guests and not be a monotonous list of dishes.
7. Lack of attention to branding. Here's a good rule of thumb; if someone was shown your menu - away from your restaurant - would the menu communicate your ambience, your decor and your style?
8. Lack of sales messages. Menu engineering will help you create a menu which emphasizes the dishes you want to sell the most.
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