What Makes a Restaurant Menu Design Effective?

Stephanie — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:09:47 +0000

A restaurant menu is a huge part of the restaurant’s brand identity. It reflects who you are in the market. Menus should be viewed as an investment for a restaurant owner, not as a cost because a menu design or redesign can improve sales if designed correctly.

Customers need guidance when trying to decide what they want to order off a menu. That is why the placement of menu items, pictures/graphics and item descriptions plays an important role when designing a menu.

The inside right page of a menu is considered to be a high profile spot for a menu. This is where it’s recommended that you place high end specialties. It is recommended that you change up the font a little to make this section stand out more than the rest of the menu.

Menu item position affect sales. It’s known that people/consumers tend to remember the top two items on a list as well as the bottom item. This is a good location to place most profitable items.

Draw attention to specific areas of the menu. The font type, as well as font size, borders, boxes, symbols and shading all help to draw attention to specific items. Just remember to not over do it.

Menus should not describe common or familiar items. Some items just don’t need to be described. If something special or unusual is being offered, there should be a description for that item.

Don’t align prices on a menu, this causes the customer to look at the price of the item to determine what they will order. If you put the price at the end of the description in the same type without dollar signs, this will allow the customer to focus on the item rather than just the price of the item.

Proofread!!! Proofreading is very important. Spelling errors and typos are things that can cause customers to not take you seriously.

To see the full menu used above click here.

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What Makes a Restaurant Menu Design Effective?