Useful Advice On How To Design Restaurant Menus

No matter how appealing the ambiance of a restaurant is, or how polite and helpful the servers are, you are there for one thing only. That is to enjoy the food. The first thing you are presented with is the menu. This is where you get your first impression of the food. Restaurant menus should therefore always look inviting and reflect the style of the restaurant.

Owners of any place where the public sits down to enjoy a meal should put some effort into designing a menu. From upper class fine-dining establishments to the diner down the street, it is essential, and respectful, to present an eye-catching menu. Reading a good menu should make you hungry! Make sure your menus are not caked in old food – this will put your patrons off immediately.

A family friendly restaurant should also include a separate kiddies menu. This will be a clear indication that the food is prepared and served to suit a child’s appetite and preferences. At the other end of the scale, consider elderly patrons when designing your menu. Make sure the text is easy to read. Don’t use elaborate fancy fonts in small print to describe each dish.

A menu for an exclusive restaurant can feature elegant, scrolly type fonts, but these won’t be suitable for a restaurant wanting to attract families. If you have a children’s menu, design it in a fun and funky way. The menu for every type of restaurant must be designed accordingly.

The traditional way to list the items on a menu are the various groups, i. E. Appetizers, beverages, entrees, side orders and desserts. Many restaurants will group specific types of food on their menus. For example fish dishes, meat dishes, chicken dishes, seafood dishes, pasta dishes etc will all fall under separate listings.

Restaurants that serve meals throughout the day usually have three separate sections on the menu – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Illustrations or photographs are a must on most menus. But make sure they look appetizing. Don’t cut corners if you want to display photographs on your menu. Get a professional food photographer to do the job.

Don’t cheapen the look of a menu for restaurants that serve expensive cuisine by including brash photographs or common illustrations. The menu should look elegant and stylish. Fewer pictures and more words is the key to designing fine-dining menus. You can add to this by placing the menu in a black or white hard-covered folder.

If you have some graphic design knowledge, you can create your own menu on your PC. But if not, rather get a professional designer to do the job. Whoever does the design should be imaginative and creative, but the main objective is to design a menu that looks appropriate for your type of restaurant.

When you place your menu on the front window of your restaurant to attract passers-by you must happy with the way it looks. Don’t bore people with long-winded explanations about every dish, but give enough information so they know what to expect. Finally, don’t overprice your meals; every patron is after the same thing – value for money.

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Posted on 6 January '10, under Restaurants.