Menus are the key marketing tool for all restaurants. They influence the first impressions of guests through forming some expectations about food, drinks, and ambiance. You need in-depth understanding of predilections of your guests to come up with a successful restaurant menu design.
The primary purpose of your menu is to appeal to the visuals of your guests, direct the attention to certain items to allow predictions and form loyalty and ensure return visits.
As the extension of the brand of your restaurant, a menu needs to have layout and design in mind, color palette, treatment and type selection, and paper selection. Every time you present a menu to a guest, you don’t only initiate a sales transaction but a relationship as well. Restaurant menu design, presentation, descriptions, and item placement all contribute to guest experience.
Sadly, many restaurants don’t spend a lot of resources or time in their marketing efforts, let alone their restaurant menu design. Listed below are some of the top mistakes in relation to the initial design and tweaking of restaurant menu. You can easily avoid them and most are just common sense.
Handwritten Changes on Menu
With digital printing, it is now inexpensive and quick to make some updates on the menu so it is much better to reprint this when you discontinue items or make changes in pricing. Aside from the fact that it is time consuming to make manual changes, this also seems like last minute and can have an adverse effect on the look of your restaurant menu design.
Listing Items Not Available on a Regular Basis
Never set up your customers up for disappointment through advertising menu items that they cannot even have in the first place.
Misspelled Text and Items
You can eliminate these errors with careful attention and making edits by several persons. When you design the menu yourself, it is easy to neglect common errors undetected by spell checkers.
Too Few or Too Many Items
You can confuse customers when you have too many items and make it hard to know your specialties. This can be costly to the business as well. On the other hand, customers may go elsewhere if you have too few items that it is impossible for them to get something they like.
Changing Menu Items Too Often
It is common for repeat customers to just get the regular and they might be disappointed when it is not available all of a sudden. Even though it might not be part of your regular menu, it is best to still make it available.
Not Designing the Menu to Show Off Items Accurately
Customers can take just a few minutes checking your menu. The right design showcases signature items, increases sale of add-nos, and affects your bottom line. The restaurant menu design should suit the kind of restaurant and image you want to create.
Lack of Signature House Specialty Items
These items are what make you famous and are crucial to build your brand. It offers a basis for advertising through making you stand out from competitors. It makes it easy for your customers to decide on their orders. This need not be the priciest menu item but can be among the most profitable.
Get the help of professionals from NuchDesigns for your full custom restaurant menu design.