In a restaurant the way to a customer’s heart is through their stomachs, but the path to great food must be paved with a great menu.

Meals of Dreams:
You have built it so they will come, now don’t stop short of anything but a great menu. Often the details of making a superior menu are overlooked in those last frenzied days before opening, and things stay so busy you never get the chance to make it perfect. Whether it is focusing on brief descriptions of mouth watering specialties, or selecting formatting and fonts, the menu must reflect every sensibility of your establishment. Without it you run the risk of not getting to first base with your customers.

Picture Perfect?:
Are you classy and sophisticated? Are you fun-loving and wild? It is rare that I consult with a restaurant proprietor who does not want amazing food photos to compliment their new menu. Beautiful food photos can be pricey, but it works nice in niche’ establishments (American, Asian, Italian) cuisine because these staples of cuisine keep a larger portion of their items consistent for an extended amount of time. A picture is worth a thousand words, but maybe your menu needs to be more succinct, softer. Can you deliver what the picture promises, every time? What serves one establishment well, does not serve another at all. As mentioned before, your menu should be an expression of your restaurant's personality. The smallest, plain text menu can be used to enhance a restaurant's impression of elegance or simplicity. A thick, flashy, image-intensive menu can emphasize a location's festive side. Fine dining restaurants "should" consider continually evolving their menus with seasonal selections, and progressive design concepts that keep them fresh in a competitive market.

I can’t believe it’s not Clutter:
The most frequent mistake for most establishments is having a menu presentation that is overwhelming, in a bad way. Bigger might be better for a burger, but depending on table size a huge menu format may be cumbersome for guests. There is a reason high volume restaurants keep everything in numbered systems; it keeps the choices small and the people ordering quickly. Placement is important. Put your most important and profitable items where they will get noticed. The most important items should be placed centrally on the menu. Also, based on consumer research, diners tend to make their selections more often from the top and the bottom of a category. So, logically, you want your highest gross profit items at the top, while pushing less profitable items away from the main selections. For take home menus, long after customers or potential customers have left your menu may remain on their refrigerator or side table. So has it [menu] been designed for staying power?

If you’ve Got it Flaunt it:
Unless there is a fire in the theatre, don’t shout “Fire.” Highlight important items without crying wolf. If you do something truly unique or exceptional shout it out loud. Use creative and complete descriptions to tempt your customers, and considering using a box, shading, different font, or your logo to help special items stand out. But take it from Tammy Faye Baker, and beware of overdoing it.

The Price is Right:
To the average customer, price does matter. Since this is such a big factor to the average customer, $$$ DO NOT BOLD PRICES $$$, do not put prices in their own columns (as these pictures do) and...do not adorn everything…with punctuation…especially with.... Don’t frustrate customers by making prices impossible to find, but customers need to choose food based on what looks like it has a good chance of filling their stomachs, not emptying their wallets.

Et tu’ brute :
Do not be afraid to ask around and test your menu before fully implementing it, but be weary of asking to many people. The court of public opinion can be a wonderful thing, but it is no supplement for your own educated opinion.

These are all easy steps, but most restaurants fail at integrating them. Take notice at every restaurant you go to, fast food or fine dining and take notice at how they visually separate their products. I have seen restaurants with more effective menus receive up to 300% price increases, but realistically look at 15% - 20% increases.

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