menumakeover
TOP TIPS FOR A MENU MAKEOVER
Your menu is one of your main forms of representation: It should say exactly who you are and what you hope to convey personality-wise. It should also create enough of an impression that it stays with your customers long after the wait staff have walked off with it.
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good restaurant menu design is key to any restaurant’s marketing plan. When you design a menu, it should express your eatery’s personality. To create the best design possible, you’ll need to perform some menu analysis. You should put some time and effort into analysing the way your menu functions and performs. Menu analysis involves identifying each menu item’s profitability and popularity, as well as forming a strategy to enhance and improve the overall success and sales of your restaurant. The process doesn’t have to be difficult, but it should be ongoing. There will always be shifts in trends, with design styles and the food itself. When you pay attention to the way these evolve over time, you can adapt your menu to fit. Your consumer base should help shape the menu as well. The more you cater your menu to your customers’ preferences, the more they’ll want to come back. As with most visual endeavours, there is some psychology when it comes to menu design and some tricks can be taken straight from the world of fine art.
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restaurantandcafé.co.nz
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE Look at your restaurant menu and take note of where your eyes move first. For most people, their eyes look at the middle, then they travel to the top right corner and finally to the top left corner – the golden triangle. Put your best-selling items in this triangle, monitor how well different dishes do depending on their place on the menu.
COLOUR MANIPULATION
Colours evoke certain feelings, and you can use this to your advantage. For example, when your customers see the colour green, it makes them think of fresh food, just picked from the garden. When customers see orange, it stimulates their appetite. Orange is a fun, light colour with delicious qualities. Plus, the colour stimulates the brain by increasing its oxygen supply. Orange is also associated with healthy food.
Yellow makes people happy, and you can use it on your menu to grab the reader’s attention. Yellow can also stimulate a diner’s appetite. If you use red on your menu, it’s an attention-grabber. It makes people stand up and take notice. You can use red to guide people to the dishes you really want them to order. A successfully engineered menu will sell the dishes you want, increase spend across starters, mains and desserts, and pair dishes to drinks which will drive sales, and make the decision making process easy and enjoyable for your customer.
Here are some top tips for creating a tip top menu: Cover Design – An intriguing heading and striking image printed with a tactile finish makes people want to touch, pick up and flick through a menu, even if they’re not hungry.
Inside the Box - Draw attention to certain choices by putting them in a box, whether its because they’re new, local or high margin. Dollar Signs – Removing currency symbols helps guests focus on the food rather than the cost, it also gives a more modern and clean design. Delicious Descriptions – Consider a limited menu of a few dishes that are named and described superbly. Keep the Kids Happy – If you’re catering to families, a big part of the decision-making process will be customers looking for a menu that looks child-friendly and accommodating. Tell Your Story – Whether you grow your own fruit and vegetables or use your great-grandmother’s famous recipe, cook up a tale that will get customers salivating.
