Designing & Printing Your Custom Restaurant Menus

When a customer comes to your restaurant for the first time, the first thing they will carefully go through is your menu. Take the opportunity to create a lasting impression with a custom-designed menu.

Your menu is your brand and your tool to drive sales. A well-designed menu can increase your sales by 10-15 percent and tells customers you care about creating a quality dining experience.

Design your Menu

Set Layout

The first 3 locations your customers tend to look at on the menu are called the Golden Triangle. These prime locations are for your most popular items and dishes that provide you with the highest profit margin. These locations are:

 

1. The Middle – Best for specials, seasonal dishes, and limited menu items
2. Top Right – This location is optimal for your main courses and entrees
3. Top Left – Here is a prime location for appetizers and starters

 

Once you have decided which items to locate in the Golden Triangle, you can continue with the rest of the layout. Consider a separate menu for desserts or beverages. Guests tend to order more when one of these items is on a separate menu.

 

Choose a Style

It is important to choose a style that reflects your brand. Different genres of restaurants have unique style options. Upscale and fine-dining might choose a short, simple design on a long menu card or go more extravagant and choose a specialty menu printed on a custom, die-cut, acrylic piece. A family-friendly establishment may choose a style with more pictures printed on an easy-to-clean substrate like synthetic paper or traditional paper that is laminated.

 

Decide on a Color Palette

Deciding on and sticking to a color palette for your brand is extremely important. Color is a tangible part of your brand that most people notice first. More importantly, color association increases your brand recognition by as much as 80 percent. Make sure your color palette flows well with your style as they work together to set the mood and personality of your brand.

 

Pick a Font

Fonts reflect the voice and personality of your brand. There are 6 major types of fonts, each conveying unique messages, and feelings. These font types are:

 

• Serif Fonts – Traditional font types symbolizing class, heritage, trust, and respect
• Sans Serif – Sleek, modern font types portraying clarity and stability
• Slab Serif – Bold and solid font types that convey confidence and creativity
• Script – These fancier font types evoke feelings of elegance and femininity
• Decorative – Typographic display font types are fun and unconventional
• Handwritten – Modern font types that produce feelings of authenticity

 

The font you choose for your menu should tie together your brand’s mood, style, and color palette.

 

Insert Menu Items

Menu items need to be informative and easy to read. Adding descriptions can also help customers understand unique or ethnic dishes. Descriptive language, when crafted correctly, should leave your customers feeling compelled to order and leave them excited for their meal.

 

Add Visual Elements

Here is where you can add high-quality photos to highlight your signature dishes. Adding a box around high-profit items draws attention, upping their sales. You can even add symbols for special diets or allergens.

BONUS

Consider increasing your inclusivity by creating a stand-alone, braille & large print version of your menu.

 

Print your Menus

Our knowledgeable team at Linemark is ready to meet all of your menu design needs. With our proprietary and fully customizable Order Companion™ software, you can design and print your menus anytime, anywhere.