A well-organized menu is essential in the food industry. It needs to be structured and visually appealing to enhance sales and optimize profits. Research indicates that an attractive menu layout can elevate sales by 15%. This is because customers are inclined to order more when the menu design captivates them visually. To guarantee the creation of an ideal menu, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide that thoroughly explains the process of menu and logo design.
Designing a menu
Although designing a menu seems like a daunting task, but the whole process can be broken down into these small steps:
- Make a list of your menu offers on a spreadsheet.
- Divide the list into segments, for example, breakfast, lunch, supper dishes, appetizers, sweets, and so on.
- Design the format of your menu. Study menu engineering to get the know-how of how customers use the menu.
- Try out a free menu maker or download a free design making software from the internet to design your menu.
- Save the menu in a PDF format and print it out.
- Make sure that you place your menus in the menu covers or on hard boards.
Although we made the whole menu designing relatively more straightforward than what you thought earlier, but you must think strategically and put a lot of thought into creating the menu design. Here are some of the best tips for designing a menu that is simple yet catchy for your customers to utilize and to help encourage more sales.
Basic layout
Customers search for specific items on the menu, which is why it is important to feature your best deals or popular menu items in those areas. You should also prioritize items with higher profit margins, such as appetizers and entrees. These areas are commonly referred to as the Golden Triangle by menu engineers, and they include the middle section, the top right corner, and the top left corner. Therefore, if you want to boost sales and increase profits, it is crucial to place limited menu items and exclusive deals in the middle, main course items and entrees in the top right corner, and appetizers alongside entrees in the top left corner.
Picking the design
It is of utmost importance that you pick a style that mirrors your business ideas and appeals to your clients. Here are some standard techniques that might help you while choosing the perfect design for your menu:
Upscale: These menus are usually short and contain only a handful of items on-page. Upscale menus don’t encompass images and include detailed and stylish fonts.
Family-friendly: Restaurants that use this style use lots of pictures and bright colors on their menu cards to catch the interest of the children.
Modern: Many trendy restaurants prefer a sleek design, with striking colors, stylish fonts, and unique images.
Nostalgic:. Nostalgic menu designs are made up of rustic and old fashioned themes. They contain quite a lot of images, even for a restaurant image. If you think that your restaurant might attract older customers than youngsters, you might think about making your font larger, as it is easily readable.
Styling the menu
Numerous particular design components go into styling your menu, for example, fonts, pictures, and color scheme, and they also provide quality and personality to your menu. Just like the layout of your menu, the menu design can help convince the customers to buy what you want them to buy. Here are numerous tips on selecting the right images, colors, and fonts for your menu:
Description: Descriptions can contain allergies related to the menu offerings, alternative diets as well as helping the customers in buying what they are craving for. Instead of listing the food ingredients, you must describe the taste and structure of the food while using appealing words such as delicious strawberries, candied walnuts, and creamy cheese, etc.
Using images: Adding images to your menu might depict how the dishes might look at life. In any case, an excessive number of images give out a very negative meaning, as many customers have reported that many cafes and restaurants which use too many pictures on their menus are of very low quality. It is suggested that always use the images of higher resolution and quality, don’t use grainy images. Pay for a professional photographer if need be or if you have other branches. If you are updating your menu, you can use Instagram to see that if any customer of yours has posted photos of your food or mentioned you, you can use their pictures too.
Color scheme: just like colors give meaning to life, they also say a whole lot about your restaurant. Be wise in choosing colors as these might affect the appetite of your customers. Bright colors like orange, yellow, and red are known to be exciting colors and proven to make people get excited about food. Colors like purple and blue might turn people down, and they might even lose their appetite if your menu contains these hues.
Typo-graphics: the font part is often discarded when it comes to designing the logos and menus of restaurants. It is not a smart move as fonts help facilitate sales and talk about the quality of your food. It is wise to write names of dishes slightly bold and more significant than the prices. Ensure that prices are not prominently displayed as customers will then try to find the cheapest item available. Always use lower case letters while writing the descriptions. Remove any currency sign from your menu as it gives out a rather poor and negative vibe, which makes it less likely for a customer to carry out large orders.
Printing: surf the internet for the regular size of menus related to your café or restaurant. Make sure to print enough menus so that every customer can hold the menu for a couple of minutes until they order something. You can also put your menu online if you are offering home deliveries.
Menus speak a lot about food. An uninspired menu won’t help in facilitating sales, but a well-styled and nicely designed menu will. It will not only boost sales but will satisfy customers too.
Creating a logo
Logos are the symbols by which the customers recognize you and your brand. Whether imprinted on the business cards, dishes, menu cards, dishes, or on the main signage, your logo attracts customers to visit your venue and order something to eat. Just like an attractive logo appeals to customer, a poorly designed logo drives the customers away.
Smart logos: smart logos contain images, bright colors, and catchy icons.
Picking the right icon: Although food and groceries are the popular logo images, one can also use tableware, chef’s apron and hat, other kitchen related utensils, or an oven/stove while creating a logo for any restaurant.
Picking the right color: This is the critical factor in creating a logo. Choosing the right colors and hues makes the logo of the restaurant purpose-oriented and unforgettable. Use color engineering to check out what colors are best for your restaurant logo. Change parameters, if necessary.
Picking the right font: While designing a logo, if you are using a font, then it must be legible, must match the icon, and shouldn’t contain any small details such as fancy scrolls. Use clean and simple fonts.
Bonus tips: never clutter your logo with unnecessary elements—choose either an icon or text. Stick to a single font, use only two colors, avoid creating a rainbow effect, and ensure there is some blank space around the edges of the logo. You can draw inspiration from others’ ideas but avoid directly copying their designs. Creating a logo can be challenging, but you can master the process by following our step-by-step guide. Happy Designing!