While you want your menu to represent the theme and the style of your restaurant, it is also important to choose a practical option as well. Having to replace continually menu covers or to redesign completely the entire menu becomes costs and time consuming.
To get started with designing a menu and the menu covers to entice people to order there are some simple techniques and strategies to keep in mind. By designing the right menu the first time, and then choosing reusable and durable menu covers the restaurant will have a long-lasting option for their customers to use.
Front and Center
The first thing that people will look at will be menu covers, especially with a book style of design. Keep the design simple and highlight the restaurant’s name and logo and choose colors that match with the restaurant décor and color theme.
If selecting solid menu covers, consider choosing a neutral style of cover that will be easy to wipe down and clean if necessary. Leather look, plastic and even clear covers are all excellent options.
Menu Item Placement
As with menu covers, it is important to avoid overloading the customer with images, text and lengthy descriptions of food, especially if you have an extensive menu or multiple selections within each food category.
It also makes sense to place the items you want people to focus on at the top of the list in the column, page or category. Start with the categories in order of courses to allow customers to choose an appetizer, main course, and dessert.
For those restaurants or venues with separate bar service, a bar menu, with matching menu covers, is a very good idea. These can be one the table or presented to the customers by the host or hostess when seated.
Specials and Inserts
For a restaurant, bar, café or bistro routinely or regularly offering specials, having the inside front cover, or the back, designed to allow special or feature menus to be easily slid into the menu covers is a very good idea.
This prevents extra sheets of paper and extra items for the hostess or host to have to remember to take to each table. When the inserts for the features or specials can be easily removed the menu covers especially when the interior pages can be removed and replaced, can be used for years.
