How to create a restaurant menu that stands out from the crowd

An attractive menu helps to relate your food story with customers in an easy way. With the right menu you will be able to connect the expertise that you have in your kitchen to your customer base. In this article we will take a look at some of the aspects that contribute to making your menu great.

A good pricing

Take into account all food costs before you design your menu. Right from what costs you are buying your raw materials from wholesalers to how much you are paying your cooks to prepare the finished food items. A deep understanding of all these elements is very important before you fix the price. Take into account the fact that food cost should only amount to about 30 to 35% of your total budget as a general rule.

Monitor your portions

A system for portion control can really sort out the food flow for you. Many established restaurants exactly know how much food is consumed per plate with minimal waste. The secret of success for some of the famous restaurants is portion control. The success behind some of the best restaurants is buying pre measured food items without compromising on food quality. Portion control does come with a cost but it contributes significantly to eliminate the wastage of food.

Give prominence to special and seasonal items

Brainstorm a concept to decide how to project your menu with the dishes that you want to share with your loyal customers. Decide on the dishes that you want to portray through your menu to convey your restaurant's culture. You can share the backstories about your specialities in your menu in the form of small sections with your customers to build better rapport.

Keep your menu well organized

While designing and organizing your menu, take into account the customer psychology. A wide variety of options can make your customers tired. Make your menu in such a way that each food section has 3 to 4 items at the max. Try also to not go all out on salad options by increasing their numbers.

Making a clear and concise digital menu is a very important step for restaurants who have an online ordering system, so that their customers can choose and order from the menu easily, online.

When a customer makes a decision after looking at the menu, it usually happens within the first few seconds, therefore try to place your most profit making dish in the top right corner as this space is considered to be noticed quickly by customers.

Utilize price decoys to attract customers as recent studies have shown that the dollar sign demotivates customers from placing orders and by replacing it with just the figures you can actually change the customer decision. Having an attractive menu also plays a pivotal role in your restaurant marketing ideas.

An attractive color scheme & presentation

Take into account the colour theme to be used in your menu while designing it to make it more attractive for customers. Similarly make sure that the pictures you display in your menu are of high quality. Get creative here and quality images with beautiful descriptions are sure to win the heart of customers.

To conclude

A menu plays a very important role in the decision making process as far as a customer is concerned. Making it attractive and informative is therefore a very important step towards building a great menu. The points mentioned here will surely help you to develop a menu that stands apart from the rest and to make your restaurant business more profitable.

Kiruthika

Kiruthika is a Content writer and blogger at Qono Technologies. Other than her interest in writing, she can be seen listening to songs, reading or traveling.