A Beginner's Guide to Creating Menu Templates
Updated: Sep 2, 2021
One of the most important decisions you'll make when opening a restaurant is which menu template to use. Your menu is what sells your meals and sets the tone for the rest of your institution.
What can a professional-looking menu template accomplish for me?
A well-designed menu will increase food sales while also improving the image of your company. Follow these eight steps to learn how to build effective menu templates for your restaurant.
1. Menu Templates Motivation
Determine the type of menu you require before beginning your search for a template.
Another alternative is to look for menu templates for the type of food your restaurant serves, such as bar and burger menus.
2. Menu template studying
When you've chosen a few menu layouts that work for your business and food, it's time to look at the structure. First, examine the menu templates' design, photo placements, and the number of sections and items.
While looking at the menu template layout, compare your menu categories and items to the templates you've chosen. Then, explore if your menu can be integrated with the menu templates arrangement.
If the menu template has many images and leaves no room for items, that menu style may not work for you.
If you have a small menu but as a menu template with many food items, it might not be a good fit because modification will take a long time.
Allowing your emotions to influence your decision-making is not a good idea. Instead, for your menu and design, identify the optimal menu template that fits your brand theme. This strategy will save you time, thereby ensuring that your menu is aesthetically attractive.
3. Concept Colors
The next step is to incorporate your company's colors into the design after you've chosen a menu template. The backdrop, text, accents, and containers of the menu template are all aspects that you can stylize.
Use contrasting solid colors like black on white or coral orange on marine blue to create an eye-catching color pattern that is easy to read and enticing. Remember that the colors you choose should be in the same color family as your logo and brand. This helps to keep your brand's appearance consistent across all channels.
4. Fundamentals of Menu Layout Design
It's critical to categorize and separate your restaurant menu template into categories. The most common layout is three columns. This menu layout allows for six to eight food categories, each with no more than ten items in general.
If you have a small menu, think of going with a one-page, two-column menu. This structure is famous among minimalist fast-casual restaurants.
5. Use layout modification to increase sales
Whether the menu contains two or three columns, studies demonstrate that a guest's eyes immediately scan to the mid-upper right, then over to the left.
Understanding this, menu designers aim to place the top three highest-margin items on a restaurant's menu in these three places of the menu template.
6. The Items' Descriptions
A specific menu includes explanations that are well-written, original, and vibrant. This consists of a list of numerous critical ingredients that will best define the taste of the items. Other choices involve discussing the item's preparation or mentioning how it is cooked.
For instance, "marinated 18 hours in a lemon zest bbq dry rub, then smoked at 375 °." These intriguing descriptions capture your interest while also enticing you to return to try more of your menu items.
7. Engaging Foody Names
Stand out and don't use commonplace item names. When using a unique food item name, you will grab attention, build value and separate yourself from the restaurant next door.
8. The location of where you place items
In savvy restaurants, the most premium and best-written things are at the forefront of each menu category. Why? There are two significant reasons for this. First, according to research, 38% of guests prefer buying the first item on the menu.
To appeal to budget-conscious diners, restaurants rank high-ticket items at the top of each menu template category. Lower-cost products with well-written descriptions can be considered a good value physiologically.
Starting with the highest-margin item with a fascinating description, followed by two additional high-margin things with an engaging narrative, makes sense from a profit standpoint.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO CUSTOMIZE THE DESIGN OF A MENU TEMPLATE?
Menu templates are the first stage in producing a restaurant menu. At first look, the task of finding the proper dinner may appear complicated, but it also can be enjoyable. With so many styles to pick from, determining which menu template to use might be tricky.
