PhilUltimate Digital Menu Board Quickstart with 9 Ideas and Examples
Updated: Sep 2, 2021
So you're looking for an easy-to-use and reliable digital menu board solution? Look no further! This post will walk you through what digital menus are, how they work, key benefits, and, more importantly, how you can set up a digital menu display.
What are the benefits of digital menu boards?
Because digital menus are digital, you are opening the door to a vivid, engaging way of displaying your restaurant's menu. From being 4K, bright, and sharp to make on-the-fly changes to your menu, digital menu boards will create a modern experience that customers today look for and appreciate. Let's now look at five reasons why restaurants are switching to digital menus:
Sell more: showcase your top-margin items to improve your daily sales
Enhance your image: include your brand's colors and Theme in the menu design
Reduce printing costs: stop wasting money on printing menus when switching to digital
Digital day-parting: schedule your digital menus to auto-play on specific dates and time intervals
Improve Advertising: set up rotational media slideshows of your signature items for magnified promotions
Types of Digital Menu Boards
Digital menus can be as complex and simple. From introductory text-only menus to going big with beautifully organized and laid out menus, you can set up a custom digital menu layout that perfectly reflects your brand's image and Theme.
Popular types of digital menu boards include:
Fast-casual digital menus
Pizzeria digital menu boards
Coffee & Cafe digital menu displays
QSR digital menu boards
BBQ menu board TVs
Ice Cream Parlor digital menus
Donut shop restaurant digital menu displays
If you're looking to go big, set up boards that include the perfect combination of moving videos and food slideshows. When having large-format images of your food, you will be able to best show off and promote your signature items, customer favorites, new appetizers, and unique cocktails.
Chalkboard Digital Menu Boards
An instant classic, chalkboard digital menus are easy to read, clean, and visually organized. The high contrasting colors and neatly organized menu design allow for quick menu navigation. Add featured items, videos, and slideshows for that extra touch of visual flair and animation!
Mexican Restaurant Digital Menu Boards
Colorful and bold Mexican digital menu boards will give you the edge you're looking for! Include eye-catching visual elements that include Latin-style graphics to set the tone while creating a unique dining experience that your guests will remember.
BBQ Digital Menu Boards
Create a modern yet classic dining experience using BBQ digital menus! Keep it vintage with a backyard BBQ while keeping it clean and easy to read. Beautifully show off your meal deal in an easy-to-read fashion while showing off your signature items with big and bold category headers!
Poke bowl Digital Menu Boards
Set up the perfect, build-your-own Pokebowl Digital Menu Board! Include the ideal balance of images and text to walk your customers through the bowl building process flawlessly.
Sandwich Shop Digital Menu Boards
Take your sandwich shop to the next level with sub sandwich digital menu boards! Fresh and contemporary, sandwich digital menus are easy to update and eye-catching.
Smoothie Shop Digital Menu Boards
Nothing is better than crisp and clear HD images of fresh fruit and ingredients to introduce the best and sell more of your smoothies! When using smoothie digital menu boards, you will ideally list your menu items in a distinct and visually stunning fashion!
Breakfast Menu Digital Boards
Standout and preschedule your breakfast digital menu board to auto-play during your breakfast hours! From listing your breakfast items to offering specialty coffee and breakfast biscuit sandwich combo deals, you can use breakfast menu boards to grab your customer's attention. Use digital menus to create unique personalized experiences that will keep your guests coming back for more!
Ice Cream Digital Menu Boards
Create a funky and innovative ordering experience using ice cream parlor digital menu boards! Utilize eye-catching colors and design to separate yourself from other ice cream shops while improving the way you promote the seasonal shakes, Sundays, and new flavors!
Digital Menu Board Basics
If you're looking for a low-cost yet easy-to-set-up menu display system, you can use any TV! Yes, any TV. Go to Wal-Mart or your local electronics store, and purchase a TV. It doesn't have to be a "smart" TV, dumb TV, and genius TV. You can use anything! For size, go with the largest size that you can fit in your space.
Designing Your Digital Menu Board Layout
Once you have your TV, make your digital menu board template. A standard and intelligent option is using PowerPoint to create your free digital menu board template. It's free!
The downside to using PowerPoint Digital Menus is flexibility and the overall quality of the design. If you don't have design experience and try to make a menu from scratch, you may need help.
Digital Menu Board Design Tips
Follow these digital menu design tips to ensure you come up with the best layout!
1. Accurate Menu
The first and most crucial piece of advice is making sure you have an up-to-date and accurate menu. This means all of your item prices are accurate, your new items are listed, and the item names and descriptions feature correct grammar and spelling.
2. Menu Layout
Do not list over thirty-five items per TV. Anything more than that will be hard to read and look crowded. Make sure to utilize a combination of high-contrast colors, so the menu items pop out and are easy to read.
3. Imagery
If you want to include food images or videos, consider dedicating one digital menu TV to exclusively playing your media. This maximizes visibility and will best position you for advertising your highest margin items, drinks, appetizers, and desserts.
USB Thumb drive Digital Menus
USB thumb drive digital menu boards are perfect for restaurants that want a one-time cost menu board solution. Once your menu design is made in PowerPoint, save it as a JPEG and load it onto a USB thumb drive.
The downside to this setup is that you cannot remotely update your menu and include slideshow elements that rotate through the menu design.
Digital Menu Board Software
If your looking for a more turnkey digital menu board solution, consider using a digital menu board software platform to set up your digital menus. Digital menu software comes with a complete library of customizable templates that you can use when designing your menu.
In addition, you will be able to use any computer, make changes, and remotely update your digital menu TV at any time!
So, what's next?
First, determine if you need digital menu design help. If yes, contact us today! We can provide you with custom menu design services that are a one-time cost. Let us know if you can handle the design part but are unsure how to get your menu template design onto the design.
We can walk you through using a thumb drive USB digital menu board and show you how to use digital menu board software to update your tvs remotely!