The design and management of a restaurant's menu plays a crucial role in the success of any catering establishment. The menu reflects the restaurant's culinary identity, highlighting its specialties and whetting the appetites of potential customers.
According to a Gallup study, customers spend an average of 109 seconds in front of a menu. So you've got a short time to convince them of the quality of your dishes.
In this article, we'll explore the 7 key steps to creating the perfect menu. Follow our guide to discover the secrets of a successful fast-food menu!
7 steps to creating your fast-food menu
1. Food and beverage selection
When choosing dishes and beverages for your menu, there are several parameters to consider:
- the skills and know-how of the kitchen team,
- customer expectations, desires and consumption habits,
- the competition's offer,
- trends in the foodservice sector.
However, your selection is not set in stone. Don't hesitate to experiment with operations such as "the burger of the week", "the pizza of the day" or a dish based on current events, such as "the Olympic sandwich". This way, you can see if your audience is interested, and offer the dish definitively if this is the case.
The profitability and popularity of the dishes should also guide your choice. This is what we call menu engineering. To analyze these two parameters, you need to distinguish between :
- popular and profitable dishes,
- dishes that are popular but not very profitable,
- unpopular and profitable dishes,
- unpopular and unprofitable dishes.
This analysis will help you decide which dishes deserve a place on your menu. This information will also help you make decisions such as :
- price adjustment,
- smaller portions of the most popular dishes, which are not very profitable,
- modification of a dish name,
- revision of revenues,
- changing the position of a dish on the menu,
- etc.
👉 To find out more: Managing food portions in your restaurant: 5 foolproof methods
2. Choosing names and descriptions
Once the selection of dishes and beverages has been made, it's time to define the names of your dishes and their descriptions. A title and 2 lines of description should be enough to convince your customers to order a particular dish. To do so, this information must inform without revealing everything (ingredients, product origin), awaken the senses (texture, taste, smell, appearance) and arouse curiosity. The challenge is to achieve this while ensuring that descriptions are clear and concise.
To make your menu easier to read, it might be a good idea to add color coding or icons to indicate any allergens, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Are you used to welcoming international customers? Think about translating your menu into several languages.
3. Categorizing menu items
It's out of the question to find a dessert in the middle of the main courses, or a starter lost between the wine and the sparkling water. The first thing to remember when designing your menu is to create different spaces:
- burgers,
- salads,
- pizzas,
- accompaniments,
- desserts,
- beverages,
- popular dishes,
- menus.
The shorter and more streamlined your menu, the more effective it will be. Consumers need to have a clear idea of what they'll be able to enjoy in your establishment at a glance. Overly long menus are enough to discourage customers, who are overwhelmed by too many choices and too much reading. What's more, a menu displaying a large number of dishes makes ordering and serving more complex, which ultimately has an impact on guest satisfaction.
4. Set selling prices for dishes
Determining the price of a la carte dishes and beverages is a crucial step, as it has a direct impact on your restaurant's profitability of your restaurant. What factors should you base your pricing policy on?
- The type of cuisine served in your establishment,
- the cost of producing the dishes,
- your restaurant's positioning,
- prices set by competitors,
- the economic situation in which the sector finds itself,
- your brand's overheads.
Some key figures can be of great help.
- The cost of each portion, in other words, the sum of the cost of all the ingredients required to prepare one portion of a dish.
- Food cost is calculated by dividing the cost of raw materials by the price of a dish. This is usually between 25% and 35% of the selling price of the dish in question.
- The margin rate obtained using the following formula: sales excluding taxes = (cost of raw materials)/sales excluding taxes. For a catering business to be profitable, it is recommended that this rate reach 70 or 75%.
When it comes to pricing your menu, don't hesitate to refer to Omnes' 4 principles method.
Two little tips before moving on to the next step: avoid putting all the prices on the same line at the risk of drawing the customer's attention to them, and place the most expensive dishes at the top of the menu to make the price of the others seem more reasonable.
👉 To find out more: How to set menu prices for your restaurant?
5. Highlighting the most popular and profitable dishes
Knowing which dishes are the most popular and profitable, the star dishes so to speak, will enable you to show them off to their best advantage.
First, you can place them in what is known as the sweet spot the first place you look on a map. Does your menu fit on one page? Then this spot is at the top. If your menu is spread over 2 pages, it's at the top right.
You can also draw customers' attention to your bestsellers with a different font or color. They can even be placed in a box or accompanied by the words "recommended by the chef".
6. Careful card design and layout
If the choice of menu content is important, so are the design and layout. In addition to being harmonious, attractive and unlike any other, it must reflect your restaurant.
The graphic charter of your menu should be consistent with your concept, the decoration of your establishment, your means of communication and the type of cuisine served. Photos are welcome, as long as they do justice to your dishes, and are not too numerous, as this could disrupt the reading of the menu. Always with a view to fluidity of reading, be sure to use modern, visible typography, without multiplying the number of fonts.
In addition to organizing your menu into product families, it's important that your customers can easily get to grips with it. A5 or A4 formats are therefore particularly appreciated.
No one on your team has any graphic design talent, so don't hesitate to call on a professional who can translate your desires and expectations onto paper.
7. Make your menu accessible and visible
To ensure that all these efforts are not in vain, your menu must be visible and accessible.
Make sure it appears on various communication channels such as :
- the exterior and interior of your restaurant,
- your website,
- your social networks,
- your Google My Business listing,
- delivery platforms.
Don't forget that your menu can just as easily be consulted by passers-by on the street as by Internet users on their computer or cell phone, so for the latter, think about providing a responsive version.
4 advantages of having your menu in digital format
1. Simplified updates
Firstly, the ability to easily update all the platforms where the menu is published enables agile management of prices and promotional offers. This flexibility ensures consistent communication in real time, enhancing the customer experience.
2. An attractive menu with photos
What's more, by presenting products with attractive photos, the digital menu is more likely to whet customers' appetites. In fact, seeing a photo of a burger is much more likely to tempt customers than a simple "Cheeseburger" headline.
"The order terminal allows customers to discover the product in a photo, which can't necessarily be done on a menu outside the restaurant." Guillaume Coiffe, Smash Smash franchisee in Bordeaux
👉 To find out more: How Smash Smash became a management ace thanks to Innovorder
3. No more stress about running out of stock
Another major advantage is the efficient management of out-of-stock situations. With a simple checkbox option, out-of-stock dishes can be instantly removed from the menu, avoiding any frustration for customers who have ordered a dish that is not available. This option reinforces customer confidence and satisfaction, demonstrating attentive service to their needs.
4. Greater efficiency in rush situations
Finally, during rush or busy periods, the digital menu can be used to highlight certain products that are quicker to prepare and more in demand, thus optimizing speed of service. This strategy boosts operational efficiency and guarantees a positive experience for customers, who receive their orders more quickly.
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Would you like to create a menu in digital format? Innovorder offers you several digital solutions to showcase your menu: order terminals, online ordering and QR codes for ordering at the table.
Want to find out more? Our experts are here to help!
