Fastfood restaurants, pizza parlors, diners, and even some fine dining establishments have latched on to the trend of having to go menus. Customers want everything to be fast and convenient these days. So if you do not offer takeout services in your food business, you are not necessarily getting this part of the market that is not fully tapped yet.
To Go Menu Printing Basics
Let’s say that you own a diner and you do allow customers to order takeout food – but you do not have a dedicated takeout menu yet. How can you make sure that when you print a to go menu, it will be something that will boost your sales and make hungry customers remember your brand? Here are a few tips:
- Look for an offset printing company.
If you need to print pizza menus, takeout menus, business cards, or postcards, you can go for digital or offset printers. The problem with desktop digital printers is that they are not as fast or as high-quality as offset printers, so it is better to go with the latter.
- Decide on the size of the menu.
Next, think about the size of your takeout menu. Some options are 8.5” x 11”, 8.5” x 14”, or 11” x 17”. There are different folding options available or you can have one jumbo menu that can also be a conversation starter in your diner. Depending on the design of the menu, it can be full-color or black-and-white with hand-drawn illustrations.
- Make sure that the to go menu is concise, yet visually appealing.
No matter which size, paper type, or folding option you choose, it is important to spend time designing the menu. It must be visually appealing so use color wisely. There should also be a good balance between text and pictures, if you have any. The menu should not look too crowded that a customer feels overwhelmed with too many options. At the same time, it should not look too bare – so much so that a customer feels limited with very little choices.
- Leave copies of your takeout menu in easily seen places in your dining establishment.
Don’t order just one or two copies of your takeout menu – the minimum order is usually 100 pieces from most printing companies. What will you do with such a number of menus? Leave them in strategic, easily seen places inside and just right outside your dining establishment. You can also have the delivery person include a takeout menu when they deliver food. This way, customers will have a copy of your menu and it will be easy for them to call and have food delivered, or order food from your diner and have it packed to go.
There’s no doubt that to go menus have modernized the way that customers order and consume food – so it’s best to take advantage of this trend while you can.
