To go menus do not just add to the overall dining experience of a customer, but restaurant owners can also use them as an advertising tool. If you have a pizzeria, for example, you can print to go menus and distribute them to customers or suppliers. The more widespread the distribution is, the more well-known your food products would be. However, you do need to take into account that the menu should be cleverly designed. If the layout of your menu is a graphic designer’s nightmare, it will appear equally confusing and not visually appealing to your customers. Here, we will take a look at the design elements of an effective to go menu:
- The ‘sweet spot’ on the menu.
Designers or layout artists of traditional menus think that the ‘sweet spot’ on a menu is the upper right hand corner – so this is where they place their bestsellers or the most profitable items. But new studies suggest that customers actually scan menus like they would a book – starting from the top left corner. As such, if you want your bestselling dishes to be the first one that a customer reads, place it on this exact spot.
- The sectioning of the menu.
Next, make the menu easy to read by dividing it into logical sections. If you’re a fine dining restaurant and you would like to print carry out menus, divide it into sections so that the appetizers, main dishes, and desserts can be easily seen.
- The prices on the menu.
People go to restaurants to eat and when you put the dollar sign before the price, they will feel the impact of the food that they’re ordering on their wallets. To avoid this, most menus are designed without the currency sign. You can also use a pricing strategy with cents – instead of 10.00, put a 9.95 tag price next to a dish so that customers will feel that they are not paying the full price for the item.
If you want to highlight a food item, you can change the font, use color or boxes. Match the look of your menu with the décor or the logo of your dining establishment. By following these tips, you can give your profit a boost with the help of a well-designed takeout menu.
