Designing a

great menu.

Includes our glossary of menu lingo

Guide Book #4

A great menu is much more than just a list of food and

prices.

Your menu is often the first thing your customers see

when they take a table at your restaurant, and may even

be the reason they came through your doors in the first

place.

But you would be surprised how many restaurants

spend little or no time on menu design and miss out on

easy ways to help drive sales of their most profitable

dishes. Inside this guidebook you will find everything you need

to know about designing a great restaurant menu from

layout to pricing.

You will also find a glossary of mouth watering

adjectives and some excellent tips on how to turn your menu into your most important marketing tool.

Stay

flexible when

you first open.

Don‘t over invest

in the printing of

menus as you

may have to

make changes

Lets Get Started Before you sit down to write your restaurants menu, you should first consider some important

factors.

How will you restaurants menu be different from everyone else’s? How are you going to stand

out, what will be your signature dishes.

Understand the link between the restaurant kitchen and a restaurant menu. The size and

setup of your restaurant kitchen will directly impact the size and style of your menu. A smaller

kitchen will limit the variety of your restaurant menu.

Items on a restaurant menu should be versatile. Cross utilization of menu items keeps food

spoilage down and allows you to use ingredients in more than one dish.

Ensure your dishes are easy to prepare, unless of course you plan to get a Michelin Star. Any

menu items that have over fussy presentations will potentially bog down the kitchen staff during a

lunch or dinner rush.

Know your customers. Probably the most important thing to keep in mind when designing your

menu is your customers. Who do you want to attract. A sports bar will require a very different

menu than a fine dining French restaurant.

Check out your competition. Study their menus to see their pricing. Look for similarities and

differences between your prospective restaurant menu and theirs. Look at their layout, how are

they promoting their signature dishes.

Get Inspiration Collect as many menus as you can get your hands on and go-online. Today many

restaurants have PDFs of their menus that you can download from their sites.

Menu Styles The Leader Bound Book Once regarded as the height of chic in top end restaurants, the leader book seems a

little tired and old fashioned these days .

Today they are probably best suited for a country house or perhaps your wine list.

If you do decide to go with this style try to find a colour that suits the overall design and

branding of your restaurant. If in doubt, black classic style covers will go with most

restaurant designs.

Most suppliers will also imprint or emboss your logo on the front of the cover to help

brand your restaurant.

The Laminated Menu

Usually a one pager or a two-panel menu (one that opens like a magazine), this type of

menu is very popular with restaurants with a large footfall as they help to help turn

tables. They are great for sports bars, fast casual and family friendly restaurants.

The advantages of this style are that are cheap to produce, easy to handle and offer

lots of scope for creativity. They are also probably the only style of menu that can handle

photos.

Disadvantage – The can easily become tatty.

Quick tip, if you have a double sided menu put main courses on both sides as

you have no control over which side the person is reading.

One-Use-Only Paper Menus

One-Use-Only Paper Menus have become very popular in recent years with

restaurants that have a relaxed atmosphere. They also often double as place mats

in canteen style restaurants. A4 or A3 are usually the most popular sizes. Paper

menus allow you give a fresh menu to every customer and have the added

advantage that customers can take home the menu with them.

The Classic Page Turner

Are still the most popular form of menu. These are great for restaurants with a lot of

dishes , but they can slow down decision making. Make sure you split it into clear

sections. The Chalkboard The chalkboard is great for gastro pubs and neighbourhood restaurants as they

create a sense of homespun cooking. Make sure you have an employee with clear

hand writing. Don't use different colours, stick with white and don't actually use chalk

but use chalk pens. Chalkboards are also great for promoting specials.

According

to restaurant

consultants

interviewed by

Restaurants USA

magazine, re-

designing your

menu can

improve your

sales on average

from 2 to 10

percent.

Menu Layout Careful layout of your menu is critical. We know that most customers are going to order

an entrée when they open the menu, so your goal is to ensure the customer sees the

more profitable items first.

It is critical that you are aware of the most valuable real estate on your menu. On a solo

page layout, it's a proven fact that the more profitable items should be placed on top and

bottom thirds of the page. On two-panel (page) menus people most often look at the top

right-hand side first. On three-panel (page) menus, people most often look at the centre

panel first, and then move counter clockwise. These areas should be reserved for more

profitable dishes since it is the best place to catch–and retain–the reader‘s gaze.

Remember cheap, popular staples like a burger should be harder to locate. This is akin

to the grocery store putting the milk in the back. You have to walk by all sorts of

tempting, high-priced items to get to it.

The order in which dishes appear is also important. People most often remember and

buy the first two items or the last menu item in each menu category. Place your menu

items with the highest gross profit in these spots on the menu.

Borders and boxes are also a great way to draw attention to special parts of your menu.

Our eyes are drawn to boxes, and diners are statistically more likely to order whatever is

inside them. Restaurants reserve them for profitable items or dishes the chef wants to

promote.

Finally do not fear white space as it allows the eyes to pause and rest.

See the

change of

seasons as an

opportunity to

introduce spring,

summer, autumn

and winter menus

that reflect the

products

available, the

holidays of the

season and

seasonal eating

habits.

Pricing Once you have your restaurant menu drafted, it‘s time to decide on selling prices for

each dish.

Download the Catering Mentor costing tools and GP calculator to help you decide on

your selling prices.

Understand the psychology of pricing. Above £5, add 95p. Since price increments of

less than £1 don‘t change the perceived value of a dish add £0.95 to any item that's

more than £5. For example, since £12.50 and £12.95 have the same perceived value,

so go with £12.95 to maximize your profits.

Avoid listing prices down the right-hand margin. This can result in customer scanning

down the list of prices and choosing the least-expensive items. It is much better to add

the prices at the end of each description within the body of the text using the same font

and size, so that they cannot be read easily together and compared.

Removing the £ sign can further help the customer focus on the product, not the price.

Update your menu periodically and remove items that aren‘t selling. Download the

Catering Mentor Menu Engineering Tool. This powerful and fully automated tool, helps

you assess the profitability of your menu items based on their food cost, selling price

and popularity

If your

customers

have trouble

pronouncing the

names of your

dishes, number

them! It's much

easier to order a

#9 than it is to try

to puzzle out how

to pronounce an

unfamiliar name

Menu Descriptions

Your menu description should make a guest‘s mouth water. The adjectives lavished on a

dish can be as important as the names of the ingredients. What would you rather eat,

grilled chicken or flame-broiled chicken with garlic rub?

However avoid making descriptions too long. A sentence or two is fine. You want to

intrigue the customer. If they have more questions, their server should be able to give

further information about a dish or recommend a house favourite.

Incorporating local references and traceability can also help your restaurant menu stand

out. For example, Galway Bay oysters sounds very inviting. I was recently in a great little

restaurant in Scotland that use blackboards to display their daily fish specials and

included the name of the fishermen who had pulled in the catch.

Check out the Catering Mentor glossary of foodie buzz words for inspiration when writing

your menu. Here you will find hundreds of Scrumptious, Yummy, Heavenly, Melt in the

mouth, Indulgent and Irresistible adjectives.

Final checklist

Do: Offer a balance of unique dishes and old favourites

Give personal recommendations

Place side orders and add on in a prominent position

Promote New Items and Specials. Highlight them with a box or a ―New!‖ graphic.

Choose a great typeface. Check out www.dafonts.com

Make the desserts sound like a must have treats

Use table tents to promote deserts

Have a balance of high and low food costs for a reasonable profit margin.

Highlight sharing dishes ―These are often bought by couples on dates who are more

concerned with the experience that the price‖

Have a signature dishes

Include symbols and icons for healthy options and allergy free dishes etc.

Offer wine and beer matches

Always ensure that your menus are clean

Don't: Over work dishes by using expensive and pretentious items

Litter your menu with superfluous adjectives

Add to many pictures or busy backgrounds, that make the menu hard to read.

Use clipart

Use £ signs

Have too many dishes. The optimum number of dishes in a category is between five and

seven. If you have too many dishes it decreases the value of each item

Have spelling mistakes

Make your menu 10 pages long

Enlist the

talent of a

local artist to

design a cover.

Perhaps you

could show case

a different local

artist every time

you reprint your

menu.

Glossary of menu descriptors

Take advantage of your menu‘s power by including menu lingo that sells.

Below you will find 100‘s of foodie buzz words to help you write an inspired menu. Here you will find

hundreds of Scrumptious, Yummy, Heavenly, Melt in the mouth, Indulgent and Irresistible adjectives.

.

But remember only great ingredients make for great descriptions, so never exaggerate what's in a dish

Vegetables

Hand Cut

Crunchy

Locally sourced

Organic

Orgasmic

Spring

Summer

Autumnal

Winter

Baby

Wood Roasted

Brambly Apples

Hand cut

Jacket potato

Baby

Warm salad of

Caramelised

Golden brown

Presented on

On a bed of

Medley

Steamed

Crunchy slaw

Field mushroom

Generous Portion of

Complemented by

Home-style

Served with

Chunky

Local

Fresh

Seasonal

Roasted

Oven Baked

Medley of

Rustic

Crispy

Over crispy

Sweet

Candied

Stuffed with

Array of

Sautéed

Cholesterol free

Chunks of

Colourful

Julienne

Mushy

Served with your choice

of

Steamed

Pastas and Rice

Aromatic

Fluffy

Al dente

Simply noodles

Be specific with your

pasta: fettuccine, linguine

Side Orders

For even more flavour,

add one of these to

your favourite entrée:

An assortment of

Bite Size

Paired with

Perfect for dipping

Accompaniments

Served with your choice

of

Dressings/Sauces/Top

pings

Decadent

With an extra drizzle of

Rich

Mouth watering

Chunky

A balsamic glaze

Fiery

Sweet

Light

Drizzled

Finished with

Saffron-infused gravy

Devilishly hot

Roasted garlic

mayonnaise

Tangy

Crowned with

Aromatic

House

Splash of

Rubbed with

Brushed with

Flavoured with a hint of

A jug of

Aioli

Buttery

Sage Jus

Lightly seasoned

Blend of secret spices

Topped with

Served with our signature

BBQ sauce

Cooked to order

Sticky

Brushed with

Smothered in

Soup and Sandwiches

Open toasted

A thick and creamy

Wholegrain

Floured Bun

Croutons for extra crunch

Scoop of Jersey cream

Country style

Hearty

Meaty

Served with fresh crusty

bread

Low Calorie

Lightly Toasted

Winter

Open faced

Cooked to a unique

recipe

Meat

Pan Fried

Grilled to your liking

Skewered British Beef

Top side of Succulent

Tender Dry-cured

Skewered Seared Juicy

Perfectly grilled

Steaming Hot

Cured

Choice Cut

Char-grilled

100% prime beef,

Fall-off-the-bone ribs

Flame grilled

Game

Hand-trimmed

Expertly seasoned

flavoured with

Over a red hot grill to

seal in its bold flavour

For an indulgent steak

experience

Thick cut filet

Well-marbled

Seasoned to perfection

Our aged prime rib

Hand-carved to order

Free Range

Slow-roasted to capture

the full flavours

Seared on a red hot grill

The steak lover's steak

Hand-selected

Juicy

Slither

Smoky barbecue

Aged

Black angus beef

28 day aged Braised

Sizzling

Aged just right

Cooked to your liking

Encrusted with

Fish

Hand-Breaded

Lightly Breaded

Delicately grilled

Catch of the day

Sautéed in butter

Broiled

Oven-roasted

Farmed

Sea

Smoked

Crispy Batter

Freshly Caught

Hand battered

Caught by

Daily catch

Tempura

Battered

Griddled

Steamed

Fresh water

Sustainable

Simply Grilled

Flash fried

Pizza

Hand-stretched

Thick and fluffy

Wood Fire

Our thinnest, lightest,

crispiest pizza EVER!!!

Recipes from the heart of

Italy

Made to share

Hand rolled

Classic Neapolitan

Shaved Parmesan

Stone baked

Thin crust

Italian seasoning

Mediterranean

Dessert

Molten chocolate

Cool

Creamy

Tender

Whipped cream

Something sweet

Treat yourself

Naughty but nice

An indulgent twist on the

classic

A crunchy concoction

Moist layers of

Have your cake... and

eat it!

Can't decide? Sample

three of our most popular

desserts

New York-style

cheesecake

Irresistible Desserts

Sumptuous

Slab of

Sandwiched between

Meet in a frenzy of

Lavishly made with

Guilt Free

Simply irresistible

Luscious

Retro classic

Served with clotted

cream.

Melt-in-the-mouth

Creamy

Divine

Dollop of

Celestial

Crumbly

Delectable

Generous portion

Lashings of ice cream

blissful

An all time favourite

Ample

Copious

Shouts ―eat me!‖

Pureed

Velvety pudding

Enveloped in

Reduced

Winter spiced

Warning—May be

addictive

taste sensation

A perfect combination of

two favourites

Why not ask for two

spoons

Baked Goods

Straight out of the oven

Baked off freshly in store

daily

Artisan

Gluten free

Heavenly

Indulgent

Luscious

Plump

The ultimate treat

Served steaming

Baked fresh daily

Kids

Just for kids

Junior portion

Mini Me Potion

Made for dunking

Gooey

Chewy

Munchy

Scrumptious

Yummy

Zesty

½ portions of ‗ mom &

dads ‗ main courses

Zippy

Delicious

Messy

Itsy Bitsy

Chick 'o'Licious

Deep Sea Dippers

Jelly Delight

Adult free zone

Nutritional

Misc.

Not for the faint hearted

A warm feast of

Authentic

Our Famous

Traditional

Made the old fashioned

way

Prepare to be impressed!

Our signature

Dive in

Legendary

Dare to share

A real British favourite

A feast of

Need we see more

Loaded

Enjoy the taste of Spain

Hungry??

Hunger Buster

Designed for kids

Has quickly become a

house favourite

Endless supply of

cooking is fit for the gods

A bold twist on a classic

Made for sharing

Why not go large

Gastronomically

delightful

Grab a real taste of

Spain

Smoothies

Nourishing blends

With big fruit flavour

Cool and refreshing

Tangy

Blended

Healthy

Techni-colour

Ultra Cool

The icy-cold original

Beer

Fuller-bodied

Pilsner-style

Dark

Robust

Complex

Distinctive Bite

Strong and crisp

American Style

Popular Import

Clean Finish

Chilled

Served in Frosty Mugs

Cold-filtered

Coffee Tea

Blended

Frothy

Classic

Artfully roasted

Ethically sourced

no-frills black coffee

100% Arabica beans

Freshly ground daily

Brewed fresh all day

Topped with sprinkles

Spiced Latte

Brew of the day

Luxurious hot chocolate

Wine

Dry

Easy Drinking

Crisp

Fresh and fruity

Great with

Full bodied

Crisp and refreshingly

dry

A versatile all-rounder to

complement most food.

Bursting with fruit

Ideal with milder food

Seriously fruity

Crafted especially

Packs a punch

Complex

Fruitful marriage of two

top grapes

Subtle and spicy

Award winning

Bursting with flavour

Superbly light

Sensuously smooth

Succulent

Stunningly complex

Mellow

Fresh, zesty citrus fruit

flavours

Dark and luscious with

cherry flavours