How to create a restaurant menu — A complete guide on menu building and writing

A restaurant menu might be just a page or two. But, a successful restaurant menu involves a lot of behind-the-scenes efforts. Before they make their appearance on the menu card, dishes are tasted and tested; prices are decided based on maximum profit, and each word is meticulously chosen to appeal to the customer.

Even factors like the font used and the weight of the paper must be given intricate attention to make them impactful elements of the menu card. When all efforts are planned and executed, the restaurant menu transforms into a silent seller making your restaurant business extremely profitable.

RIGHT WORDS ON THE MENU CAN INCREASE SALES BY UPTO 27%

Designing a perfect menu is like an engineering process. Apart from the creative element, there are certain calculated and scientific procedures that must be followed to create a mesmerizing culinary description, which is available for diners to immerse themselves in.

While designing a menu is crucial to engage the foot traffic that visits the restaurant, designing a restaurant website is yet another aspect that no restaurant must oversee, especially during such pandemic times. Use a restaurant website builder that is DIY, template-based and yet fully customizable. Make use of a food web constructor that is affordable, permits you to receive unlimited online food orders and direct, secure payments from the customers. Ensure that the website builder does not levy any commission per order or charges any hidden costs.

STEP 1: MENU ENGINEERING PRINCIPLE

The very first step that a restaurateur must take involves the time-tested restaurant menu engineering principle. For assessing which menu must be continued and which one should be dropped, two variables must be considered — profitability and popularity. Profitability refers to the high margin that a particular dish generates and popularity refers to the number of people who order the dish.

PROFITABLE:

Stars (Popular), Puzzles (Unpopular)

UNPROFITABLE:Plow Horses (Popular), Dogs (Unpopular)

STEP 2: EFFECTIVE BALANCE BETWEEN THE THEME AND TRENDS

Since the unprofitable and unpopular dishes on the menu have been relinquished, there is now some space on the menu for some really new flavors.

The next step in menu development is to seek inspiration for dishes that are new, improved and in vogue with the latest trends. Scrutinize the headlines used on print, broadcast and social media to identify the names of recipes that people crave for and ingredients that are trending amidst foodies.While modernizing the menu and trying to match the latest food cravings, one must also stay true to the theme or core concept of the restaurant. If you own an Italian restaurant, you should definitely not include uber-trendy poke bowls on your restaurant menu. Stay creative, but within the boundaries of your own restaurant cuisine.

Apart from following the trends, a deep look into the concept might also help in throwing light upon unsung ingredients and recipes that can be given a fresh lease of life by you.

STEP 3: CREATIVE BRIEF

Once the trends and themes are ready to be integrated into the restaurant menu, getting the culinary team involved in creating and revamping the existing menu items is necessary. With the creative brief or strategy in hand, this task becomes easier.

When an advertising agency is asked to design a new logo, advertisement or any other creative material, a project manager sets out on the task of writing a creative brief. This gives the entire creative team consisting of graphic designers, illustrators and writers a clear road map to follow. With these guidelines in print, they stick to the concept even as they explore unique ideas.

The same approach can be used with a creative team of chefs too. A short brief with the updated restaurant menu must be written. The creative brief must have budget elements as well. The culinary team must be given a cap on food costs per restaurant menu item. They can be asked to get creative and explore substitute ingredients or even try out time and cost saving cooking procedures.

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