Thinking of printing a menu for your restaurant? Here’s a few helpful tips.

Any restaurant can write a list of their dishes and present it to a customer. But smart restaurants are also utilizing their menu as a marketing tool.

How can it be a marketing tool when the customer is already choosing you as a vendor, you ask?

Here are a few helpful tips to consider when creating a printed menu for your restaurant.

Suggest meals to the customer.

The customer already took the bait. They have your menu in hand, what’s to make them choose the prime rib over the hot dog?

You of course!!

Suggesting items to your customers as “Chef’s Choice” or “House Special” can help you promote your most profitable items, while helping guide customers who have a harder time making decisions.

You may also want to try  ‘branding’ a more common dish with your restaurant, such as  “Luigi’s Alfredo”  or “Big House Steak”

Your customers trust you to make their food, why not let them trust you to suggest it too.

Be more creative with the menu copy.

As I just mentioned, branding dishes helps to establish your restaurant as “the original”. Think of the McNugget.

But creative copy isn’t just reserved for your dishes.  Try being creative with you menu sections and item descriptions.  I ate at one restaurant that touted sections as “herbivore” and “carnivore” to make a distinction between it’s meat and vegetarian dishes.

Try using different adjectives to add more ‘flavor’ to your menu. Use sizzling instead of hot, delectable instead of delicious and fresca instead of fresh.

Encourage customers to interact the waitstaff.

If you have specials, prominently display this fact with some words of encouragement to ask the waitstaff for more information. (And maybe have them offer “’suggestions”) This small interaction helps build a repertoire with your customers and waitstaff. This is a win-win because not only do your customers feel better serviced while you get a chance at selling a bigger ticket item, but this usually results in a bigger tip for your waitstaff for offering these specials.

Market to specific niche segments

Although most restaurants have a common food theme, yours may have special-dietary alternatives. Vegetarian (or Meat Lovers),  Low-Calorie, Spicy, or Kosher are just a few of the special diet menus I have seen.

Make sure that these items are easily identifiable as having this trait. This doesn’t necessarily mean having an entire section for them, it could be a symbol next to the item with a legend describing the special diet. We’ve all seen the spicy symbol next to certain items on the Chinese food take out menu.

Coupons

This one goes without saying, but if you have a need for take-out and delivery menus, then you really should be sure to include coupons. This is a way of enticing customers to return to your establishment on another occasion.

Keep it unique

Your menus should stand out from the competition in every way possible. I’ve seen a million menus with the same pizza at the top, or using the same wording as everyone else. Take a look at some of your competitions menus and think “what can I do to make mine stand out from these”  Size,  Shape,  Color,  Paper type and a myriad of other options can make your menu memorable.

Distribution

Think of your menu as not just a menu, but also as a sales piece.  Saturate the market with them: leave one with every customer, send them in your direct-mail campaigns, leave them in hotel rooms, hospitals, gas stations and more.