If you’re in the restaurant industry, you know that to-go menus have stood the test of time. Whether they’re hanging on a fridge at someone’s home or they are attached to your Google listing, they’re still an integral part of your restaurant. So, as you’re going to design your to-go menu, what should you keep in mind? Well, there are many things. Of course you should stay true to your restaurant and it’s brand, but there are other aspects of a to-go menu that can make or break your menu.
1. Be Concise
Being concise is hands down the most important thing you can do on a to-go menu. While on a full menu it can be useful to list ingredients and descriptions, that is not the case on to-go menus. Here, you want to be as concise as possible. List the item and if the customer has a question, they can ask over the phone. Don’t overwhelm your customer with too much to look at. They’ll end up unable to see the whole menu and are likely to have a worse overall customer experience because of that. Here are some other key things:
1. Make the price visible
2. Highlight your most popular menu items
3. Don’t describe the dish in full. If they want to know, they’ll ask!
3. Keep the colors simple
Your restaurant might be bursting with colors on the inside, but that doesn’t mean you want your to-go menu to. Of course, stay true to your brand and it’s colors, but be sure that you’re not overwhelming the print. Too much color can be…well just too much. People don’t pick up a to-go menu to look at pretty colors, they want to see what you sell. So, don’t distract your customer and don’t distract from your amazing food!
In actuality, your to-go menu should be one color accented by your logo and moderate imagery. This could be anything from a picture of your best selling dish or even just some graphics that are in-line with your restaurant. From there, you can add in accent colors as needed, but just like we always say, keep it simple! Don’t overwhelm anything and detract from your customer’s experience.
3. Don’t overwhelm it with images
While imagery is a useful tool, as always in print it is important to you don’t overwhelm your menu. Again, stay true to your brand and it’s imagery, but understand too that your to-go menu shouldn’t exactly be a gallery for all your favorite images. Keep it concise and potentially insert a few images of customer favorites for your customers to see, but do not over do it.
4. Most important, be available
There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a restaurant listed on Google and then have to do a deep search for their menu. From clicking on the website, the Google menu, random PDF uploads, customers truly never know what they’re going to get and if they’re looking at the most up-to-date menu. Just like anything else in your pipeline, make things available for people to easily access. You customer shouldn’t have to click more than required.
Does your to-go menu need a refresh? Do you need to update your Google to-go menu? We got you. Reach out to us today and let’s make something awesome!