Tips For Writing Your Menu

From VANEEpedia

Before you start pulling out your menu and your red marker, the first question you should ask yourself is “What am I selling?” Are you selling unique recipes made of the highest-quality ingredients in an elegant atmosphere? Large portions of low-priced traditional American cuisine? Do you have a themed environment with a region-specific menu? By deciding the theme of your restaurant and your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), you can create a cohesive atmosphere to keep your customers coming back.

Once you understand your brand feel, getting your menu together can be tricky business. Here are just a few tips for writing your menu names and item descriptions:

• Start collecting as many menus as possible. See what other people are doing to get inspired.

• The number of words in your item descriptions should form a bell curve with the type of restaurant you have. QSR should keep it to just a descriptive name (Double Cheeseburger), where a Fast-Casual will have a few more words with possible photography. Your casual dining restaurant will have the wordiest descriptions meant to entice and add to the brand atmosphere. Again, once you move to fine dining the word count should drop significantly. You want to have your server doing most of the work here, knowing that menu inside and out.

• Remember the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid!); if a customer needs more information, your wait staff should be capable to answer any questions.

• If applicable, list your local sources. People enjoy supporting local business and knowing where their food is coming from.

• PROOF READ. More importantly, ask someone else to read it over before going to print. A superbly written menu can lose points for the tiniest typo.

• Use the least number of disclaimers possible (i.e. “**Available Monday through Thursday” or “**Not available for take-out”). People don’t like to hear what they can’t do.

• Keep your culinary terms to a minimum. Not everyone is a chef and understands what it means if something is cooked à la nage (poached). However, it is ok to throw in the occasional cooking description such as braised or sautéed, but keep them simple and comprehensible to the non-chef.

• Use simple language that is TRUE. Sound like you’re telling them facts, and get them to understand what that product will be like. Explain what’s going on in a very plain way with no BS or fluffy clichés.

• Avoid using numbers in your descriptions (i.e. Six chicken tenders…). This way you can adjust the numbers in accordance with food cost changes without having to change your menu.

• Do you need pictures? Would it behoove you to spring for the food photography? Start by thinking about your clientele. Are you open 24 hours? If so, pictures could greatly benefit both your customers and your servers. Point and grunt. With that said, at all costs, avoid using clip art (standard graphics everyone can find in Microsoft Word) or low-resolution photography!