Menus

A menu isn't just a list of dishes — it's a marketing tool that whets your customers' appetites. A good restaurant menu offers mouthwatering descriptions, enticing photographs and a clean layout that makes it easy for customers to find what they're craving. Takeout menus also need clear branding that reminds customers where they bought their favorite dishes. When you invest in printed menus, you'll find that the menu does half the marketing for you.

What Should a Good Menu Include?

All great menus have one thing in common: They make customers even hungrier than they were when they arrived. Your restaurant menu could include the following:

• Vivid descriptions that make the reader taste the food before they place their order. Which description would make you more likely to order a hot dog: "One hot dog with bun" or "All-beef hot dog with natural casing served on a fresh, buttery bun"? Menu descriptions are just as important as online product descriptions.

• Crisp photographs that show off your delicious food and expert plating skills. Even if your customers don't order those particular dishes, they'll see how much care you put into every meal. They'll also start imagining the food in their head, making them more likely to place an order.

• Clear, organized sections that allow your diners to find information quickly. When they're hungry, no one wants to search the menu for drinks or appetizers. Plus, they might overlook a dish that they wanted to order.

• Consistent branding that makes your customers associate your restaurant with delicious meals. This is especially important for takeout menus that your customers don't read in-store.

• Expert graphic design that makes your menu easy to read. You can include photos and illustrations, but make the text the focus of your menu. Avoid small text or harsh colors, like bright red on a white background.

When you impress your diners with a professional menu, they'll come back for dates, family dinners and nights when they feel like treating themselves.

What Are the Different Types of Menus?

At Dollar Bill Printing, we print traditional in-house menus. These are the menus that your diners see when they sit down and get ready to order. Typically, these menus feature a foldout or booklet style that organizes the menu into neat sections. They also feature colorful descriptions and full-color photos of appetizers, entrees, desserts and drinks. In-house menus feature durable paper stock because restaurants reuse them every day.

We also print takeout menus for customers who want to take home your menu and call ahead or order delivery. These menus tend to be smaller than in-house menus and focus more on the dishes than photographs or chef biographies. Since your customers won't be dining in the restaurant, it's essential that you include your restaurant name, logo and contact information at the top of the menu. Otherwise, your diners might not know where to call.

Some restaurants have started offering contactless menus. Instead of a list of dishes, these menus feature a QR code that the diners scan with their smartphones to pull up the menus. From there, they can order delivery or pick-up or place an order for the waiter to deliver to the table. Even if you don't plan on offering contactless menus, you could still add a QR code to your takeout menus that takes diners directly to your website.

How Many Pages Does Your Menu Need?

When you buy in-house menus, you can have as many pages as you want. Multiple pages offer a cleaner layout and more room for graphics. Since takeout menus are cheaper — and often disposable — you might want to fit everything on one or two pages, if possible. This doesn't mean you should use tiny text to cram everything onto one page but focus more on the dishes and less on full-size photographs.

Does Dollar Bill Printing Offer Custom Restaurant Menus?

Dollar Bill Printing has created menus and other marketing materials for over 40 years. We print dine-in menus, takeout menus, contactless menus and everything else that you need to run a successful restaurant. Choose from single-page laminated menus, folded paper menus, and multi-page menus that highlight your tasty dishes. Before you get started, feel free to talk to us about our expertise that makes us the top printing company in southern Michigan.