Ten Menu Mistakes You Can Avoid

People eat what they eat, right? Isn't that the prevailing wisdom? When I give presentations to restaurant operators, pointing out that their menu can act like a fairy godmother bonking customers on the head with fairy dust and getting them to buy more of what they want to sell, I get blank stares of disbelief.

But it's no fairy tale. A well-engineered menu is all about putting energy around items that have a better gross profit potential, and offer significant value to your brand. A menu should be your most effective marketing tool. It should suggestively sell products, describe your offering in a poetic way, entice an upsell and, most importantly, be a visual representation of your brand. In addition, it is the place your guests will find what they want to order, so it is also your catalog.

One of the many reasons badly designed menus are so prevalent is that computers have seduced operators to go it alone in the engineering and design process.

Yet too often menus are given little thought, and treated simply like a price list that anyone with a computer and printer can create. In fact, one of the reasons badly designed menus are so prevalent is that computers have seduced operators to go it alone in the engineering and design process. If you're old enough, think back to when automated photography first arrived on the scene, and promised that almost anyone could take a decent snapshot. Some people dismissed the value of an experienced and skilled photographer. Likewise, desktop publishing tools promise to turn anyone into a designer. You can give a monkey a top-of-the-line digital camera or the best computer-aided design tools in the world; however, the product may leave something to be desired.

With a few pointers you can avoid the most common menu mistakes and improve presentation and, more importantly, profitability of your menu. Granted, I am a menu designer by profession, so I would not have much business if everyone designed their menus on their own. Still, whether you decide to hire a pro or go it alone, you need to consider the following.