Have you ever wondered what hidden treasure attracts customers to certain menu cards? It’s a fact that the food itself influences the food you select from a menu.
Let us have a comparison on presentation when it comes to serving food; what gives you the best impression, whether it’s a portion of food served in a simple way or with the presentation?
We all go for the second option. The same goes with the menu card design; it’s the critical element that catches the customer and influences which food should need to order.
The covid era leads to updating the menu cards from offline to digital. Around 92% of all leading restaurants now provide mobile order-ahead making it more engaging and feasible for the customers. (Source)
Even a good number of customers evaluate the restaurants with their ambience and standard of the menu card. Let’s get into a more profound understanding of menu card design.
Read More: Importance of Restaurant Logo design
Table of Contents
What is Restaurant Menu Card Design?
In simple terms, we can symbolise an appropriate menu card design as a reflector of your food identity, the offerings, and the areas where you are unique from others that can keep your brand crisp and firm in the customer’s mindset.
Creating an engaging restaurant menu card design is the best strategy for the success of your restaurant’s marketing plan. A well-designed and functional restaurant menu card design has the potential to flourish your profitability and set up a brand value. However, certain ingredients should consider preparing your food menu, including a budget, operations, profitability, etc.
How Can Creative Menu Card Design Attract More Customers to Your Restaurant?
Though I mentioned creative, it doesn’t mean you have to go out of the box. Even a minimalistic design can grab the attention of the customers! If you are running a café with a simple and elegant vibe, then a neat, straightforward design having a good amount of white space gives more comfort to the customers.
No matter the case, your restaurant menu card design must be ideal and offer customers a powerful workflow and experience. With this much importance, you must seriously consider creating a menu card design. Suppose you develop it from an individual or group. The customer might face specific difficulties while overseeing the card in that case. Still, a menu card design agency clearly understands the pros and cons as they have an expert team and execute it best.
What is the Role of Menu Card Design in Restaurant Branding?
The restaurant business is becoming competitive like ever. Whether yours is a café, dine-in restaurant, or bar, you must have a proficient strategy to market your business. The latest research states that the Indian Food Service Market will grow at 10.51% by the middle of 2027. (Source)
Different other data and the current trend show that if you fail to get updated within five years, the chances are there that you might get out of the market. These all stats indicate that your menu card design plays a critical role in restaurant branding.
Compared to other marketing tools, it is the most cost-effective one. Because it is widely open to a large audience, and they read the entire menu at least once before making a decision. Therefore, by using attractive graphics or imageries on menu cards, you can attract customers and make good offerings.
Essential Tips to Build a Solid Customer Base Using Your Restaurant Menu Card Design
Now let’s have a better understanding of the essential tips required to create a menu card design that builds a solid customer base:
- Recognise your eye-scanning habits:
While creating a design, you need to place the content and imageries in a way that every individual can equally have a look into it. Many restaurant owners think there are certain areas where customers pay more attention, but nowadays, customers tend to read the entire menu from top to bottom and every corner. So, place your information in the menu card wisely.
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
- Create Logical Sections on the Menu:
You need to create the menu card considering the customer’s feasibility. It can be done by classifying your dishes and sorting them according to the sections or cuisines. Doing such makes customers quickly look for their favourite parts and order wisely. The list goes on, from starters and juices to main course and deserts. Moreover, it is a pattern followed for ages and more yet to come.
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
- Follow a theme:
Creating a brand identity is another essential element required for your restaurant. The more engaging your restaurant’s theme is, the more consumer flow you will accept regularly. You need to go for a theme that matches the restaurant’s overall look and feel. For example, if you plan to open a Chinese restaurant, make the menu card as witty and vibrant as it shows their message; similar goes with other cuisines.
Source:https://www.behance.net/
Source:https://www.behance.net/
Source:https://www.behance.net/
Source:https://www.behance.net/
Source:https://www.behance.net/
Source:https://cdn.shopify.com/
- Use Photographs in moderation:
Personally speaking, it is one of the areas where our Indian restaurants lack. When we analyse any level of restaurants, we can see that the element of the photograph is not that followed. As Indians, we might know our dishes, but when a foreigner visits our country or even we travel to different states and India has enormous diversity, we might also encounter the difficulty of understanding the dish just by name. However, when we use imageries, they must be highly professional in quality and meet your restaurant’s standards. So, conducting a photo shoot and displaying that on the menu card is always recommended to give the utmost authenticity.
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://designtemplateplace.com/
Source:https://in.pinterest.com/pin/712483603559377634/
Source:https://in.pinterest.com/pin/734368283001980327/
Source:https://creativemarket.com
Source: https://in.pinterest.com/
Source: https://in.pinterest.com/
- Make use of concrete language:
The title or names of the dishes are the souls of a sound menu card – it is only through them the diners make their decision. That’s the prominent reason designers, content and engineering team give special attention to coming up with some inventive name or phrase that is appetising, engaging, and evocative. Several studies state that the sales of restaurants increase by almost 30 per cent with the help of a good description. It generates a special bond with the customer towards the dish.
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
- Utilise the space wisely:
Placing too much information in one slide will gradually bunch your customers’ mindset, making it resilient for them to determine one dish. To avoid this mess, it’s perfect for categorising your restaurant menu card into various sessions. Just focus more on negative spaces and balance out the ratio between content and imageries.
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Source:https://www.behance.net/photohomyakov
Conclusion
Thus, with this blog, I hope you understand the importance of restaurant menu card design and the measures to be considered while creating it. An excellent Restaurant menu card design can persuade the success of your restaurant business. It is a prominent tool to win the loyalty of your consumers who dine in your restaurant.
It is also an essential tool to express your service, increase sales, create brand value and also make sure ROI. So what are you waiting for? If you plan to launch a new restaurant or revamp the existing one, don’t hesitate to swipe up and grab the best opportunities with the LogoPeople team.
Author: Anush Malik
Being a strategist’s head and a long term visionary personality aims to achieve excellence in branding, packaging and digital marketing field. My 15 years of design experience and masters degree ais my strength which keeps me motivated and keep me going positively. I have participated in extensive branding design conquests in India, USA, Australia and New Zealand with winning zeal. My objective is to encourage start-ups and hence involves actively in the articles which will act as a productive intake of knowledge for them. Do connect me personally via my LinkedIn and I love to share my expertise with you.
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