Marketing

Restaurant Menu Cover

By April 7, 2020 No Comments
Restaurant menu design and training. Learn how to use your menu design and training as a marketing tool to gain more sales. Get our menu guide now!

A well-designed restaurant menu cover is an important contributor to your restaurant’s branding efforts.  It serves as a way to tie your creative platform in with your menu offerings.  

Every point of contact that customers have with your restaurant is an opportunity for branding and your restaurant’s menu cover is one of the first points of contact that they have with your brand.

Effective menu covers can create a first impression of the restaurant and make an impact on customers before they even see what dishes are on the menu.  Your restaurant’s menu cover should entice customers to see what’s inside.

What should be taken into account before designing my menu cover?

It usually helps to do a little research and investigate what your competitors are doing with their menu covers.  See what you like and what you don’t like as you try to envision what your own restaurant menu cover should look like.

What design elements should I use for my menu cover?

There are various design elements that can be applied to restaurant menu covers.  Elements such as shape, texture, color scheme and typography should all be taken into account.  When design elements are applied correctly, your restaurant menu cover will support your brand and be a cohesive part of your overall creative platform.

Your restaurant’s menu cover should also be an expression of its personality.  Is your restaurant classy and sophisticated?  A small, plain text menu cover can be used to enhance a restaurant’s impression of elegance or simplicity.  Is your restaurant fun-loving and wild?  A thick, flashy, image-intensive menu cover can emphasize its festive side. Once you determine your restaurant’s personality, you can easily begin crafting the look of your menu cover to match that.

Your menu cover can also provide an indication of the menu offerings that will be inside.  You don’t necessarily need to put food photography on the menu cover, but there are other indicators you can use.  For example, a salad bar restaurant may opt to use cool, relaxing colours like shades of green, whereas a Mexican restaurant with plenty of spicy food on the menu may use hot colours like red and orange on its menu cover.

What are some tips for designing my restaurant menu cover?

Be sure that your restaurant menu cover doesn’t create any problems for customers.  Common menu cover mistakes include print that is too small to read easily;  oversized cover that is too big to handle easily; an antiquated design;  generic clip art;  and misalignment of the brand and menu cover.

The worst thing you could do is have absolutely nothing on your menu cover.  Remember that it serves as another opportunity for branding your restaurant.  Your menu cover should at least include your restaurant’s name and logo.  Anything additional that appears on the menu cover needs to support the brand.

For example, Senor Frog’s three-page menu cover is anything but simple, but every aspect of it ties back into the restaurant’s personality and brand.  From the first page of the menu cover, guests view a giant lily pad with a Senor Frog’s logo on it.  A second layer is filled with blue gel to create the look of water behind the lily pad.  When guests open the menu as Senor Frog’s mascot leaps out of the water at them,  adding an element of surprise that is characteristic of the restaurant’s fun personality.

How often should I update my restaurant‘s menu cover design?

Periodic updates are necessary to keep your menu cover fresh and relevant.  You will want to update your cover if it begins to appear outdated or if your restaurant undergoes a re-branding.

Your menu cover also needs to remain reflective of the food inside.  Updating the dishes offered on your menu can be a great way to revitalize your brand and keep customers intrigued but if you make any major changes to your menu offerings, you should change your menu cover to match.

Some restaurants even change their menu selections seasonally.  In this case, you may want to consider having an adaptable menu design that allows a new menu cover to be placed in with every season.

Restaurant Menu Cover

Keep in mind that a menu cover is just one aspect of your restaurant’s creative platform.  Your menu, napkins, to-go materials, and signage materials should all have a cohesive design.  All of your restaurant materials should incorporate a consistent creative platform.  If your menu cover is cohesive with the rest of your creative platform and is reflective of your restaurant’s personality and brand, it will help you to deliver a dining experience that is authentic and connected to who you say you are as a concept.

Want to know more about Restaurant Menu Planning and Design Ideas?

For a very low investment why not purchase a copy of:

How to Design a Market Focused Menu” eBook

 to understand the 3 easy steps to menu planning.

 

 

 

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