A restaurant menu card is like a chef’s dish.

If it’s not designed in a presentable

manner, the customers would jump to ugly conclusions without even tasting the dish.

Your restaurant menu card design plays a crucial role in shaping a customer’s
perspective towards your restaurant. In order to make an excellent first impression, you
would want your menu card to be something spectacular.

It’s your job to design the menu in such a way that it makes your customers curious
about various dishes served at your restaurant. An outstanding menu card is your dish’s
one-way ticket to fame.

How is menu psychology used in designing a restaurant menu

card?
Menu Engineering

Menu Engineering is the study of carefully designing food items on the menu based on
their individual prices. High margin dishes are highlighted vividly so as to attract as
much attention it can. This helps in increasing your restaurant’s profits.

There are people who are specifically devoted to making creative restaurant menu card
designs based on certain price metrics and other factors. Global restaurant consultant,
Aaron Allen, did a study which suggested that various colors used to describe dishes on
the menu had a varied effect on customers. According to his research on
the Psychology of Menu Design, he said, green color on menu items meant the food is
fresh and organic, orange stimulates appetite, yellow attracts the reader’s attention
since it’s a happy color, and so on.

So now, it’s only fair that you work towards building a great restaurant menu card
design. Something as minute as colors on the menu could affect the customer’s opinion
about your restaurant. Also, remember, this is not a one-time job. With an influx of new
cultures and trends, it’s important that you update your menu cards to suit these
changes.

How do you design a restaurant menu?

You can be as creative and personal while designing menu cards. Let people know the
story behind your restaurant. This will make things more authentic and relatable to your
customers.

There are some things you should keep in mind before designing your restaurant menu
card.

1. Font it well
The text in your menu is your ultimate weapon. Incorporating appealing fonts in your
restaurant menu card and highlighting the necessary words will make a huge
 difference. Italicized words have a different charm than the ones in bold.

A study by Georgia State University on The Psychology of Menu Design, suggests

that your menu should be limited to three font types. Anything more than that and
your customer’s eyes are on the next page. The items should not be disorganized to
look at.
2. Use the ‘eye movement’ in your favor
A customer’s eyes follow a particular direction while scanning through the menu
card. Their eyes tend to land right in the middle of the menu, then top right corner
followed by the top left. You can use it to your advantage and insert high-pricing
dishes in this ‘Golden Triangle’ as referred to by menu engineers. Font size needs
to be appropriate as well. Nothing too big or small, just visually correct.
3. Utilize the space wisely
Putting too much in one page is going to cluster your customer’s mind eventually
making it tough for them to decide on one dish. To avoid this confusion, categorize
your restaurant menu card into different sections. Use more negative spaces.
Balance out the ratio between pictures and text.
4. Sensible organization
Organize your menu card in different sections. It should be listed in a particular
order, drinks and other beverages to desserts and not vice versa. Give your
customers a sufficient amount of time to browse through each of these sections.
5. Make it a visual delight
Your restaurant’s menu card should look as appealing as your dishes. Use vivid
imagery in your menu as a way of elevating your customer’s hunger. Make sure you
use limited yet high-quality pictures that actually resemble your dish and vice versa.
Another way is to use themed illustrations based on your restaurant. If your
restaurant follows a peculiar idea, go ahead and show it in your menu.
6. Spell out your dishes
Customers are your audience and the restaurant menu card, your book. Make sure
you engage them with interesting stories about your dishes and the reason why you
chose to include them in the menu. Go back to the roots, be informative.
Remember, people are always curious to know more about the food they eat.
7. Price it right (or don’t!)
A tactic used by many is the removal of prices from dishes entirely or using round
figures. People tend to not notice the high-margin dishes if they’re written
alphabetically.
8. Limit options and hack your way through prices
Each page on your restaurant menu card should have a maximum of seven dishes
in each section. Anything more and your customer will end up ordering in a haste.
Placing more expensive dishes on top of the page gives the impression that
everything else that follows is way cheaper. Hack? Yes.
According to BBC’s article on The secret tricks hidden inside restaurant menus, the
simplest of changes like the order of items or the font in your menu card can deeply
impact a customer’s choice.
5 unique restaurant menu card ideas
The menu consists of different sections as discussed before. There are quite a few
menu card designs for restaurants that you could opt for. Now that the basics are done,
let’s move further ahead with some unique menu designs you could incorporate in your
restaurant menus.

 Old school
If you are a distant cafe say, near a beach, you could highlight the main dishes or
the day’s special on a chalkboard to make it interesting. Chalkboard menus can be
revised any time of the day, chalking out the offers, discounts and more. Freddo’s
ice-cream parlor in Curitiba, Brazil, has a well-executed chalkboard menu concept.

 Themed menu
If you’re a themed cafe, build your menu card around that. This gives a complete
experience of what your restaurant is all about. A cafe in Napa, Ninebark, has
leaves attached on each page of their menu.
 Cuisine specific
You could design a menu that revolves around the cuisine of your restaurant. For
example, the menu of, Saray, a Middle Eastern Restaurant located in Boston,
showcases the traditional patterns which were prominent in the architecture there.
 Illustrated menu
Use captivating illustrations in your restaurant menu card. You’d want to make sure
not to load the menu with too much imagery. Just enough to increase the overall
appeal of it. The Lion’s Share, a restaurant in San Diego, uses distinct illustrations
on each page of the menu. It’s based on various tales that have evolved from the
 idiomatic expression, “The Lion’s Share”.

 Smartly worded
There’s nothing more engaging than a quirky one line at the beginning of your
menu. Another way of incorporating humor in your restaurant menu card is by
naming your dishes in a witty manner. But make sure that you describe what it is
otherwise your humor would go in vain. The bar menu of The Royal Mail, in
Singapore, has very interesting cocktail names.
15 fascinating restaurant menu card examples from around the
world
1. Andrea’s Kitchen, New Delhi, India

This
soulful restaurant menu card of Andrea’s Kitchen will most definitely inspire you to
pack your bags and go on that long awaited vacation. Their menu is designed in
 such a way that each of its dishes is based on the famous food served in major
cities across the world.
2. Niche, Missouri, USA

Focussing heavily on the niche, this restaurant’s menu card knows how to elevate
curiosity in the minds of customers. It has a distinct way of letting customers know
about the ingredients going into the dishes they are about to taste.
3. Mansion Bar and Parlour, London, UK

Their
menu is in the form of various editions of a newspaper. The morning edition has
breakfast, daily edition for the mains and an evening edition for alcoholic drinks and
food. The menu gives a classy vintage appeal attracting quite a few.
4. Westbound, Los Angeles, CA

The
copper embossed letters in royal blue give the menu of Westbound an elegant look.
It contains a lot of white spaces, that’s divided equally between illustrations and text,
making the menu neat.
5. Rococo, Beirut, Lebanon

This
gastro bar in Beirut has a peculiar menu card design. It showcases the 18th Century
Rococo paintings with a very formal font. They have added a touch of humor in their
menu without disturbing the original paintings.
6. Grey Tiger, Toronto, Canada

This
menu is nothing short of magic. The owners of this restaurant have put in a lot of
thought and effort into creating it. Each page gives out their house drink with almost
majestic illustrations and a spell defining that drink.
7. Hiding in Plain Sight, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The
leather-bound menu of Hiding in Plain Sight perfectly resonates the 20th-century.
Following major themes of that era, the illustrations, and language used are in total
agreement with the restaurant’s concept.
8. 13 wives, Singapore

The
menu of this bar in Singapore is rather one of a kind. It’s a black book that contains
hand-written fictional stories related to each of the drinks served there.
9. Demoiselle by Galvin, Dubai, UAE

Beautifully illustrated with gold foil on the outside and simplified floral design on the
inside surely makes this French restaurant’s menu card aesthetically appealing.
10. Alamo, Zaragoza, Spain

The menu of this Spanish restaurant is engraved on circular wooden blocks with
their logo on top, giving it a very sturdy appearance.
11. Chez Panisse, Berkeley, CA

Opened in 1971, this place has a separate Cafe and Restaurant. Their menu
changes every day and new menus are designed on special days.
12. Oregano’s, Arizona

It’s true that music and food is a heavenly combination. The menu here is placed
inside classic record covers. How cool is that!
13. Picasso Cafe, Oklahoma
 Each section of their menu is beautifully hand painted with vibrant colors.
14. The Tokyo City, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This menu defines simplicity. It’s one of those ‘oddly satisfying’ menus that make
you feel good just by looking at it. It does not have any illustrations yet the neatly
proportionate text makes it stand out.
15. Grandmama’s Cafe, Mumbai, India
 from classy Victorian-era interiors, this restaurant’s menu card makes everyone go
down the memory lane. Each section of their menu has witty quotes and graphical
images sketched on it.
Leading sites for creating distinct menu card designs
1. Spark Adobe – https://spark.adobe.com/
A part of Spark Adobe’s design suite is the restaurant menu card design creator. You
can start by logging into your Adobe account if you have one. Alternatively, you could
create a new account from scratch. It is priced according to the purpose. Spark Adobe
also has a “Starter Plan” that provides free templates and you can build your menu from
scratch. You don’t necessarily need to have a design background because there are
plenty of professionally designed menu themes available on their site.
2. Canva – https://www.canva.com/
Canva is another platform where you can create and design your restaurant menu card.
It has hundreds of free templates that you can choose from depending on the kind of
restaurant you’re running. It has a wide collection of stock images and templates which
aids in designing the menu. Canva comes with an app that can be simply downloaded
on iPads and iPhones, giving you the ease of making your restaurant menu card on the
go.
3. PosterMyWall – https://www.postermywall.com/
This is another design site that provides various templates for your restaurant menu
design. You can customize your menu and download the template for free. However,
there will be a tiny watermark on the bottom left corner of your menu card. You can
choose to get it removed by paying a certain amount. The tools are straightforward and
extremely easy to use.
4. Visme – https://www.visme.co/menu-maker/
Multiple templates, easy customization. It’s good if you are looking to put your menu on
Social Media or emailing it to someone. To download a high-resolution image, PDF or
more, you’d have to upgrade to a newer pack.
5. Design Wizard – https://app.designwizard.com/#/dashboard/home
Their dashboard consists of different types of restaurant menu card designs from which
you can select the one that resonates best with your restaurant. You are required to
sign-up and verify your email address and you’ll be good to go.
Signing-up and verifying your email address is a prerequisite when it comes to using the
sites mentioned above. After you’ve done that, you can browse from the plethora of
menu card designs and choose the one that speaks out your brand. It’s always better to
use high-quality images from your own kitchen which gives it an authentic touch.

Why restaurant menu cards should be focused on?

Your restaurant menu card consists of different sections like Appetizers, Alcohol and
Beverages, Mains, Desserts and more. Each of these sections can be customized
depending on many factors related to your restaurant.

It is imperative that you invest a sufficient amount of money and time in planning your
restaurant menu card. If constructed well, a restaurant’s menu reverberates. Today,
people check out the menu of a restaurant before visiting it.

With the changing trends and food prices, it becomes important to update the already
existing menu of your restaurant. Constantly updating your menu card is going to help
you perform better in this challenging food sector.

Given that most restaurants also have an online presence, you might also want to focus
on creating digital menus for your restaurant, which shouldn’t be very different from the
printed ones. That also can be the deciding factor for your restaurant sales.

Here’s to creating a spectacular restaurant menu card!

Cheers!