Steps to Create Menu Cards

How to Create a Menu Card ( 6 Steps)

One of the things that you should know about restaurant menus is that they are important business and marketing tools for restaurants. Moreover, the benefits of using these tools do not end there as menu cards of the same kind can also be used for detailing food items available for consumption during celebrations, casual gatherings, and formal events. If you specifically want to create a sample menu card for a restaurant business, here are the simple steps that you may follow:

• Step 1: Have a specific listing of your menu items

  Make sure that you will properly categorize your food offerings so that customers can select their food choices in an organized manner. It will be best if you will develop a menu layout that is organized in a logical order or based on the meal groups where customers identify the food that they will eat (e.g. appetizers, main course, dessert, etc.).

• Step 2: Create menu descriptions

  Your menu card should contain not only the name of your dishes but a short description of each as well. This will help customers when they decide on what to order from the menu. You can add the following information in your menu descriptions:
  The main ingredient/s used in making the dish
  The location where the dish originated

• Step 3: Incorporate the prices of your restaurant’s dishes

  May it be a small restaurant menu or a luxurious dining menu, the proper evaluation of the prices of your food offers is very important as it can affect the decision of your customers when it comes to patronizing your products. Always keep in mind that pricing is key when it comes to attracting your customers through a beautiful restaurant menu. Ever heard of psychological pricing? This process makes customers think that they are mostly benefiting from your offers based on the value that they get in relation to the price of your products and/or services. The most common psychological pricing method is by ending the price of your items with the number 9. As an example, 19.99 seems to cost less compared to 20.00, right? Keep in mind that this technique is most effective in low to medium-priced restaurants as food prices are commonly not issues for high-end restaurant businesses.

• Step 4: Develop the layout and format of the menu

  It will depend on you whether you will hire a graphic designer who specializes in making restaurant menus or not. Another option that you can select is to use a template and be guided accordingly while making the restaurant menu design of your business. The layout and format of your menu will serve as the foundation of the entire tool as it is where the cohesion of all the menu items will depend. It will also vary on your decision if you will already place images that will serve as the design of your menu or if you will do it once all the details of the dishes are already present.

• Step 5: Place the information that you have drafted in the final menu layout

  Once you have already selected the final layout and format to use, it is now time to place all the information of the dishes that you will offer to your customers. Your creative restaurant menu design should have spaces where you can easily identify the proper placement of various details including images, titles, and descriptions.

• Step 6: Proofread and review the entire menu

  Your restaurant menu should be checked first once all the items are already put together. All the information and design present in a restaurant menu must undergo the process of evaluation before mass producing the tool. Proofreading the grammar of the descriptions as well as the spelling of the dish names and the like are essential steps to ensure that the restaurant menu is done accordingly.