Tag: takeout menu printing

How to Print To Go Menus to Boost Your Sales

Would you like to know how print to go menus and other types of menus can help boost sales? If you’re in the food business, menus should always be part of your daily operations. Dine in menus are for those who have time to spend for a sit-down meal. Takeout menus are for advertising and those who simply do not have time for a homecooked dinner. You should also have countertop signs and table tents to complement all your other printed menus.

How Takeout Menus Help Increase Sales

There are many online printing shops that specialize in takeout menu printing. Look for one that offers the highest quality possible for the print, without requiring too much from your advertising budget.

Next, here are some ways that takeout menus help increase sales:

  • Not all people go to restaurants on a regular basis, so a takeout menu targets this part of the market.

Although there is quite a big part of a local town’s population that regularly goes out to dinner, not everybody has this luxury. There are those who simply do not want to wash the dishes after preparing a homecooked meal, and takeout menus will target this part of the market. Takeaway food is convenient, but still fulfils people’s cravings for a restaurant-quality meal.

  • Just like postcards, you can use to go menus as part of your print advertising campaign.

To go menus are made to be distributed, unlike dine in menus which “live” inside your restaurant. As such, it is fine to print them in not-so-expensive paper – but this does not mean that the quality of print should suffer. Just because the menu isn’t leatherbound does not mean that it has to look cheap. There are many online printing companies that offer cheap printing packages without sacrificing the quality of print.

  • Along with all your other menus, you can use takeout menus for branding.

When designing takeout, dine-in, and other menus, create a consistent look. Use the same colors as your business logo. The takeout menu can be a shortened version of your dine in menu. All these should complement each other in terms of look and feel. This way, customers will instantly recognize your brand once they see the menu.

  • Takeout menus encourage repeat order.

Pizza parlors are a perfect example of how takeout menus can mean repeat orders. Once you include a takeout menu as part of a pizza delivery package, the recipient will keep the menu for future reference. They will most likely place a repeat order, which is always good for your business.

As you can see, menus greatly help boost the sales of those who are in the restaurant business, so get yours printed out now.

Takeout Menu Printing Design Techniques

One of the easiest ways to promote your food business is through takeout menu printing. As the name implies, this involves printing a menu that is specifically for takeout. When paired with your dine-in menu, these two printed marketing materials will represent what you are all about as a food establishment. 

So how can you spread the word about your business using takeout menu printing? Once you have a stack of these made by an online printing shop, you can include one takeout menu in every delivery or takeout order. You can include one in receipts for suppliers and all your other business contacts. You can place a stack of them by the cashier or right outside the restaurant for would-be diners to pick up.

You can also leave the takeout menus at gas stations, tourist spots, local hotels, and similar establishments in your area. Moreover, you can distribute them by handing them out to people on the streets – make sure to do this during the busy hours to get the menus in as many hands as possible. 

Designing Your Takeout Menu

Next, when designing your takeout menu, here are a few techniques to apply:

  • Use the same color scheme as your business logo. 

Just as it is when designing other print marketing materials like brochures, business cards, or postcards, there should be a common color scheme in your takeout menu. Use the same colors as your restaurant’s interior design, or the hues present in your business logo. 

  • Group your products and organize the information on the menu. 

A takeout menu can have anywhere from four to twelve panels. That’s a lot of areas to place your information in, so make sure that your menu items are organized. Although it’s fine to have the same menu items for your dine-in and takeout menu, it’s better to cut back the number of items for the latter so as not to confuse customers. Make sure that these are high-profit items which are easy to prepare, to also boost your sales. 

  • The colors should blend well together, the images should pop. 

That picture of a burger on your menu should look mouthwatering right out of the page, so invest in professional food photography. The images should pop and the colors on the menu should blend well together. Use easy-to-read font, and make sure that your contact information is accurate and is highlighted. Use the back sheet of the paper if possible, to save on printing fees. 

By applying these design techniques, you can have a takeout menu that will enhance your brand and increase your sales in no time. 

Your Many Paper Options for Takeout Menu Printing

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and was handed a dine-in menu, only to be disappointed because its print is hardly readable, it’s greasy, and the information is not well organized so you don’t know where to look? You do not want to make these glaring mistakes when designing a dine-in menu for your food business. The same thing holds true for takeout menu printing – you want to make sure that it is printed with the highest quality possible to impress your customers.

The good news is that there are many print shops that are now offering online printing services. Depending on the number of copies that you need printed, they can use either a digital or offset printing process. For small jobs, digital printing uses a desktop printer. For bigger orders, offset printing is used which utilizes huge printing presses with state-of-the-art printing technology. In terms of quality, offset printing is also better. It provides professional-looking results because of the full color, HD printing process used. 

Takeout Menu Paper Options 

Now, if you would like to finish your takeout menu printing task with professional-looking results, you need to pay attention to even the smallest details. For the paper used for printing, here are some of the decisions that you need to make:

  • What size should I choose for the takeout menu? 

The available takeout menu sizes are 4.25” x 11”, 8.5” x 11”, 8.5” x 14”, 9’ x 12”, 11’ x 17”, and 11” x 25.5”. The smallest size is great for packaging, the 8.5” x 11” option is the standard size, while the succeeding ones are legal size, folder sheet size, tabloid size, and map size. Choose one that will fit the number of items that you have on the menu. 

  • How about the folding option? 

There are many folding options available including trifold, Z-fold, half fold, single gate, double gate, double parallel, roll fold, accordion, French fold, and half then trifold. 

  • Medium or extreme gloss?

Choose between 100# gloss text book paper with medium gloss and extreme gloss using 100# cover paper. 

  • What about the paper thickness? 

You can use either 16-pt. or 17-pt. paper stock for takeout menus. 

By familiarizing yourself with the paper options for takeout menus, you can produce the best quality print ad materials that will suit the image of your brand in the food industry. 

Takeout Menu Printing at a Glance: Why Go for It?

Both dine-in and takeout menu printing has its place in any food establishment. In fact, these two are the primary ingredients to making diners want to sample what you have to offer in your restaurant. For the dine-in menu, this is the first thing that diners will look at once they sit in a restaurant chair. If they like what they see on the menu, that is what they will order and sample. For the takeout menu, it’s more of a marketing material to let people know what your food items are, in the hopes of them placing an order for delivery or takeout, or for them to also visit the restaurant. 

Why Restaurateurs Should Invest in Takeout Menu Printing 

No matter what type of food it is that you are serving and however big or small your food establishment is, it’s a must to invest in takeout menu printing. Here is a list of the reasons: 

  • Takeout menus are quick and cheap to produce. 

You simply need to look for a provider of cheap printing services that can produce the takeout menus for you. Just because it’s cheap does not mean that it cannot be high-quality. There are many print shops that offer full color HD menu printing for perfectly reasonable prices. In fact, the per unit price gets lower as the number of copies that you order becomes higher. If you will go with an offset print shop, you can get your order quickly if you want because the printing presses can handle a large volume within a short span of time. 

  • Takeout menus serve as an effective print marketing material for your business. 

Your takeout menu can actually have almost the same design as your dine-in menu. However, you should limit the choices of the takeout menu to just a dozen or so items so as not to confuse the customers. Better if these are high-profit items which are quick to make – you can easily turn them into bestsellers. 

  • Takeout menus are easy to distribute. 

Finally, there are several ways for you to distribute takeout menus for advertising purposes. You can leave a stack of them outside your restaurant door for prospective customers outside to pick up and take home. You can include one in every takeout or delivery order for future reference. You can also hand them out personally in the streets where there is high foot traffic. Or, you can include them in mailers to let more people know about your food business. 

Takeout Menu Printing: Tips on Organizing the Items

If you need to have takeout menus printed out, the first thing to do is look for an online printing services provider. Go online and compare the printing packages offered by different print shops. Do they offer digital printing, offset printing, or both? If you need a large number of copies produced, offset is the better option because it uses huge printing presses with state-of-the-art printing technology. For smaller takeout menu printing jobs, digital should be suitable. 

Narrow down your choices of print shops to the ones with a good package price, a number of paper printing options, and make sure that they received good feedback from previous customers. From your pared down list, you can make an informed decision and work with the best print shop possible.

Tips when Organizing the Items on Your Takeout Menu

Now, the challenge in takeout menu printing is designing the actual menu. First, what size of menu would you like? Your options include:

  • 4.25” x 11”
  • 8.5” x 11”
  • 8.5” x 14”
  • 11” x 17”
  • 11” x 25.5”
  • 9” x 12”

There are also several folding options available – the most common are trifold, half fold, and Z-fold. 

Second, to organize the information in your takeout menu, narrow down the choices to about 12 items – anymore than that is bound to confuse the customers. Make sure that there are high-profit, easy-to-prepare items which customers can order repeatedly and still enjoy. The takeout menu should be easy to read.

If you have a complete restaurant menu with several courses, arrange the items from left to right starting with appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, then desserts. There should be a central color palette, apply the hues which are also present in your business logo. 

To sum it up, the overall look of your takeout menu should be consistent with your restaurant’s brand and theme. As a printed marketing material, you need to make sure that the takeout menu is designed well with the information organized. Finally, it should be printed using high-quality materials to impress and entice those hungry diners to check out your restaurant. 

Counting Down the Advantages of Takeout Menu Printing

If you’re in the food business and you have not taken advantage of the benefits of takeout menu printing yet, you are missing out on a lot. There are many advantages to this type of print marketing material, which we will learn more about here.

What are the Advantages of Takeout Menu Printing?

As the name implies, takeout menu printing involves printing copies of your food items which are for takeout or delivery. For this, you need to get in touch with an online printing company. There are some that use digital printing, others offset printing, while the bigger shops offer both – you just need to choose one that’s suitable for the volume of order that you will place. When printing out menus for takeout, pay attention to the design of the menu, the quality of material used, the paper finish and thickness, size, and the overall look of the printed material. 

Here are the many advantages of takeout menu printing:

  • It gives diners a chance to sample your menu even if they don’t have time for a sit-down meal.

Eating out is considered a luxury these days, giving people a chance to take a break from the chores of making homecooked meals. Still, there are those who do not have time for a sit-down meal but would like the convenience of eating restaurant quality food. This is your target market for takeout menus. 

  • It gives people an idea about your prices, encouraging them to try out your food some other time. 

If your fine dining restaurant looks intimidating from the outside, for instance, there would still be people who’d like to know what your prices and menu items are. Placing a stack of takeout menus right outside your restaurant door, or distributing them to people passing by will take the guesswork out of your menu prices. 

  • It increases the number of repeat orders. 

For those who have already tried your food, a takeout menu encourages them to place repeat orders, especially for the bestselling items. 

  • It enhances your brand. 

Finally, takeout menus – just like all the other printed marketing materials – enhance your brand. Your goal, after all, is to boost sales. By printing takeout menus, you are making your menu items more readily available for those who would like to dine in or order takeout from your food establishment. 

Takeout Menu Printing: Paper Options

One of the best ways to promote your food business is through takeout menu printing. Here, you will print a cheaper but still eye-catching version of your dine-in menu. They are for distribution to customers so you can personally hand them out, display them storefront, or send them out in mailers. Takeout menus would give existing and prospective customers an idea of your menu items and prices. This is a great way to increase foot traffic in your restaurant, while also boosting the number of repeat customers and orders.

Paper Options for Menu Printing

For takeout menu printing, you want to work with an online printing company that specializes in offset printing. Sure, there are digital printing companies that offer cheaper packages – but they usually just use desktop printers, so the quality is not that good. With offset printers, state-of-the-art printing technology is used to create advertising materials with vivid colors, long-lasting ink, and an overall impressive design.

Here are a few paper-related questions to ask yourself when having takeout menus printed:

  • What paper stock and finish should I use?

It’s always better to go with thick paper stock when printing out dine-in menus but for takeout, you can go for cheaper paper options. Still, make sure that the print quality is good. For takeout menu, you can choose from 100# gloss text book paper or 100# gloss cover paper. Different printing companies might offer other paper stock and finish, so always ask about the available options.

  • What size of takeout menu is good for my food business?

These are the available sizes for menus: 4.25” x 11”, 8.5” x 11”, 8.5” x 14”, 9” x 12”, 11” x 17”, and 11” x 25.5”. Since your goal is to use the takeout menus for advertising, the first two sizes are suitable. Specifically, the 4.25” x 11” size is perfect for mailers.

  • Which folding option should I go with?

Lastly, decide on the folding option. You can get anywhere from two to twelve panels with different-sized menus. Would you like a trifold menu? Or maybe you want to go with a Z-fold, half fold, single gate, double gate, double parallel, roll fold, accordion, French fold, or half then trifold.

By knowing what your paper options are, you can come up with a final design for your takeout menu that perfectly suits your food business advertising needs.

Takeout Menu Printing Distribution Tips

If you own a restaurant or any food establishment, you need to invest in good quality, well-designed menus. Use the dine-in menus for customers and takeout menus for advertising. There are printing companies that specialize in takeout menu printing – look for one which offers high-quality offset printing to get the best results.

Ways to Distribute Takeout Menus

After having a company finish the takeout menu printing task for you, how would you go about distributing them? Here are a few ideas:

  • Include a takeout menu in every delivery or takeaway package.

When you order pizza, don’t you usually receive a copy of their takeout menu with your receipt? Even if it’s food other than pizza that you are selling, you should include a takeout menu in every delivery or takeaway package. This can be kept by customers for future reference, and it’s an excellent way to get repeat orders.

  • Add one when giving out receipts to suppliers.

Suppliers can be customers, too. If you are receiving raw ingredients from a supplier, for example, include a takeout menu with the receipt so that you can increase your network of prospective customers.

  • Add one to the receipts of dine-in customers.

You should also include a takeout menu in the receipts of dine-in customers. Better yet, have some in-store promotion where they can win freebies or get discounts from their bill if they sign up for your mailing list. Use this list to send out mailers and other advertising materials in the future.

  • Send takeout menus in mailers.

Perhaps the most effective way of distributing takeout menus is by working with an EDDM mailing company. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail, where the printing company works with the USPS to send mailers to every door in the zip code of your choice. This way, you won’t have to gather customer’s addresses manually. EDDM mailing would not cost you that much. At just a few cents per takeout menu, you can send out mailers and effectively reach out to those living within the vicinity of your food establishment.

Dine-in versus Takeout Menu Printing

Marketing in the food industry is quite straightforward because everybody is a potential customer. Whether you’re making pizza, doughnuts, if you have a diner, a formal restaurant, or a casual bar, those living within the vicinity can be your target market. This is where takeout menu printing proves to be useful. Here, we will compare dine-in versus takeout menus in terms of design and distribution.

Dine-in versus Takeout Menu: Should there be a Difference?

Before breaking down the difference between the two, let’s delve a bit deeper into why menus should be used as promotional materials in the first place. When you visit any food establishment, the first thing you look at is the menu. What are the prices and the specific food items offered? Which are the bestsellers and what are the items with the ingredients which some people might not necessarily like, or may be allergic to? Menus should be quite detailed, and the price should be indicated opposite the name of the dish. These can be turned into promotional materials because food is what your business is all about. The more eye-catching your menu is, the more tempted customers would be to place their orders.

Your dine-in menu will be used by customers while takeout menus can be used as promotional materials. If you have a fancy restaurant, your dine-in menu might be leather bound or have the biggest menu size possible. Although you cannot replicate the size and material of the dine-in menu for takeout menu printing, the content can be as close to the original as possible. This way, the online printing company does not have to make too many changes and simply print your takeout menu on a different, cheaper paper with thinner stock.

In terms of distribution, you can include takeout menus in deliveries, takeaway packages, or include them in the receipts for suppliers. More importantly, mail out the menus to those living within a five-mile radius in your area. These are your target market because they live close by. Once they get their hands on a sample menu from your food establishment, they will be tempted to try it out because they already have an idea about what’s on the menu and how much the items are.

Of course, you can always design your takeout menu differently from the dine-in menu if you want. But to save time and effort, keep the design as close to the original as possible. With takeout menus, you can spread the word about your business and get as many people as you can to try your food out.

Information to Include in Takeout Menu Printing

Menus play a crucial role in the success of those who are in the food business. Whether you’re offering American, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, or fusion fare, a menu will give customers a taste of the food that they can have in your restaurant. There are two types of menus that you should invest in: dine-in and takeout menu printing. Dine-in menu is for those who are visiting your restaurant, while takeout menus are more for advertising your wares. You can include takeout menus in food deliveries, to-go orders, receipts, mailers, display them storefront, or distribute them in areas where there is high foot traffic. These menus will increase your chances of gaining new customers and having your existing patrons as repeat customers.

Before you can even look for an online printing company to create the takeout menus for you, you first need to design the menu itself. What type of information should be included in takeout menus? Here’s a list:

  • Accurate information about your food establishment

The first page of any menu usually includes the name of the restaurant. At the bottom, make sure that these are accurate and updated: your address, telephone number, website, and hours of operation.

  • The name of the items in your menu

The goal of having a menu in the first place is to list the food items available, so make sure to list these down accordingly. For dine-in menus, if the size is big enough, you can have a short description of each dish. Some restaurants even list down the ingredients and calorie count of their menu items.

  • The prices of the items in your menu

Naturally, you should include the price opposite each menu item.

  • Other information to include

Do you offer delivery services? What about promotions like weekday discounts or weekend buffets? For takeout menu printing, you can even include promotional codes which entitles the person to a certain percentage as discount.

By knowing what to include in your dine-in or takeout menu, you can boost the power of this printed advertising material and boost your overall sales.