Which Type of Takeout Menu Should I Use to Promote My Business?
Are you on the lookout for menu printing services? If yes, then you probably already know how items like menu boards, menu signs, custom menus, and window menus can help promote your food business. In the next sections, we will look at how restaurant menus in general can be the highlight of your print advertising campaign.
What are the Different Types of Menus Available?
If you are in the food business, the first thing that hungry diners would want to know is what your specialty dishes are. If you’re a pizzeria, for example, do you have unique flavor combinations or are you taking the more traditional pepperoni pizza route? If you are a mom-and-pop diner, do you offer huge servings of pancakes or chicken and waffles for breakfast? You can highlight these specialty dishes using your menu – and here are some examples of what’s available in the market today:
No matter what kind of dish it is you are offering, it’s important to design tempting restaurant menus for walk-in customers. What is good about sit down menus is that you can lay it out strategically to highlight the dishes which are high profit but quick to prepare. Check out the menus of dining establishments offering the same food as you. Which dishes are they highlighting? Do they have a lot of pictures on the menu or is it a list with a description of the dishes? If you’re a fine dining restaurant or a casual restaurant, your menu design should reflect that as well. What this simply means is that you should spend plenty of time thinking about the design of your sit down menu, because it plays a huge part in selling the food that you’re offering to patrons.
Restaurant menus come in all shapes and sizes, and another example is the rigid menu board. This can be made from semi-rigid plastic with a backlit design; it can be made from a foam core material; metal; or PVC plastic. These menus are usually integrated in the design of the restaurant. If you’re specializing in takeout food, rigid menu boards can be part of your storefront.
Perhaps one of the most popular types of restaurant menus is the table tent type. You can see these in almost every dining establishment. These custom menus can include the entire menu – especially if you have a limited selection. Instead of giving customers separate sit down menus, you can just put one table tent menu in every table which they can use as a reference when ordering. Or, these custom menus can be used to complement the main menu. On the table tent menu, you can include the dessert of the month, special money-saving meal deals, buy-one-get-one promos; and other offers which hungry diners can take advantage of.
Most in the food business are not aware that they can hire takeout menu printing services to print takeout menus for them – and use it mainly for advertising. Even if your customers mostly walk in or make table reservations, you will be missing out on a huge chunk of customer base if you do not offer food for takeout. Convenience is something that customers are looking for these days, and customers should be able to order good food on the go. With custom takeout menus that are specifically for takeout fare, you can target the part of the eating market that’s always on the go. Takeout menus should be distributed on every food item ordered for takeout; they should be included in delivery receipts or supplier transaction slips; they should be posted on public bulletin boards – the list of how and where you can distribute them is practically endless!
Some customers might be too intimidated to walk into a restaurant without knowing what the prices are or what the food is – so you should consider having window menus. These can be signs or just the whole menu literally written on your restaurant’s windows. The more eye catching it is, the better – because it will tempt hungry diners to give your restaurant a go, especially if they haven’t been there before.
Designing and Printing Restaurant Menus
Now that you already know about the different kinds of menu signs that you can print, how should you go about the actual designing of the menu? And how can you hire the best menu printing services? Here are a few tips:
When you print menus, design it in such a way that there are no currency signs. People don’t want to be that aware of how much they are paying for a slice of pie, for example, so it’s better to ditch it. When you check out the menus of most restaurants, you will see that not only do they remove the currency sign, but they also price their food items strategically. Instead of $10, they put 9.99 next to the food item. The difference between the two prices might be very small, but the latter looks a lot less expensive than the full dollar price.
- Decide on a style, then stick to it.
Next, when you print menus, you have to decide on a style and stick to it. Just make sure that you are still putting your branding and image into consideration. If you are selling pizzas, the menu should be casual. You can use full-color pictures to make a slice of pepperoni pizza look mouth-watering. Or, you can market the pizza in such a way that you are highlighting the hand-tossed dough or the choicest ingredients for the toppings. This can be designed with hand-drawn illustrations, and there should be an apt description of each pizza flavor underneath.
The same thing holds true if you are designing menu boards or menu signs. Use language that’s easy to understand and choose words which will tease the palate. Your customers might walk in a bit hungry but after reading your menu, their stomach should be rumbling because of how temptingly you put the food items into words or pictures.
- Look for a reliable menu printing services provider.
Next, make sure to look for a reliable printing service provider. When you order menus for them to print out for you, ask if they specialize in takeout menus. Can they also print a menu sign made from rigid boards? Can they create upscale restaurant menus for formal restaurants? Ask about the length of experience that they have in the printing industry. Also consider the printing process that they use, the materials, sizes, finishes, costs, and turnaround time. Narrow down your choices to two or three menu printing services provider and make an informed decision from there.
Distributing Takeout Menus
When you order menus for printing, they would be practically useless if you will not send them out for distribution. The in-store menus do not need further distribution because they are seen and used by in-house customers. But for the takeout menus which are print menus that are used for advertising, they do need to be sent out there. The more people these menus are handed out to, the better off your business would be. Here are some ideas on how and where you can distribute takeout menus:
- If you are having a soft opening, distribute takeout menus out on the streets one week or several days before the set date. This way, those who always pass by the restaurant will be aware of the opening date and be excited about what’s in store for them – and their palates.
- Include order menus for every food item you’re packaging for takeout. Insert one or two, so that the customer can refer to the menu the next time that he or she orders takeout. The extra can be given to friends and family, so you have word of mouth advertising working to your advantage, too.
- If you have other types of deliveries or business transactions with receipts, include a takeout menu that can be distributed to suppliers, business partners, and other business contacts.
- If you are sending out mailers to your regular customers, include one or two takeout menus. Insert it with postcards that have coupon codes for a more desirable advertising effect. A good rule of thumb to follow if you’re sending out menus with postcards is to be consistent with the sending so that the customers won’t forget – but not too often that they would consider anything you send as spam mail.
Keep in mind that distribution is just as important as the design – so after having the menus printed out, know how you can get them out there.
Combining Menu Signs with a Strong Online Presence
Let’s say that you already have a complete set of custom restaurant menus, window menu, menu boards, a sit-down and a takeout menu. Again, you must make sure that you are distributing your takeout menus well so that it can reach as many hands as possible. However, your print menus, menu boards, menu signs, custom menus, and window menu should still be combined with a strong online presence. Even mom-and-pop establishments these days establish a social media and online presence so that they can reach out to the younger clientele who is always online.
The first thing that you need to do if you want to combine print menus with a strong online presence is to upload a copy of your menu online. When customers search for your restaurant name on search engines, they should see a copy of your menu. This online menu sign or menu boards will give them an idea about what the costs are and which dish they should go with. A major percentage of customers do rely on online menus for information about a restaurant, so make sure that you have a copy of your menu uploaded on your website.
Second, upload copies of your witty menu boards or a gorgeous restaurant menu on your Instragram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. Everyone is crazy about food bloggers these days – so diners take photos of what’s on their table before they actually eat! Use this to your advantage by posting mouth-watering photos of the dishes that your restaurant has to offer. If you don’t have that much of a following yet, treat your customers to a freebie in exchange of them posting photos of when they’re dining in at your restaurant. Use hashtags accordingly.
Third, take advantage of restaurant review websites. Some of the most popular are Yelp and Google + - where you can first set up a restaurant profile and respond to feedback. If there are popular food bloggers in your area, reach out to them and ask if they would be interested to review your restaurant.
Fourth, engage your customers by having an active social media presence. Regularly tweet and update your Instagram feed. Feature your togo menu boards or create witty menu signs that may even go viral.
Fifth, be easily reachable. One of the biggest pet peeves that customers have is not being able to contact the reservations department, for example, of a popular restaurant. If your mobile number is always busy, communicate with your customers using the instant messaging systems of your social media accounts.
More importantly, make sure that you are offering good food and good quality service to your customers. Keep on updating your menu so you can be sure that you are offering something to tease their taste buds with. Source your ingredients from local suppliers – make sure that they’re fresh – and feature that on your menu boards or window menu. See to it that your staff is well-trained to handle customer complaints, or customer who feel as if they’ve been waiting for a lifetime for an order to arrive when it has actually been just a few minutes. Serve good food, and serve it well.
By combining a strong online presence with a good quality menu printing campaign, you can make your food business grow in no time at all.
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