There are few hard and fast rules when building a menu because every restaurant’s needs will be unique to their concept. This creates a cohesive, and most importantly, memorable experience.Ī restaurant menu is the printed or online list of the food and drinks offered by a restaurant. More on arranging your menu items below.Ī great menu helps your server upsell, too - by listing out modifiers to menu items, and by making sure to have your side dishes and add-ons listed out where your guests can easily be tempted by them, you create the opportunity for larger check averages.įinally, you want your brand to be reflected everywhere your guests interact with your restaurant - on social media, on your website, in your physical decor, and on your menu. If your food is your art, your menu is your canvas.

If your least profitable item is the most prominent on the menu, your guests will order it time and again, instead of considering other options that are equally delicious but more profitable for your business. Restaurant menu design can make or break your restaurant's profits. To learn more about menu psychology, check out this post on the “why” behind the best menu design decisions. For most restaurants, a massive menu can hurt profitability in the form of unused or spoiled inventory. Gone are the days of the enormous restaurant menu with dozens of options. That doesn’t mean you should only have seven menu items, but it does mean that you should consider categorizing your menu items and keeping the offerings within each category between three and seven.

Miller, a cognitive psychology expert, found that most people can only retain seven pieces of information at a time. The short answer is “fewer than you might think”! George A. How Many Items Should be on a Restaurant Menu?

Program for menu design