Creating a restaurant menu. Restaurant menu. Simple templates for designing restaurant menus Program for designing cafe menus

If you need to quickly create a menu for a cafe or kindergarten, then it is best to use a ready-made template. This page contains several menu templates that you can download for free. All you have to do is fill it out and print it.

Menu template for a cafe in Word

This menu - great way inexpensively create a beautiful menu for a cafe, snack bar or restaurant. It will seem to everyone that the menu was made by a professional designer. This level was achieved using photos of various dishes as the background of the menu, and a translucent sheet of paper. At the top of the menu there is a beautiful metal holder. To start making your list of dishes, with or without prices, file this template.

Simple menu template with pictures

If you need to provide a menu to visitors with pictures of dishes, then this is an ideal option. A simple menu design will not distract the client from the main information. And most importantly, it’s very easy to insert photos of dishes into the menu. The main thing is that the pictures are square. And then you just need to select the desired image and apply the picture change. Download this simple menu template with a photo if you like it.

Menu in Word for kindergarten

The menu for kindergarten should be fun. This is what we were guided by when creating this template for you. In its lower part there are flowers, and in the upper part there are well-known prototypes of cartoon characters in the form soft toys. Naturally, to print your dishes, you need to download this template children's menu in a Word file.

New Year's menu in Word

List of dishes on New Year's tables must be colorful. After downloading this, you can type New Year's menu in a style like the image above. That is, a menu with a blue background on which beautiful snowflakes of different sizes are located.

Menu template with New Year background

Above, an image of another option. It is vertically oriented and made in red-orange-yellow colors.

Restaurant owners often underestimate the importance of menu design. We are sure that you are probably familiar with the fact that many restaurants offer visitors simply completely unattractive menus. If you own a restaurant, then you should definitely take care of the menu design, as it is very important. Your top priorities are to provide excellent service and quality food.

Today we don’t want to cite someone as an example and shout that in the modern world every person must be interested in design and understand it. After all, this is not so. Many people today use not very beautiful objects, clothes, shoes, they don’t really care what the restaurant menu, furniture, cars, etc. look like. Many people throughout their lives do not want to devote even a minute to design, functionality or aesthetics. This is both good and terrifying at the same time, but you should not forget that there are other people who care deeply about these things.

Imagine that you entered a restaurant where absolutely everything creates a pleasant impression: the interior, the service, the music, the food, the menu design. Many people try to pay attention to all sorts of little things, and really be proud of the care and attention with which this or that thing was created.

On the other hand, we often come across establishments where we want to quickly eat and leave.

If a restaurant makes money, even if it’s small, why not hire a professional designer who would responsibly design business cards, flyers, menus, and more? If you, as a restaurant owner, care about the image of your establishment and business as a whole, then you should definitely pay attention to this. If you have no desire to invest in own business, this shows what kind of businessman you are.

Please don't think that the menu is the only thing you should pay attention to. It seems to us that every restaurant should be decorated somehow uniquely, with some idea, in order to withstand competition, to attract the attention of visitors and journalists, to provide quality service, to use all kinds of effective marketing techniques to attract visitors, to provide visitors with excellent decoration and the interior of the establishment.

Let's finally talk about the menu:

* Do you have an executive class restaurant or is it more related to the entertainment sector? Can a visitor understand this from your menu?
* Is your menu functional?
* Is your logo on the menu?
*Isn't the font small? Is it easy to read?
* Is the menu layout simple and neat? Or is it misleading?
*Is your menu durable?
*Are you going to change the menu every couple of months?

You should answer these questions. A menu is a great way to create an impression on visitors about your establishment. You'll be surprised how powerful a menu can be. If you don't have design skills, we recommend that you hire a talented designer to help you solve this problem.

Today we want to present you with 35 examples of beautiful menu designs. We have hand-selected only the best examples of implementation that will help you get inspired for a small rebranding.

The menu is the basis of the restaurant business. This is not just a list of dishes that are served in the establishment, but a way to offer the visitor what interests him most, to capture his attention. A common mistake novice restaurateurs make is to tackle menu layout as an afterthought. When the interior, sign and logo are ready, it can be difficult to match the menu to the already created atmosphere of the establishment. It is logical to start with the menu, and this needs to be done before you create the atmosphere of your restaurant or cafe. The image of the establishment is expressed in the choice of cuisine and key dishes, and then it’s time for the interior and style. Even the staff uniform depends on the menu! Imagine waiters in kimonos with a menu from which you can only choose pizza and craft beer.

A good menu should also be convenient for your waiters so that they can quickly find the right item and forward the order to the kitchen. This is very accessible in the Poster POS accounting system. , create a menu and see how it will look on your tablet.

Don’t neglect the simplest advice: look at how your competitors’ menus are designed. Does it fit with the overall concept of the establishment and what do visitors order more often? Don't be afraid to borrow successful models and add them to your menu. But, of course, it’s not worth blatantly copying. It is possible to correctly create a menu for a cafe or restaurant only after analyzing the market.

Menu development for a cafe, stages

Creating a menu for a cafe or restaurant can be divided into several stages. First, a concept is formed: groups of drinks and dishes, positions for each group and price categories. Then a test tasting, after which the key dishes on the menu are selected. The final stage is creation technological maps and choosing the optimal way to serve the dish to the visitor. We advise you to invite an experienced chef to draw up technical maps, which your cooks will subsequently use.

What should you consider when developing a menu?

Target audience;

choice of cuisine;

establishment format;

the level of trade margins and the optimal cost of each dish;

culinary trends.

Long or short menu

Remember, a long menu increases the time it takes to serve visitors. Instead of deciding on an order in a few minutes, they will study the menu for a long time and meticulously. This is especially true for clients who come to you for the first time. They also can't decide what they should try and consult the waiter. The speed of service to other tables is significantly reduced, which means you lose money.

Some restaurateurs argue in favor of a long menu by the fact that the client, having tried everything, will stop coming to your establishment. This is a misconception. Remember: Your regulars will come back for more. favorite dish, and recommend it to their friends. Don't confuse a menu with a brochure of weekly or monthly specials, which are often used as a serving mat or as a pyramid on the table. This is a great way to highlight your margin positions and seasonal dishes, which we will talk about a little below.

How to create a selling menu

Let's assume that your establishment has already started working with a well-developed menu. But you notice that some dishes sell very poorly, although they have a minimal markup. It is important not only to work out the menu, but also to make it selling. It all starts with analyzing the existing assortment and identifying the most marginal and popular items. Perhaps we will reveal the secret of the restaurant business to someone, but almost all establishment owners have been using the simplest and most optimal method for more than 30 years.

The classic method of menu engineering was developed back in the early 1980s by scientists from the University of Michigan - Donald Smith and Michael Casanava from the USA. They took a popular market analysis model and adapted it to the restaurant business to understand how different menu items performed. Then we divided all the dishes from the menu according to two criteria: the share of sales in the category (compared to the average) and the margin per item (compared to the average). There were only 4 groups of dishes:

"Stars" - high margins and good sales. The basis of a profitable menu.

"Workhorses" - good sales, but not too much margin. You shouldn’t remove them from the menu, but you should strive to reduce their cost or increase their price.

"Riddles" - high margins, but weak sales. It is necessary to stimulate demand for such positions.

“Dogs” - low margins and poor sales. Garbage that needs to be removed from the menu. Such dishes only distract visitors.

Food analysis

Let's analyze one menu category. For example, consider the category “beer snacks” in a cafe or pub. Our goal is to determine which group the dish belongs to. We took sales data for one day in the proposed cafe, but it is better to conduct a similar analysis over a weekly or monthly period to avoid errors.

Fill out the table:

The number of all dishes sold per day: 15 + 70 + 30 + 85 = 200. We add up the known data and enter the total sales volume, total gross cost and gross margin. If you want to calculate foodcost, then divide the gross cost by the total sales in the category and multiply by 100%: 14,620.5 / 58,400 * 100 = 25%.

To find out average profit margin of dishes, divide the gross margin by the total number of items sold: 43779.5 / 200 = 218.9. By comparing the data for each position with this figure, you will understand which dishes you have are high-margin and which are not.

To find out share of sales of each dish, divide the number of servings sold by the total number of dishes sold and multiply by 100. If you want to find out average share of dish sales in this category, then divide 100% by the number of positions in the “beer snacks” category: 100 / 4 = 25%. By comparing each item's share of sales to the average share of sales, you can determine the most and least popular items.

Onion rings are the star, high margin and very popular.

Basturma is a “dog”, low margins and demand. Feel free to remove the snack from the menu and replace it with a profitable item that your visitors will like.

Crackers are a typical workhorse, high popularity but low margins. The cheapest item in the category. Perhaps the price of the dish should be increased.

Cheese balls are a “mystery”, good margins, but poor sales. We need to make the position more popular. Launch a promotion or special offer with this item, highlight it on the menu and instruct the waiters to offer it more often.

How to highlight marginal positions in the menu

• Draw attention to marginal items on the menu. Place them in a separate block, write them in large font or highlight them in contrast against the background of other positions.
• Place the highest-margin dishes first or last in your category. But they should not be the cheapest or the most expensive - this negatively affects sales.
• Highlight marginal dishes with a photograph. If you add a photo to each item, then highlighting the desired dish will be problematic. But if you show only a few items from a category, they will definitely catch the guest’s eye.
• Add dishes with above-average margins to special offers. Place an artificial restriction on them. For example, a seasonal offer, a limited dish from the chef, only on certain days, etc.
• Focus your guests' attention on rare and expensive ingredients in your dishes. Everyone wants to try something unusual, something that cannot be bought in a store. Such components are a good justification for the high price.
• Visually separate prices from menu items so that guests can easily compare them. Place prices in a separate column or separate them with a line. The main thing is not to write next to the name of the dish.

When planning your menu, you need to understand what kind of people will come to you. Based on this, you need to build a general pricing policy for the establishment. Do not rush to include dishes on the menu whose preparation standards you do not know. Consider supply disruptions, seasonality and price increases. can also cause your menu to not work as you intended, so be sure to eliminate them first. You must always guarantee excellent quality of food and exact time their preparations. Don't forget that all your efforts will be in vain if your staff can't sell culinary masterpieces. Constantly test new layout models. Restaurant business does not stand still, every year new trends appear, which you can always read about in our blog.

Menu - a list of dishes and drinks offered by an establishment catering(cafe, restaurant, bar, pub, etc.), indicating prices and grams. As an aspect of marketing, menu development is a painstaking task. To achieve good results, you need to constantly refine it, add new features, seasonal offers, try something new, etc.

Creating a menu seems intimidating and complicated, but the process itself comes down to a few steps:

• develop points, enter them into the table. It is important that the dishes offered correspond to the overall concept of the establishment. If you understand the concept of the restaurant, then you won't have any problems;
• divide the list into sections: snacks, drinks, desserts, etc.;
• develop a layout design. Here it is important to consider the ease of use of the menu by the client;
• use offline or online programs to create a menu;
• download menu in vector or psd format and send it to print. Don't forget to calculate the correct amount so that there is enough for everyone.

The basic process is described above, but don't ignore the design. Below you will find some tips that will make the menu easier for customers to use and increase sales.

Simplicity is the key to success

The selling menu is, above all, simple. After all, if it is too cluttered, the client will not understand anything, and it will confuse him. In addition, it is not able to arouse appetite. Simplicity, in addition to the graphical aspects, depends on the number of dishes you offer.

Too many dishes will not benefit the restaurant. The abundance of choice can even alienate the client. Four or five suggestions for a first or second course, along with some off-menu items, is plenty.

Golden Triangle Rule

The "Golden Triangle" is a term used when creating a menu to refer to the three areas that most customers pay attention to first:

• middle part. Customers look at the middle of the menu first. This is a great place to post special offers;
• upper right corner. This is where most restaurants place their main courses section;
• upper left corner. After the upper right corner, a person's eyes automatically move to the left corner. Snacks are usually located here, which, in combination with alcoholic drinks can increase the profit of the establishment.

Take care of the typography

Titles make up a large part of the menu, so you should pay special attention to the choice of fonts. Diners want to clearly understand what to order, and overly strict fonts make dish names unreadable. Remember that typography complements the overall tone of the menu.

Designers advise using no more than 3 simple fonts to avoid chaos on the page. Fonts emphasize and enhance the personality of a restaurant or cafe. Please note that Victorian style menus allow the use of fancy and graphically complex fonts. It's also worth paying attention to secondary elements such as spacing, italics, bold, etc.

Menu language

How would you feel if you were abroad in a restaurant where you couldn't understand a word? If you have a lot of foreign guests in your establishment, make sure that the menu is in different languages, or at least in English. This nuance will emphasize the openness and hospitality of the establishment and its owner. In addition, word of mouth and good reviews no one canceled.

Short and long descriptions of dishes

Humans have the ability to notice differences and nuances. If you write a list of short sentences followed by a long one, the client will be drawn to the latter. Although, if you write a lot of long descriptions, the eye will be drawn to short sentences.

Consider the length of your descriptions. Before you choose one, experiment with short and long descriptions to find the right combination. It will help you highlight dishes or specific ingredients.

Avoid currency signs

Today, more and more restaurants adhere to this rule. Each item on the menu shows a price. But avoid the signs “€”, “£”, “$”, etc. These symbols subconsciously make the customer focus on prices and the idea that the restaurant is only interested in making money.

Menu as an investment

First and foremost, the menu is a salesperson for customers. That's why it's so important to plan it carefully and not just list restaurant items.

In addition to standard restaurant promotion, good idea- create a website. If you do not have this opportunity, create a page for the establishment on social networks. Use your menu as a selling point to attract customers on Facebook, Instagram, TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.

How to create a restaurant menu?

There are several ways to create a menu design:

a) online services;
b) graphic editors such as Photoshop;
c) designers.

It all depends on how much time and material resources you have. For example, if you own a small cafe, then you obviously won’t be able to afford to hire a designer. The MustHaveMenus company, offering design services, asks for payment from $99 per page. Next, we will talk in more detail about the first two methods: online services and Photoshop. After all, in our opinion, they are the most optimal and convenient.

Online menu generators

Don't have experience designing restaurant menus and don't have the funds to hire a professional designer? The Internet is full of both paid and free online services that can easily do this job for you. With customizable templates, fonts, designs and even the ability to highlight dishes, etc. We offer a digest of online generators.

iMenuPro is a platform that allows you to instantly create and print menus without special design skills. The service offers hundreds of customizable and professional templates that are suitable for any establishment concept. IMenuPro with a convenient drag-and-drop interface is easy to use. The service has the function of adding pictures or logos from external resources.

Price: $15 per month.

Canva

Canva is a design platform that offers a menu creation service. All you need is text and a photo of the food, as the platform offers ready-to-use templates. And you can choose from millions of stock images and graphics. Next, customize your creation: change fonts, filters, pictures, etc. The advantage of this platform is applications for Android, iPhone and iPad, which allows you to edit the menu on the go in any place convenient for you.

Price: for free.

An easy-to-use service will help you create a professional list of dishes. You can create a menu yourself for printing, order a sample online for downloading, for example, on a website or on pages on social networks. The proposed templates are divided into categories - type of restaurant, concept, etc.

Price: The service offers two tariff plans to choose from – Free (without removing watermarks and customization) and Unlimited for $9 (more than 200 templates, without watermarks, as well as customization and printing).

MustHaveMenus is a universal platform for everything related to compiling a list of restaurant dishes. It covers the process from design to printing. You need to choose one of hundreds of available templates, enter the necessary information, customize and download. You have the opportunity to order a menu from MustHaveMenus designers, who will create a design according to all your requirements.

Price: $29 per month (self-created) and from $99 per page (design services).

Part of the Adobe Spark application suite is the ability to create restaurant menus. Lots of professional fonts to choose from, uploading images from your personal PC or third-party resources, customizing templates - everything to simplify your work.

Price: for free.

Photoshop: video tutorials

Design is one of the first steps in communication with clients. This can have an impact on your impression of the restaurant. We invite you to watch video instructions on how to create a menu in Photoshop:

Cafe and bakery menu design

In this video you will see step by step instructions creating a creative design for a bakery or coffee shop.

Restaurant Menu Design in Photoshop

The video shows the process of creating a menu design for a restaurant.

Brochure Menu in Photoshop

This video will teach you how to design a menu in the form of a brochure.

Small menu flyer

This video tutorial will show you how to make a one-page menu flyer for a fast food restaurant.

Double menu for a restaurant

The video will show you step by step how to make a menu brochure in Photoshop.

Let's sum it up

Your menu is the main means of communication between the kitchen and the customer. Additionally, it must convey the restaurant's brand in a way that makes diners excited about being there and then want to come back and recommend it to family and friends. Is it hard to believe that all this depends on a small piece of paper? The truth is, a menu is not just a list of dishes. Like a portfolio, it is part of marketing. And therefore you need to try very hard to ensure that the menu is the strong point of the establishment. In this article, we tried to give basic design tips with examples, as well as describe the least expensive ways to create it. Finally, we suggest looking at a few more templates for inspiration.

These templates are universal and suitable for any type of establishment: restaurant, cafe, bakery, bar, etc. Here are some examples for inspiration: