Digital menu boards are all set to revolutionise the restaurant sector. They are smart, economical and just what your target audience needs. It will increase order value for sure if put to correct use. Having the right menu boards ideas is important and using them in the right way is needed to generate more revenue.

Digital menu boards are a way to ease out the entire process and save you from a lot of maintaining costs and manual efforts. If used the right way, they can help you establish a stronger brand image among your diners and increase sales as well.

10 things Your Digital Menu Boards Need to Shine Out!

1. Use HTML or animated content:

This is the first and the most important thing that you should be considering while designing your digital menu board content. Static content no longer offers the charm that digital content does and the reason is simple. Would you prefer to watch a movie or just the movie poster?

Animated and digital content offer way more engagement levels compared to the static ones. When it comes to digital menu boards, videos of food being prepared or an HTML displayed on the menu with pizza dough being prepared or the hot vapour oozing out of soup can be shown to grab attention. The possibilities are endless and you just need to ensure that digital menu boards are used with more creativity.

If you are looking to have animated content for your menu board, you can reach us out and we can assist you in the same.

2. Use the right font size and color for text

This is another very important yet often missed out point. The kind of font, its size, the placement and the different sizes that are used for the header and menu items is crucial. Let’s say if there is an offer that needs attention, the wording can put in big font size such that it is easily noticed by the diners to have a detailed look at it. Also avoid the mistake when designing menu boards of putting too many items in a menu.

Many times restaurants make the mistake of keeping the text of the same size on the entire menu which makes it hardly noticeable by anyone and tends to be quite simple. Also make sure that the font selection is in line with the images, the color and the text length that you decide to have for your menu. The text and font should be easy to read and understand.

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3. Keep the menu design in line with the restaurant theme

Having an eye-catching menu design is great but the most important part is if the design is in line with the theme, goal and interiors of the dining area. If you are offering cuisine from a specific location, it is good to understand what appeals to the audience of that place and design your menu boards accordingly.

Choosing random colors that are not in tune with your restaurant will not work out well and would also show a lack of understanding on your port about menu and their importance. Also make sure that your menu design and colour is consistent with the look of your restaurant.

4. Keep it clean and decluttered

Though menus are a representation of the food that you offer at your restaurant, it is crucial that you do not pile up the item with too much of details. Sometimes all the blank spaces are utilized for the sake of having something. This leads to a creation of an even more complex menu deviating from the job it is to do. There is no point to a menu board that users are not able to understand.

A more refined and cleaner look with just the needed information can do the trick. Use the right food images, the content and right font with compelling colour and your job is done. Stick to a theme or template of menu for all the updates in the future instead of going for different ones because they are available.

5. Use the right food images and leave the rest to them

The right pictures can work like magic for digital menu boards. Make sure that the images are not blurry and are of high definition. Also make sure to use the right amount of food images. Too many or too few images can turn off the charm of digital menu boards.

Real food images of the actual items in your menu are more suited to be kept than others. If images are kept just as an accompaniment to the menu, make sure they are your best ones.

6. Choose catchy colour themes

There are several terminologies already associated with food like if the color is red, it stands for spicy food, green stands for fresh and healthy food, yellow is normally associated with eggs and so on. Make sure you use colors that are not bright and go well with the theme and interiors of your restaurant.

Make sure that the font color is also not out of line but goes well with the entire look of the menu. The heading and the categories of the menu can be of different color than those for the menu items.

7. Use content to lure diners to dive into the menu boards

Though underrated, the content in the form of catchy taglines or a short note at the beginning or end of the menu showing your food motto or culture can go a long way.

If your dining area is going for more of a cool vibe that resonates with the new generation, then such matching taglines can be used. If you are giving much of a royal feel, then a line using such words can be used. All in all, make sure that the content to be used for promotional purposes has words and phrases that connect well with your target audience.

8. Go for the right placement

The right placement of menu boards is as important as the need for the users to keep them engaged. By placing the menu items next to the order counter and also at the waiting area, you can let customers decide their order easily.

If your restaurant area is big, go for more digital menu boards than just one. Place one at the waiting area, another at the ordering area and the third in the dining area or even more if you feel the need.Even if you are planning to have attention grabbing drive-thru menu boards, make sure that the users are able to see all the menu items without much effort and movement. That way, diners need not rely on only one menu board and can access the menu items easily from any section of your restaurant.

9. Choose the right size for your digital menu board

This is again a very important aspect driving the success of using digital menu boards. No matter how effective your menu design is, if the size of the menu board is not in line with the area that is placed and the number of customers it is going to serve, then you might as well not have them at your restaurant altogether.

Choosing the right size can depend on a lot of things like the size of your dining area or ordering area, the length of your menu – for a menu with mere five items, you could go for a single board but for more items, you need more menu boards and also a bigger size to make all items visible during the order placement.

10. Go for the appropriate orientation – Landscape or Portrait

Orientations are here for a reason and keeping that in mind, decide whether to have a landscape or a portrait mode for your digital menu board. At many places, the landscape mode is used to display your entire menu having all the details and the portrait mode is used to display promotional offers or certain specific items like dish of the day, New cookie on the menu and so forth.

If you are planning on going for only signage, you can go for multi-zone and display two pages of the menu on a single screen. This would help you display everything on the same screen.

How and where to get started?

If you are new to the world of digital menu boards, we have it soughted out for you. You need to start with how many digital menu boards you need in your dining area and then go on to choose the right size and a software that will be easy to use and economical as well.

If you are looking out to have a software for digital menu boards at your restaurant, DotSignage can be a right fit. You can schedule a demo with us as well to know more about our software.