50 Menu Engineering & Design Considerations

8/12/2019 50 Menu Engineering & Design Considerations

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50 MENU ENGINEERING & DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Brand PlatformBefore you allow marketingto spend any money on ads, designs, photo shoots, and the like, make sure they have an approved Brand Platform in place. Really, dont spend anything on marketing/design until its in place. It would be like startingto film a Hollywood movie before there is script in place. Whats a Brand Platform? A Brand Platform is the summation of the foundational aspects, rules, mannerisms, guidelines, definitive characteristics of how your company is to be portrayed; how it walks, dresses, talks, acts and behaves. It includes elements likelogo usage guidelines, copy style guides, colors and fonts, Brand Personality descriptions, Brand Positioning strategy, Brand Promise, and Brand Story. Think of it like this your brandis your own little country and your Brand Platform is your countrys constitution. A constitution lays out the dos and the donts. There are laws (your brand platform), there is an arm in charge of enforcement of thoselaws (your marketing team), and there is an arm in charge of judging when a lawhas been broken or not (your executive team). You can make the laws exactly howyou want them its your country after all. However, if you are emperor of a country without laws, you can expect chaos. Likewise, if you allow the team to start designing menus without a Brand Platform in place you can expect a degree of chaos. Having laws and rules for your brand doesnt limit creativity any more thanhaving a canvas restricts an artist. In fact, it helps focus the efforts.

Meaning of Color

As humans have evolved we have associated deep meaning to colors. Colors can have a subconscious impact on our perceptions. For instance, blue is associated with trust (youll notice many financial institutions use blue) and is also a relaxing color. Green is the most commonly found color in nature so is can signify freshness and renewal with the right hue (some hues of green can signify sickness and illso pay close attention with the use of greet). Red signifies exuberance, excitement, and encourages action. Yellow communicates happiness, optimism and enlightenment. Every color in the spectrum has a meaning and therefore it is important to consider the use of colors not just in your logo design and interior design, but also in your menu design. Appropriately used, you can conjure certain feelings and perceptions.

Use of Color

Armed with a knowledge of the meaning of coloryou can use certain colors to conjure the feelings and motivate behavior. For instance limited use of red can callattention to high-margin items you want to move. Orange stimulate the appetite while brown communicates nature and Earthy. The color variation (lighter background) for this menu call attention to the high margin items for the category and attract the guests attention to them which can lead to a significant shift in menu preference scores.

Food PhotographyFor some concepts it makes sense to put high resolution photos of menu items inthe actual design. More commonly you see this practice in fast-food through to lower price-point casual dining operations. Photos are one of the best merchandizing techniques you can incorporate into your menu but it must be done tastefully

. There must be a truth in advertising. For instance, while the food can and should be stylized(professional food stylist) it shouldnt mislead in terms of quantityof portions or quality of ingredients. Photo shoots can be expensive. Large chains can easily spend up to $10,000 per photograph on professional shoots. There are some well-respected food photographers that can do shoots for more in the range of $2,500 $5,000 USD plus travel and get quite good results. Just buying an expensive camera is not a strategy for food photography. There is a tremendous amount of skill and experience needed to produce food photography in todays age that will hold up to what consumers are used to seeing from the big guys. If your budget does not allow for a professional food photographer (specialized photograp


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her not just any old portrait photographer will do), then it is best to leveragethe other merchandizing techniques until the budget allows for an investment indigital assets.

Nested PricingWe have all seen those Chinese restaurant menus with the dot-dot-dot leading from a generic menu item name on the left to the price on the right. This encourages customers to view your restaurant as a generic commodity and read from right to left instead of left to right. The goal is to get them to scan the unique itemnames and well-written descriptions and make their choices based on what sounds/looks good; considering the price secondary not primary. Nested pricing is where the menu price comes after the description and is nestedinto the description using the same size font. After a period to end the description, there should be two spaces and then a price (without dollar signs).

Dont Use Dollar SignsWhen dollar/currency signs are used on the menu they become the most repeated item on the menu. The currency sign symbolizes money and therefore communicates the restaurant is just a business out to make a profit. Without a currency sign, guests still understand that any numerals beside a menu item are the price. Thismakes for a more subtle communication of the price of the item and keeps the guest focused on the experience itself more than the cost of the experience.

Different Languages

Restaurants in Europe and those catering to heavy international traffic are already well aware of the importance and benefit of menus in various languages. Somechains who are based in non-transient markets may forget the importance of providing menus in different languages for new markets they may be entering. For instance, we had one client in Mexico who was used to offering menus in English buthad overlooked the importance of having menus in Japanese also when they openedtheir first mega-location in Hawaii (Japanese tourists are a highly lucrative audience there and many businesses offer brochures and menus in Japanese). Likewise, a restaurant chain starting to opening franchise locations in the Middle East should also consider menus in Arabic and potentially Russian. If more than 15%of a prospective audience speaks another language you should strongly considermenus in that language.

iPad & Other TabletsDigital technologies are helping drive down the cost of printing in virtually every industry. Makes sense it would be applied to menus. While it is still cost prohibitive to offer digital paper to every customer, there are some specialty menus which can be converted to digital with a tablet such as an iPad or Kindle. This could be used for wines, signature cocktails, menu nutritional information,or even specials. Sure, why not film a 15 second clip of a new signature dish and have the server bring the tablet to the table and play a short clip? Okay, maybe thats over the top, but when you look for ways to apply the advantages of digital paper to traditional paper/menus, you will find some creative uses.

Digital Menu BoardsJust as the old timey photo books gave way to motion pictures, so too will stati

c printed menu boards fall to the more engaging digital menu boards. Digital menu boards are particularly popular at QSRs and fast-casual operations, but there are also still uses for casual dining operations with printed menus. Digital boards can be used for promomotional messaging (remember the old chalk boards when you walked in an Applebees?), training, and for zone merchandizing. Menu design must now take in to consideration design techniques for printed output, for staticdigital output, and for animated digital output (there are considerations unique to each execution).

Negative Space


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Amateur marketers have a natural inclination to say everythingthey can in an advertisement. This is largely influenced by the old days of pay-by-the-column inch.Since they bought spacethey wanted to fill it. Notice though, when one area of anewspaper is copy-heavy with lots of text all over and then there is a negativespace which is free of copy (think of an Apple advertisement), then the eye isdrawn there. The eye goes to the negative space. Likewise on a menu when you have a lot of items and copy and are trying to cram a lot on to one page, the humaneye will look for a starting point. When you put a pocket of negative space, you pull the eye there. So, in limited use coupled with other menu merchandizing techniques putting negative space around an item can call attention to it and help you sell it.

IconsBefore language, people communicated with grunts and images. Iconography. A single image could be a full expression. The power of icons to communicate has not been lost in human evolution. An icon can be used to both communicate a point (such as a chili pepper next to a hot item) but can also be used to signify the importance of a signature item. Both Google and YouTube have summarized whats likedwith just a single thumbs up or thumbs down icon. You could use popular icons such as a chili or thumbs-up, but you could also create your own branded icons andgive them meaning/symbolism. Icons are particularly good to use when there is limited space (i.e. road signs often show it versus say it; sometimes menus should too). As with all merchandizing techniques, use these sparingly.

Kindergarten ClassIf you use too many menu merchandizing techniques on one page it is the equivalent of a classroom of crazy kindergartners all screaming and waving at the same time to get the attention of the teacher. There are at least thirty (30) go-to menu merchandizing techniques we use on restaurant menus to help influence menu preference scores and purchasing behavior, but we rarely use more than two (2) ona page and almost always stay under five (5) techniques on the entire menu. If everything is important than nothing is important. Focus on just a few key thingsyou want to emphasize on your menu. At maximum, do not merchandize more than two (2) items per menu category.

High Rent AreasThink of your menu as a property development and yourself as the master develope

r. Where would you put the high-rent condos and where would you hide the necessary utility stations? Every inch of your menu should be paying its fair share ofrent. For those menu items worthy enough to get the high-rent areas on the menu,they need to be paying what the space is worth or surrender it to another menuitem that can pay a higher rent. Put your menu on a grid and assign value to each section based on how the eye flows over a menu. In a three panel menu, for instance, the eye will typically go to the middle of the middle panel first, then top right section of the far right panel, then across the top to the far left section of the far left panel. This is sort of the Golden Triangle of your menu. Put high-margin signature items in these spots. Then, within each category withineach panel, keep in mind that usually the #1 and #2 listed item in any section will be the top selling items in quantity (sort of like being on the top floor ofa luxury condo) but then there are also those who like to rent the ground-floor

units (which is why on some menus you will see the pattern that the last listeditem in a category is #3 in popularity for that category. Your menu items are renting valuable space from you. Make sure they are paying their fair share or send them an eviction notice.

CopywritingCopywriters with big ad agencies can get $50,000 or more for a single three or four word tagline. The reason clients would pay so much is they understand that awell-worded headline, or tagline, or block of copy can make a product stand outand produce millions in returns. Copy can make or break a brand and a menu. A f


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un visualization for helping your menu team think about copy-writing is to havethem imagine the menu as an online dating site. Each item on the menu is marketing itself for a date with your customers. The menu item wants to be found and ordered. Your job is to help them be positioned in the best possible light. Menu items cant speak for themselves so visualize each of your menu items in your kitchen reliant on your description of them to get a date. The menu description is sort of like the online dating site profile. It should reflect the personality (see Brand Personality), have a catchy headline, be short and to the point while still being communicative and compelling, should be accurately descriptive (truthin advertising), should be creative to stand out from the rest and not be boring/mundane, should say more than the obvious. Each menu item needs its elevator pitchsummed up in a sentence or two. Concise and compelling copy sells.

Short versus Long DescriptionsHumans are conditioned to notice whats different. When they see that most of themenu items have a short sentence description but then there is one in a box (orother merchandizing) and it has a longer description than the rest, they assumeit must be more important. If the copy is well-written, it will draw them in. This is an excellent technique for selling signature items where you truly are doing something unique.

Highlighting SpecialsAs my friend Jim Sullivan famously said, You can have the best product in the world but if nobody knows about youve still got it. Its true; customers cant buy what

hey dont know about. Limited Time Offers and menu specials are a great way of testing new items before they go on the full menu and also testing different pricepoints and other menu engineering strategies. But how to you highlight whats special? Well, one of the biggest things is to make sure youre not highlighting too much at once. If everything is important nothing is important. Weve all felt a smile slowly fade as a waiter droned on and on about tonights specials mentioning 2soups, 3 appetizers, 4 entres with multiple preparation styles they might as welljust read the whole menu to us, right? Well, look at how the big guys do it whether on the QSR side like a Starbucks or the high end of fine dining. If Starbucks has something special, every bit of in-store marketing is focused on that oneitem from the bathroom posters to the window clings. And in the fine dining restaurant, if the chef has much to be proud of, he doesnt have all the items listedoff, he instead creates a very special chefs tasting menu. The more you focus on

one item, the more special you make it.

Seasons 52Seasons 52 is the new darling of Darden Restaurants. Darden as many of you know is the worlds largest casual dining restaurant chain (other brands include Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, Capital Grill, etc). Darden will only investin a concept if they believe it has at least a $1 billion market potential. While there is much to point to as innovative with regard to Seasons 52 and while theexample of their dessert program has been lauded quite a bit already it is worth mentioning again just how good of a job they did with their dessert program. While most restaurants have less than 3% of their revenues derived from the dessert case and have dismal capture rates(number of customers who opt for dessert asa percentage), Seasons 52 has been reputed to have dessert capture rates of as mu

ch as 80%. Rather than sell a 2-pound cake for $7.95 as many dated casual diningplayers still did, Seasons 52 offered an assortment of fresh desserts in a tastersize for just $1.95. This was the casual dining restaurant equivalent of puttingthose candies and lifestyle magazines at the grocery store checkout you couldntmiss them and it is an easy indulgence. To my dismay, many casual dining playershave tried to just knock-off the Seasons 52 program rather than learn the deeperlessons is offers about innovation, merchandizing, impulse purchases, being first, and challenging conventional wisdom. They looked at desserts in casual dining how Steve Jobs looked at mobile phones and set out to not just do something better, but do something with fresh-eyed enthusiasm and entrepreneur-ism in the spir


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it of innovation.

Exterior Menu DisplaysImagine going to the grocery store and buying items off the shelf with no packaging; you dont know completely whats inside until you get it home. Well, for many,going inside a restaurant they know nothing about feels the same way. They justkeep walking. But, when a restaurant has invested in an exterior that communicates what can be found on the inside, and then offers a menu outside, then a passerby can be converted into a new customer. In this post, I am referring not justto the exterior facade though, I am referring to the menu boards. Far too many restaurants either dont offer exterior menus or they leave the area outdated; using old menus, cluttered with dusty trinkets, etc. Think of the exterior menu board like you have hired a salesperson to stand outside of your restaurant and greet potential customers passing by and to explain what your restaurant is all about. You may decide to look at this investment differently and even go so far as digital displays, or interactive kiosks, or something even more creative and brand-appropriate.

Menus To GoPeople are more on the go today than ever. It is important that your menu be able to go wherever your customers go. This could mean an email-friendly version ofyour menu, visible on an iPhone or Android mobile browser, can be faxed (yes, some people still use it), be available as a take-away menu, and some would say even go so far as making sure someone can Tweetyour menu.

Naming Menu ItemsNaming your menu items creatively can help express the brand personality and positioning strategy in a compelling way. For instance, if you are committed to sustainable farming, perhaps the Chicken Parmesancould be called the Free-Range Chicken Parmesan(probably the least creative example that could be used here, but hopefully illustrative nonetheless). In addition to working in adjectives that better describe the item, you could also try other variations like naming an item after guest, famous local, or important growing region, etc.

Menu item names and copywriting are two of the best ways to communicate your brand personality, positioning strategy, promise and story. NOTE: One of the areasof law that will really heat up in the future is Intellectual Property. Its an ar

ea of law concerned with protecting ideas, copyrights, patents and the like. So,once you have those really fun and unique names, consider getting them protected (much the way McDonalds did with the Big Mac and Burger King did with the Whopper).

Trademarks & CopyrightsYou will notice that everywhere Burger King uses the word Whopperthey have theirtrademark registration notice along with it. If you are using ANY words, phrases, images, recipes, or other intellectual property that you dont want others to use freely, you really should seek the help of an intellectual property attorney and add the proper protections into your operation (on menus, in employee manuals, etc). There are a lot of copycats in the restaurant industry and intellectualproperty will keep heating up as a field of law impacting the restaurant industr

y. Please be sure those working on your menus and other creative materials are aware of the laws and your policy and that you have protections in place for yourintellectual property.

Pricing StrategiesAn entire book can be written on menu pricing strategies. One of the questions Imoften asked though is how to handle the cents. Should we round it up or down? Should we use $.99 or $.95. What if the target cost meant a menu price of $8.25?Personally I believe many of these issues to be rooted in the overall concept strategy, not just the semantics of menu pricing. Meaning, it would be much more a


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ppropriate for a high-end martini lounge to round their prices to flat amounts versus quirky pricing (i.e. its $11, not $10.95; but if the same costs were true for family oriented casual dining restaurant the more concept-appropriate approach may be the other way around).

That said, pricing is both an art and a science. The science part should be rooted in achieving target theoretical food costs and profit margins. The art part of it though is how to make the science part more appetizing and appealing. A restaurant that charged $7.43 for an item just because that is the exact price thatwould give them exactly a 31% food cost would be peculiar. Generally, my recommendation is to use as few digits as possible and never use a dollar sign. I alsofrequently recommend to round up and offer a better value than to round down and pinch both the restaurants profits and customers experience. Also, price the menu in such a way that it cannot be easily compared or price shopped against thecompetition. I have frequently seen restaurants that were overall lower than their competitors but perceived as higher just because having a poor pricing strategy on just a few key items.

Advertising on Restaurant MenusOf all of the restaurant chains in the world, no other chain comes close to matching the average unit volume of Cheesecake Factory. Across 135 locations they average $10.9m each. It was certainly a surprise then to see them selling ad spacein their menus for other retailers. While running F&B marketing for a luxury ho

tel we even bought ad space to promote the new $20m spa. Boy was it expensive. Recently, I also saw a small oyster bar in my hometown had sold not just space intheir menu, but even their table tops virtually everything was for sale.

My opinion on menu ads is mixed and depends heavily on the concept in question.For the right concept though, this can be a great way to forge new relationshipsin the community while also getting all of your menu production costs covered.Some actually turn a small profit they invest back into marketing

Supplier Logos and SponsorshipsThere are sponsorship dollars available to restaurants that allow the branding of a supplier to make its way on to your menu. Product Placementis hot again in Hollywood and on TV again and has long been common in the restaurant industry. The

way this works is a supplier either pays you a fee to sponsorcontent on your menu, or in some cases the suppliers product is so well-branded and liked that a restaurant asks to use it just to reinforce a quality message to their consumers.

For instance, Jose Cuervo may be willing to pick up the tab to run a new drinksmenu if their product will be heavily/prominently featured. Or, another examplecould be the use of the Oreo or Godiva logo and messaging at a Cold Stone Creamery to leverage some of the suppliers brand equity. In some cases, this can be agood way to reinforce quality and credibility; but it must be done tactfully. Inthe case of this sample menu, we incorporated the logos of premium beers to pair them with signature pizzas as a means of increasing check average and positioning the restaurant as a higher end Cerveceria.

Marketing CooperativesYour suppliers generally want you to sell more and they are often willing to putup some money to help you do that. Some of those old Coca-Cola and Budweiser promotional signs are now worth a fortune. Depending on your restaurant volume andthe demographics/psychographics of your core audience, you may be a good candidate for cooperative funds from vendors. The deals are usually commensurate to the size, scale and negotiating skills of the restaurant company and supplier.

The cooperative program could come in the form of your wine distributor paying to print new menus, or a large vendor offering a rebate that may be used for mark


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eting, or could even be a jointly sponsored promotion or special event. One of our clients received $60,000 per year in cooperative advertising funds from a credit card company ($40m run on that one card type). The only stipulation for receiving the cooperative advertising funding was that their logo be used on any ofthe ads or promotional materials. I mention this in the context of menu design because it could have an impact on future menu designs and is a consideration when looking at new LTOs, long-term purchasing contracts with minimum volume requirements, and also finding that additional funding for marketing and menu improvements.

ReadabilitySomething Ive seen time and again with menu design is for a proper font size to be sacrificed to fit a design or target number of pages/panels on a menu. Its understandable how this happens. It starts off with a goal of having a four panel menu and so the designer is fed copy and content as it comes available from the culinary and marketing teams. Often the team is on a tight deadline and gets a designer started before everything is in order to compress the timetables. The amateur designer starts plugging in the content as it is fed to her and spends 50% -75% of their budgeted time for the project fussing over getting the loose content to flow nicely over the four panels allotted and responding to the no, use thisnew description and price insteadaudible plays that occur along the way.

Then, right there at the end, the teams all realize there is too much content tofit in the predetermined page count. What comes next is they start squeezing, s

hrinking, and tweaking until ultimately the reduce the size of the font and throw out a few pieces of content or merchandizing so they hit the self-imposed deadlines and arbitrary page counts. The resulting menu is then hard to read and, while perhaps on time and on budget, the team collectively feel as though they have been put through the wringer and just barely averted catastrophe. If you get amenu that uses a tiny font, you can venture a guess it got there something likedescribed above. Understandable, but also unacceptable.

The last minute rush and fussing with designers is common but not the best approach for menu engineering and design. Its better to build in the requisite time todo things right so that all of the many considerations that go along with an effective menu strategy can germinate and render the highest potential for your restaurants. As it relates to readability, beyond the font size there are also oth

er considerations such as the font style (certain fonts hinder readability whileother promote it), the lighting where the menus will be viewed, the audience that will be reading the menus, the paper and/or backgrounds if any that will be used in the final production.

Brand PersonalityThe way a brand walks, talks, dresses, acts and behaves are all characteristicsdescribed in the Brand Personality. Is your brand playful, whimsical, and funny?Or is your brand serious, refined, cultured and sophisticated? Once you have accurately and fully articulated the brand in your overall brand platform and defined its personality, decisions and ideation around items such as menu design andproduction have a comparison point to evaluate against. The way you dressyour brand should be a reflection of its personality. For instance, the brand personali

ty of Senor Frogs is funny and fantastical. The environment is loud and carnival-like.

So, for their menus we created a special water-filled menu that the iconic frogfloated in, included a whistle on each menu (to call your waiterum, if youre familir with Senor Frogs you understand this is part of the charm), and then also developed bar menus in the shape of lily pads. Commissioned by TGIFridays to developnew bar menu concepts we presented ideas ranging pop-up menus with interactive tabs and dials, an audio menu that sung certain items, and a menu requiring 3-D glasses. I think in the end all of the concepts were shot down but did influence


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a national ad campaign. Ultimately though, the point is to think creatively andcome up with innovative new menu approaches that are tethered by the brand platform (not tethered by internal politics or what the competition is doing). In theentertainment industry, the more distinctive and appealing a personality the more likely they are to be noticed and become a celebrity. Add talent and that creates a career with staying power. The same is true for the restaurant industry communicate a distinctive and unique personality to standout, back it up with talent, and then you can leave competing on price to the other guys. Charismatic brands with personality dont have to compete on price.

The Brand StoryThere is a saying famous among copywriters Tell me quick and tell me true, not how this thing came to be, but what the darn thing does for me. What that means isthat customers want to know the story of your brand, but they want the story tobe one they can relate to and is unique. Humans think, relate and communicate best when in the form of story. It is universal and common among all civilizationsand cultures. We love a great story. The menu is a wonderful place to tell yourabbreviated story.

We can all agree that word of mouth is the best kind of marketing, but surprisingly few foodservice companies take proactive steps to help shape and stimulate word of mouth. Of course, great execution within the four walls of a restaurant is one of the best ways to get buzz circulating, but in todays competitive world it takes a little more amplification for buzz about your restaurants to reach a t

ipping point and go viral. If your brand hasnt quite hit that tipping point yet,the brand story may need some refinement. If, however, you do have a compellingbrand story be sure to put it on your menu so every customer you serve has the opportunity to help you spread that compelling story about your company around toall of their family and friends.

The Brand PromiseA brand is a promise, not something that happens after mountains of money have been poured into advertising. While there are many dimensions to a brand promise,a core area to address is the set of promises made with regard to the menu. Oneof the most recognizable menu promises is the Chipotle Food with Integritymantra. This concept of food with integrity permeates through all areas of the companyfrom purchasing methodology to packaging. It is a great illustration of how a p

ositioning strategy, brand personality, brand promise and brand story all culminate together to render a very commercially appealing and successful restaurant brand.

There are many other examples of how a brand promise has influenced menu strategy but another example I like to use is a Florida-based seafood restaurant (multi-concept operator) who makes a promise of fresh seafood. Since every seafood restaurant promises fresh seafood, saying that alone is an toothless promise its more just the token to get in to the game than a unique brand promise or positioning attribute. So, to raise the stakes and put more meat on their promise, they print on the menu the name of the vessel that caught the fish and even the depth of water and location from where the fish was caught. Now thats really making a promise that few others are willing to match. A bold and compelling promise gets a

ttention. The closer the execution/delivery is to the publicly made promise thestronger the brand. As you endeavor to engineer, design and rollout your next new menu, look for ways to more powerfully communicate your brand promise and personality. Also look for inconsistencies of promises made and actual delivery on those promises. Sometimes, over periods of revisions and spans of time without focus on previous promises, an inadvertent drifting can occur that puts a wider gap between the promise and execution. It is the job of all the stakeholders within the company to consistently monitor the relationship of promises made and promises kept. In the end, everyone within the company is proportionally responsibleand rewarded.


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Brand PositioningIn marketing, you dont merely want to be considered the best of the best, you want to be considered the only one who does what you do. As Winston Churchill famously said, Once you have a point to make, dont try to be subtle or cleaver; hit thepoint once, twice and then a third time with a tremendous whack. Applied to brand positioning, this means that once you have zeroed in on what makes you differentas opposed to betterthe job next is to reinforce that message at every touch-point possible. Applied more specifically to menu design, this means communicatingwhat makes your restaurant different in a way that also expresses the personality and promise of the restaurant. The approaches therefore are dramatically different and entirely unique to each and every individual restaurant brand.

In the case of one high-end restaurant client (the most expensive restaurant opening in Florida history), the message was about engaging all of the senses and showcasing El Bulli inspired Alta Cocina in an environment that is decadent modern luxury and sophistication. To communicate the positioning, we were commissioned to create heat sensitive menus and press kits that, under the warmth of touchwould reveal hidden messages and art. In addition to the sense of touch, the sense of smell and sound were also engaged with a sound chip embedded in each unitand an aromatic fabric. The intent was to create a sense of discovery, engage the senses, and invite the customer to more carefully observe their environment and experience. Now the budget for this project was well above average for sure, but the intent is the same regardless of budget to use the menus as yet another o

pportunity to communicate your point of difference and to impress upon your customers that you pay attention to the little details. The wowis found in the littledetails. More often than not, the best impressions are made not by spending bigbudgets but by thinking creatively and offering something unique that renders avery brand-relevant and customer-oriented experience to your guests

Location Considerations for Multi-Unit OperatorsMulti-unit restaurant operators have many additional considerations that must befactored in to their menu engineering and design planning. This includes issuessuch as different languages, market-level pricing variations, market-level availability/appeal considerations (for instance, a hamburger doesnt sell in India aswell as a veggie burger sells just as a veggie burger wont sell as well in the USA as a hamburger, etc), fulfillment issues (getting the new menus to all of the

locations around the world and implemented on time; programming point of sale systems; training; operational issues spanning the gap from their best performingunits/managers to the poorest performers; etc); and even issues such as mannerisms and cultural considerations (such as Ronald McDonald bowing in Asia insteadof waving).

For chains with diversely located restaurants additional complications arise dueto political influences and governmental agencies (such as some markets demanding menu labeling, banning certain kids marketing and menu approaches, and also concerns such as restrictions on ingredients no use of pork products or proteinswith animal by-products in certain parts of the Middle East, etc). Those who are already operating in wide and spanning territories know these issues (and many more) all too well. I mention them here primarily for those emerging brands who ma

y be tempted into prematurely jumping great distances with new openings (cherry-picking markets rather than growing in concentric circles) as just a sampling ofcautionary considerations to factor into the decision making process.For QSRs andfast-casual operators who use menu boards predominantly, new digital menu boardtechnologies solve a host of past headaches such as market-variations and fulfillment

Menu DurabilityThe design and production of your menu is largely influenced by the manner and environment in which it will be used. For instance, menus at a pool bar should ha


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ve an Aqueous coating (or be waterproof), be easy to read in bright light, potentially have a U.V. coating or treatment to keep from fading, and be of a heavierweight to keep from blowing away. All menus should be easy to clean or replace.Far too many restaurant menus come with a side of what they guy before you hadfor dinner.

Menu covers with too many cracks and crevices (like those el cheapo vinyl slip covers) are like a catchers mitt for food particles and grease. There is a cost/benefit analysis to run based on your operation to determine if it is better to invest in high quality materials that will have a long shelf life or to gear up for a rapid replacement of menus (or even disposable menus intended to last justone shift versus years).

Custom Menu CoversMenu covers can run anywhere from $2 each for reduced quality vinyl slip coversto $75 or more each for hard bound designer covers. The famous Burj Al Arab in Dubai presents its menu in an eel skin wrapped book with a large and beautiful Mother of Pearl inset in each. If I had to guess Id say those were around $300 each(so for a 150 seat restaurant thats $68,000 with overruns). At The Breakers, thefine dining restaurant LEscalier uses $300 Versace flatware and the dining roomchairs are upwards of $1,000 each. These restaurants appeal to some of the worlds wealthiest people who expect every touch-point of the restaurant from the doorknobs on the entrance to the menus they hold to the food, of course to be trulyworld-class.

Naturally, in these environments, one can spare little expense especially when it comes to the weight, touch, balance, design, and material they put in their hands to make their selections. It is a reflection of their brand. On the other end of the spectrum, a vinyl slip cover also communicates a brand and it may say exactly what is intended. Vinyl says economywhereas mother of pearl says indulgentluxury. Thats the key though every touch-point of your restaurants must communicate the brand from the menu covers to the way the phone is answered. Should you use a very fun a whimsical menu cover, or mother of pearl, or just print out a newmenu each and every day on a quality paper in the back office the answer is always rooted in the brand personality, brand promise, brand positioning, and brandstory.

Menu EngineeringOne of the most important considerations with regard to menu design is to startfrom a foundation of knowledge and analysis gained through the complete Menu Engineering process. Design can help with aesthetics and even influence menu preference scores, but the real rubber-on-the-road for menu profitability is uncoveredthrough Menu Engineering.

Personalized MenusOn a recent trip to Thailand I was asked at hotel check-in which paper I would like to receive daily. I had wondered how the hotel was able to get a daily newspaper from the United Kingdom to my room each morning on an island on the AndamanSea, but then when the first one arrived I was even more perplexed wondering how they were able to also get my name on each and every page of the paper. It was

like my own private edition paper. It struck me if the hotel could do this eachand every morning with a 100 page newspaper, why couldnt some of our restaurantclients offer personalized menus to large groups or private parties? Its such a nice touch and for very little extra cost there is much more wowfactor.

The wow is always in the little details like this. Then I remembered I had received such a menu years before at a private club in Florida and also remembered that at a luxury hotel I used to market we had a resident calligrapher that wouldcrank out ornate and personalized thank you notes and special invitations. Beautiful! Sometimes the best ideas for one industry are ideas that have been around


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for years in another segment of the industry or totally other industry all together. In this case, the personalization of luxury hotels offers an underutilizedapproach for restaurant marketing especially as it relates to large groups, caterers, business to business marketing, showing special appreciation for importantcustomers. Personalized menus and invitations make a guest feel special and aremore reflective of the truest sentiment of hospitality much more so than a light weight paper coupon stuffed in the back of the Sunday newspaper or metered postage mailbox stuffer.

Table TentsOne very notable casual dining chain has banned the use of table tents and cut off table top marketing options for their marketing department. In some respects,I can see the rationale and in fact agree with it. Table tents have deteriorated in terms of both quality and content to the point that they become unnecessaryclutter. Weve all see those flimsy, floppy, tattered and torn table tents with alittle bit of the steak fajita from the guests before still clinging on to onecorner. Weve also all seen those hard acrylic or Plexiglas table tents sponsoredby a name-brand supplier pushing some ill-advised discount offer or ill-conceived happy hour program.

In this vein, I can completely agree with the top brass of the not-to-be-mentioned restaurant chain for taking table tents off the table, so to speak, for the marketing department. If it cant be done right, better not to do it at all. That said, zone merchandizing is an incredibly powerful tool within the restaurant mar

keters arsenal and the table is one of the most important zones in the zone merchandizing toolkit. In this light, both are right the executives for disallowingpoorly executed table tents and the marketers who are fighting for permissions and budgets to run professionally conceived table tent programs that are rooted in and reflective of the brand personality and positioning strategy. When table tents litter or clutter a table top, they should be pulled and not allowed back into the system until the head of marketing is willing to take personal responsibility for superior execution (both in terms of quality and content of the tabletent but also in terms of operational protocols working with your operations department). Its hard for marketing to effectively fight for those mandated sales increases with one arm behind her back. That said, the fight should still have some ground rules and that should include a clear set of parameters on what can bedone to the table top in terms of marketing.

Menu StuffersWeve all that that frustrating experience of picking up a nice magazine and having an explosion of paper pour out with pesky business reply cards and subscription forms. While putting in a bunch of loose cards, or a stiff card with perforated tear sheet, or oversized page with a cologne sample may force us to dealing with the marketing message, it can also cause undue frustrations and detract fromthe actual content of the magazine. Similarly, while menu inserts and stuffers can help call attention to a special new item or offer, it shouldnt be done at thecost of convenience and ease of use for the guest. Properly executed, menu stuffers can be effective and also still be unobtrusive.

New Menus: How Often?

Globalization and the emerging food shortage crisis are wreaking havoc on food prices. In 2011 menu prices are expected to increase at least 8% in restaurants and costs for many restaurants are going up at far faster rates. While you shouldnt react to food price increases on a day by day or hour by hour basis as the shift, you do need to analyze your menu and produce a new menu at least twice per year. The average restaurant profitability is a razor then 5% so dramatic fluctuations in costs which are sustained over long periods of time can not only erodemargins but can put a restaurant company into the red and cause debts to mount quickly.


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Beyond the important financial motivations to review and adjust your menu on regular intervals, there is also the equally important factor of guest satisfaction(influenced both by factors within your control such as speed of service, quality and consistency of execution, etc., and also external factors such as shifting consumer behavior and emerging trends). Some restaurants are already geared upto produce a new menu each night; some each quarter/season; and some have 18-month or greater planning curves. There is no one size fits all when it comes to how often to conduct a full menu analysis or rollout new menus. Suffice to say, based on your operation, there is a sweet spot for timing just like timing that perfect souffl. More often than not though, restaurant companies tend to leave themenu in place without proper analysis for too long of a stretch and burn significant profits as a result. At a minimum for high volume independents through large regional chains the menu analysis work should be completed at least twice peryear.

PlacematsDepending on your concept and format, placemats may be an appropriate extensionof your menu and marketing strategy. Naturally, a marketing-oriented placemat isnot appropriate in a table cloth restaurant, but if you have a QSR or fast-casual operation placemats may be at the center of your zone merchandizing efforts.Placemats can sometimes be viewed as an extension of the menu (such as rotatingwith the limited time offers youre featuring or as a stand-alone glossary of terms). Other uses include data capture cards/tear-outs, telling your brand story, or recognizing special customers, employees or events. Keep content on placemats

fresh plan to rotate the messaging and design at least quarterly (every 4-8 weeks is ideal).

Glossary of TermsTodays consumer loves to learn something new about food, drink, and fun little factoids about food history and terminology. If you feature unique ingredients orpreparation methods in your restaurants consider offering a glossary of terms. This will help make the menu more approachable, engage guests, stimulate word ofmouth promotion for your restaurants, and help you get credit for your best attributes. While guests have perhaps ordered it dozens of times, they may not be able to as easily explain to others what an Aioli is or answer whether Burgundy isa region or a varietal.

The approach to informing guests should mirror your overall brand personality and positioning so what works for one might not be appropriate for another. For instance, Caf Tu Tu Tango offers a glossary of menu terms as a placemat and since the restaurant is themed as an artists loft the glossary is reflective of the theme. Carlos & Charlies a popular and free spirited chain throughout Mexico and theCaribbean known for its unique sense of humor offers a set of comical instructions on how to eat a taco; complete with illustrations and funny captions. Neither of these two approaches would work in a fine dining atmosphere, of course. Nonetheless, fine dining while appealing to a more discerning and sophisticated audience still should be no less committed to making their menu approachable in a brand-relevant manner. In a fine dining execution, for example, some restaurantsallow hard to pronounce imported wines be ordered by number rather than requirethe person ordering it to feel intimidated about the pronunciation in front of h

is guests. Perhaps in the description there is also a tastefully worded mentionthat Burgundy is a region and not a varietal The intent isnt to dumb-down the menu but rather to make the menu more informative, approachable and to get credit for the hard work you put in with regard to sourcing the finest ingredients and unique culinary prowess.

Zone MerchandizingThe most effective way to invest marketing dollars is to start from within the restaurant and work outward in concentric circles. We recommend that 25% 40% of arestaurant marketing budget be allocated to PR and digital marketing and the ba


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lance be spent starting from within the four walls of the restaurant. Of the four ways to build sales (new trial, frequency, check average and party size), frequency and check average are two of the most cost-effective to influence. A successful strategy for increasing frequency and check average is zone merchandizing;using your own restaurant as a marketing channel to influence your existing customers perceptions and buying behavior.

To do this, identify the various zones or marketing channels within your restaurant. This includes zones such as windows, bathrooms, greeter station, televisions within the restaurant, the actual tables (for instance you may use placemats or table tents at the table to communicate via this zone) and even the staff area zone (what they wear and say is a channelto communicate with your customers). With the zones identified, you can begin planning your programming. As you have anew promotion or something important to say, rollout the message via your zones. The most effective approach to this is to use each zone to reinforce a singlemessage rather than clutter each zone up with competing messages. For instance,you will notice when Starbucks runs a promotion through their zone merchandizing, everything (from staff buttons to bathroom posters to internal signage) all reinforce the same message. If they are promoting a summer Frapaccino, all of thezones reinforce that one item (with alternative execution within each zone to keep the designs and messages fresh and engaging).

Adjectives versus SuperlativesRegardless of where in the world you are you have likely seen Worlds bestclaimed a

t a restaurant. Could be their hamburger, or their ribs, or steak; but whateverit is we all sort of roll our eyes in knowing just because they claim it doesnt make it so. Superlatives are bold claims that are often hard to believe when proffered by restaurants. A far better way to write is to use true adjectives that are believable; this will go much further in winning hearts and minds as well asbuilding credibility.

One should only use adjectives that are accurate though (truth in advertising) and not dress up descriptions by stuffing inaccurate adjectives in menu descriptions, but perhaps some of these work for you: line-caught, free-range, shade-grown. These types of adjectives both more accurately describe what is being served while also making the item sound more appealing and appetizing. Adjectives can conjure positive associations in the mind of the customer where as superlatives co

njure images of snake oil salesmen. Some government agencies are working to protect and preserve truth in advertising and are cracking down on misleading menu copy and descriptions. For instance, in Florida, restaurants have long gotten away with serving Tilapia and calling it Grouper (while they taste similar, the price is quite different between the two and so some operators were buying the cheaper Tilapia and selling it as the more expensive Grouper and pocketing the difference). In general, the best approach to menu copywriting is to stick to unique,descriptive, accurate and appealing adjectives and avoid superlatives and falseclaims. Todays consumer is willing to pay a little more for a better experienceat a restaurant they trust.

Importance of the SourceFor 50 years consumers became less interested in where their food came from than

they had been in the 10,000 years that preceded it. The pendulum is about to swing swiftly back in the direction of consumers having a real interest in where their food comes from. This movement which is just gearing up offers real opportunity for independents through to multi-concept operators and regional chains andemerging brands. There are so many implications to this movement that it is impossible to cover all of the branches that will blossom off this one root trend,but suffice to say it is very important to consider in terms of your culinary and menu strategy.

The definitions of organic, local, and the like are still being debated and the use


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of such terms will likely be regulated (again, the implications of this movementare so significant that multi-national corporations stand to lose or gain billions based on how this movement plays out). It is early yet, this trend, but it is likely to be one of the most powerful forces impacting the food and restaurantindustry over the next 3-10 years. Never too late to start getting involved andbe one of those early adopters that is viewed as a pioneer that was active before the crest of Johnny-come-latelys piled on.

Restaurant Customers Want to Be EducatedThere is now more culinary programming on television than ever before; 1000s ofhours of it every week. Consumers are more curious and informed about food and are far more likely to try something new than in the past. Anthony Bourdains No Reservations has not only made him one of the highest paid chefs in the world but has further incited the movement of trying something new and seeking out food with authenticity. If you went back 20 years ago, Americans were not ready for realMexican food. The Tex-Mex chains dominated popular culture.

Today, those same Tex-Mex chains are on a spiraling decline while at the same time more authentic Mexican offers (such as Rosa Mexicana) are successfully expanding and educating an appreciative audience on what is real Mexican. 20 years ago, Americans werent interested in Mexicanbeyond a chimichanga and plate of cheesy nachos (neither of which are Mexican). Today though, you are more likely to find consumers with a knowledge or at least a curiosity of the different regions of Mexico and what really is authentic Mexican food than you ever would have before. A

nd its not just Mexican food its virtually all (authentic) ethnic cuisines and thoughtfully-inspired menu innovations. You dont have to dumb the menu down anymore.In fact, guests want to learn. Take for instance the wave of interest in Kobe beef. When consumers learned the back-story on the beef they started a word of mouth movement that spread across the country. There are many examples of how to apply the principle of educating both to overall marketing and to menu engineering and design than what I can get to in a single blog post, but I am very convinced (and feel compelled to convince clients) that the idea of educatingis one of the surest ways to spark word-of-mouth buzz, generate media coverage, attract more qualified staff, and to fill seats in restaurants.

Approachable: You Can Never Make It Too Easy to Buy from Your RestaurantWhile there are a few restaurants that pride themselves on appealing only to stu

ffy food snobs and elitists, for the most part every restaurant can and should take great care to make their menu and concept in general as approachable as possible. As the saying goes, You can never make it too easy to buy from you. One great example I like to use is Californian versus French Wines. If you went back tothe 1970s and 1980s American wine producers were mostly producing jug wine (the cheap stuff) while the fine wines were imported from France.

The fine wines were served in those stuffy food snob type restaurants and were intimidating for many Americans to pronounce and order. Mondavi, Jess Jackson, and Gallo all realized that if they could make fine wine more approachable they could enter the high end of the market. They did and now Californian wine far outsells French wine in the US. The same principle can be applied in many ways, especially as it relates to menu strategy to make items more approachable and market

able. For instance, did you know that the now wildly popular Chilean Sea Bass was originally named the Patagonian Toothfish? No matter how sophisticated and elite a restaurant is, it should never make guests feel intimidated and unworthy thats exactly the opposite of what hospitality is about. A menu and concept can bemade more approachable without sacrificing anything in terms of sophistication.What you stand to gain though is your own equivalent to what the Californian wine producers gained dramatically more sales by making it easier to buy.

Menu Production: How many menus should we print?How many menus should you produce? Great question. Its not an exact science, but


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there are some rules of thumb and planning considerations. One rule of thumb forprinted menus which are reused (i.e. in vinyl slip covers, hard bound menu covers, etc) is to produce 1.5 times the number of seats you have (this is cutting it close and conservative).

In addition to what you need for just normal operations, consider also printingextras over the 1.5x seat count allotment for: replacing bad menus (defects, wear/tear, etc), stolen or missing menus (maybe you did something so nice it growslegs and becomes a souvenir), and then also consider providing full menu to local businesses, food writers/media, and local concierges (these constituents can deliver big group business so it doesnt pay to skimp and send them a photo copy ofthe menu why not give them a full hard bound menu if thats what you offer your customers). In addition to those uses, also consider a less expensive version which is intended to be taken away such as putting in the bag with all to-go orders, in takeout bags, deliveries, and at local events you may participate in. It isoften much more economical to print/produce too many than to have to go back for a second-run printing or order replacements at a higher price per unit.

Kill, Modify or RepositionEveryone that goes to Harvard is smart but still a top 10% and bottom 10%. Meaning, of all the really smart kids that go to Harvard, there are still a top 10% thats smartest of the smart and a bottom 10% thats at the bottom of the pecking order. Likewise, no matter how good your menu is there will still be a top 10% thatproduce the sales and profits and a bottom 10% that dont carry their weight. At

least twice per year, you should go through a complete menu engineering and design process and weed out those bottom 10%.

The simplest way to approach this process is to put all of your menu items in a22 scatter chart (standard economic model) and identify any items showing up in the bottom quadrants. Anything in the bottom quadrants should be Killed, Modified, or Repositioned. Some items could increase in their contribution by being redeveloped (such as adding lump crabmeat to a fish dish to increase its price/contribution). Some could be simply repositioned on the menu (maybe they have real potential to contribute sales and profits but are buried in a low-rent area of themenu; putting the item in a high-rent area of the menu could give it the neededboost). Invariably though, there are items in the bottom which just have to be discontinued. This can sometimes be painful internally (i.e. I love a peanut butte

r and banana sandwich, I just dont understand why its not selling). Discontinuing an item can be like throwing out a favorite old pair of running shoes, but such is life the old must give way to the new to keep things fresh and vibrant. If youdiscontinue an item and get backlash, you can always turn this into an advantage (check out the Coke Classic and New Coke case study to see how they did it).

Menu Modifiers: When less is moreThere are more demands on the human attention span than ever. Prescriptions forattention deficit medicine are ballooning. Could it be that were just being inundated with too much to keep track of and its not that attention is waning but thatdemands on it are increasing? The definition of the word restaurantis derived from Latin for restore. Yes, we go to restaurants to feel restored, not just fill our bellies. That said, some customers actually appreciate having fewer choices th

an more choices.

What Im getting at here are modifiers. Where instead of just list Chicken Cesar Saldon the menu, a well-meaning chef also adds under that description options to put every other type of protein held in house on the same salad (i.e. or add Shrimpfor $3.95 more, or add Steak for $4.95 more, or add Lobster forand on and on doing this systematically for each menu item). This becomes overwhelming and creates unnecessary clutter and confusion on a menu. It also creates way too many SKUs/PLUs in the Point of Sale System and complicates training. Just because you can make it doesnt mean it needs to be an item listed on the menu. Another way to look


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at this is to consider the menu ordering systems of both Starbucks and Chipotle. These are two of the best in the business. While the combinations of ingredients could add up to yield millions of different unique menu items, the ordering process is set up as a very intuitive and simply process of customization. There are four or five categories of choices but the combinations are limitless. For thetypical casual dining restaurant, the average number of items should be around55-65 (Cheesecake Factory by comparison has 200 items but the math works out since they do $10.9m per location; this would be way too heavy for operators doingsignificantly less volume). If you add up your menu items and there is sign youhave too many items to run efficiently, consider dropping the modifiers or switching to a different ordering system. This will help increase your through-put and both your customers and staff will appreciate your efforts to make the menu more simplified and straight-forward.

Menu Investment and BudgetingGuests wont try every item on the menu, but every guest uses the menu. The restaurant menu is the single most important marketing collateral you have (website issecond). Its amazing how much can be spent on design and decor for new restaurants but then the menu is often just a blip if at all identified in the new restaurant opening budget. Your menu is your best salesperson and should function as atour guide for all of your customers. Whether you serve 5,000 customers per week or 5,000,000 per day there is no one talking to more of your guests than yourmenu.

For large chains, a slight shift in menu preference scores can mean millions more in net profits. For regional chains, a innovative new idea incorporated into the menu can catapult a well-loved regional player into a nationally recognized emerging brand. For high-volume independent restaurants, a professionally engineered and designed menu can keep you head and shoulders above the local competitors too lazy to invest in sophisticated new approaches todays competitive restaurant landscape requires. Undoubtedly, the restaurant business is one of the most complicated and difficult to manage. It requires so many different specialized disciplines to work together in harmony and there is seemingly never enough money to go around for all of the various internal investments that are needed. That said, there are a few that always trump budgeting concerns. Those issues impactingthe employee morale, guest experience, and certainly issues that can have quickand measurable impact on sales and profits those all go to the top of the list.

Menu engineering and design is one of those issues that can address all of those issues collectively so when viewed in this light it is much easier to justifyinternally the budgets required to develop a superior new menu.

Hiring a Menu ConsultantAll too many restaurant menus are designed and printed at the local all night copy joint. If you pay in peanuts expect to get monkeys. For the average restaurant, just a redesign of their menu incorporating some basic menu engineering techniques can boost monthly net profits by $1,000 per million in revenue thats without huge price hikes and massive menu overhauls.

The going rate for a competent design(thats after the analysis and engineering work has been done) is about $1,000 per page/panel for your menu. Thats the designave

rage. What also impacts menu design budgets beyond the analysis and design workis what level your existing brand platform is established and in place. Meaning,the menu design must reflect the brand platform, not be a total departure fromit. In addition there should also be budget lines for professional copywriting,printing/production, and potentially for new food photography and any new brandelements that may be introduced both to the menu and overall brand platform. Forcomparison sake, the lowest-priced menu engineering project we did was for $2,500 for a $1.2m independent and the highest was $100,000 for a $2 billion restaurant chain this type of work is budgeted almost exclusively on the complexity ofthe operation being analyzed. In terms of design, we typically average $1,000 pe


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r page/panel where there is an existing/established brand platform. Again, theseare just to give you a feel for what specialized/experienced menu engineering and design consultants charge. The most talented graphic designer in the world maybe able to do some amazing things design-wise, but keep in mind that effective menu engineering and design is about more than just how the menu looks. Effectivemenu engineering and design requires a multi-disciplined team and takes a lot of tedious work including the testing, analysis, design revisions, reviews and approvals, pre-press work and print-ready files, rollout strategy/fulfillment, andmore; but well-executed it can be one of the surest ways to quickly and measurably lift sales, profits and guest satisfaction.

Documents

50 Menu Engineering & Design Considerations