Restaurant Digital Menu Board Best Practices

You're in the process of installing digital menu boards in your restaurant and have no idea what will happen next. Choosing the best solution is just the beginning.

Now comes the challenging part. It's time to start planning your content and designing your new menus. You want to do things correctly, so taking the time to plan your next steps is beneficial.

Before we go any further, consider why people invest in digital menu boards for their restaurants.

A restaurant menu board is an excellent way to promote your loyalty programs, reinforce your brand, and encourage impulse food purchases. It's how you make your guests' dining experience better.

There are numerous additional benefits to going digital. You do not have to replace printed signs every time there is a new promotion or a price change. Menus can also be changed based on the time of day, the location of the restaurant, or when new food items are introduced. It's quick and easy.

• They are the simplest way to ensure that customers see your restaurant's menus while increasing foot traffic and sales.
• Customers' eating habits are changing. Restaurants that switch from traditional printed menus to dynamic digital versions see a significant increase in order sizes and receipt totals, according to sales data.
• Digital menu boards contribute to increased profitability and a positive impact on the bottom line of your business.

Help guests make better food choices

For guests looking for healthier food options, digital menu boards are an excellent option. This is why you should include caloric information and detailed ingredient lists in your menu layouts. To highlight vegetarian or gluten-free options, use industry-recognized graphics and symbols. This will significantly improve the layout of your digital menu boards.

If there isn't enough room on your menu for all of this information, you can always include a QR code so guests can access it via their smartphone. Just make sure your guests can read the QR code from where they are.

Here's another important point. Keep in mind that local health and safety regulations may differ from location to location when designing restaurant menu board layouts. Some jurisdictions may require specific information on the menu, so be ready to modify your layouts as needed.

Improving the Visiting Experience

Here's a great menu board design tip. When possible, try to incorporate professional product photography into your menu layouts. Food options become more appealing when you can see the finished product. This is the type of content that will have a significant impact on the experience of your visitors.

Consider incorporating real-time data and social media messages into your menus as well. This will entertain your guests while they wait for their food and drinks. Time moves much faster when your mind is focused on a screen that displays useful information.

Returning customers are delighted guests. That is why keeping your visitors informed and entertained is critical.

Consider the following examples:

• A sports-themed restaurant benefits from displaying live sports scores and news feeds on menu board screens. When appropriate, the restaurant's screens display trivia games and other entertaining content.
• A restaurant displays curated social media messages on their menu board screens to increase audience engagement. In social media messages, there is a lot of self-generated content. It's easy to set up and effective because people prefer to read their tweets and Facebook posts on a large screen.
• Use instant messaging to communicate with customers at the order pick-up window. When customers' orders are ready, use this feature to send them personalized messages. This strengthens your relationship with your customers.

Use eye-catching visual effects and sound to draw attention

Consider using the popular screen takeover technique if your restaurant's menu board spans multiple screens. This effect is created by replacing a multi-screen menu with a video or animation that moves across each screen.

This is a great way to highlight promotions, loyalty programs, and limited-time offers. Your promotions will be noticed if you capture the attention of your visitors. This is a fantastic opportunity to try out animated content. Include photography, graphics, and messages that move from screen to screen for a dramatic effect, or show a video that spans all of your menu board screens.

If your restaurant's menu board spans multiple screens, consider using the popular screen takeover technique. A multi-screen menu is replaced with a video or animation that moves across each screen to achieve this effect.

This is an excellent way to draw attention to promotions, loyalty programs, and limited-time offers. If you capture the attention of your visitors, your promotions will be noticed. This is an excellent opportunity to experiment with animated content. For a dramatic effect, include photography, graphics, and messages that move from screen to screen, or show a video that spans all of your menu board screens.

Why should data and graphics be delivered separately?

Here's why you should always separate data from graphical elements when designing a digital menu board layout:

You have more control over your layouts when you start with the graphical elements of each menu board, and it is easier to match corporate visual standards. You can display constantly updated product images, item names, ingredients, prices, and calories by layering live data on top of your graphics.

Food items become more appealing when larger images and additional information are displayed over them. Guests benefit from a better visual experience without sacrificing legibility when done correctly.

You can make your layouts more interesting by including extra information such as weather forecasts or the time of day.