Guide
Menu design tips – 10 simple ideas
A good menu helps your guests choose quickly and order happily. Here are 10 tips on layout, descriptions, prices and readability. In plain words, for cafés, bakeries, takeaways and small restaurants.
No designer needed.
In short
The 10 tips at a glance
A good menu is short, clear and honest. Guests quickly find what they're looking for and order without guessing.
- Put the categories in the order guests order.
- Keep every category short.
- Give categories short, clear names.
- Say in one sentence what's in the dish.
- Only write what's true.
- Keep prices simple.
- Highlight a few dishes, not all of them.
- Make the menu easy to read.
- Keep the menu up to date.
- Keep one list for your QR menu, paper and screen.
What a good menu gives you
Guests find what they want faster and ask fewer questions. Your team has more time. And when something changes, you have less work.
Layout
Menu layout: how to structure your menu
Guests don't read a menu from start to finish. They look for something. A clear layout helps them.
The order guests order in
Put the categories in the order guests eat and order. In a restaurant that's starters, then mains, then desserts. In a café, put what most people want first, for example coffee.
A few dishes per category
Long lists make choosing hard. Drop what's rarely ordered or very similar to another dish. If a category still gets long, split it in two, for example “Hot drinks” and “Cold drinks”.
Short, clear names
“Cakes”, “Breakfast” or “Drinks” – everyone gets them straight away. A fancy name like “Sweet temptations” sounds nice, but guests have to guess what's in it.
Café
- Categories from top to bottom
- Coffee · Tea · Breakfast · Cakes
Bakery
- Categories from top to bottom
- Bread · Pastries · Cakes · Coffee
Takeaway
- Categories from top to bottom
- Kebabs and wraps · Pizza · Sides · Drinks
Restaurant
- Categories from top to bottom
- Starters · Soups · Mains · Desserts · Drinks
Descriptions
How to describe your dishes
One short sentence under the name is enough. It says what's on the plate.
Name the main ingredients and how the dish is made: “with clotted cream and jam”, “chargrilled”, “with chips”. That helps everyone who doesn't know the dish.
If something is homemade or comes from a local farm, say so – but only if it's true. One or two words like “crispy” or “creamy” make guests hungry. That's all it takes: “the best fish and chips in town” quickly sounds over the top.
Descriptions also help guests with allergies and guests from abroad. If you know what's in it, you order with confidence.
Breakfast 1
- Better
- Full English – bacon, sausage, egg, beans and toast
House burger
- Better
- House burger – beef, cheddar, lettuce and pickles in a brioche bun
Bowl special
- Better
- Bowl – rice, avocado, edamame and sesame
Guests from abroad understand your description best in their own language.
How to translate a menuPrices
Prices on the menu: simple and clear
Guests should find every price at once. The fewer symbols around it, the calmer the menu looks.
Keep prices simple: “4.20” instead of “£4.20” or “4.20 GBP”. For whole amounts the number is enough, so “9” instead of “9.00”. A short line at the bottom of the menu, such as “All prices in pounds”, says the rest.
A common piece of advice: don't line the prices up on the far right like a price list. Otherwise guests read the column from top to bottom and choose by price rather than by dish. Whether you follow it is up to you. What matters most is that every price sits clearly next to the right dish.
And every price has to be right. If the menu shows an old price and the till a new one, your guests get annoyed.
The law has a say too
Which prices have to be shown at the door and whether a QR menu on its own is enough is regulated differently in the UK and in Ireland.
Price display: what's required?Highlights
Highlight a few dishes
If you highlight everything, nothing stands out. Better pick two or three dishes per menu.
Good to highlight: your speciality, a new dish or something seasonal. Or a dish that sells well and pays off for you.
On paper you can do that with a box, a line of its own or a small symbol. Symbols like “new”, “vegan” or “spicy” also help guests find the right dish quickly. Explain them in a short key.
Readability
Easy to read – at the table and the counter
The nicest menu doesn't help if guests can't read it.
- Text big enough for guests to read without effort – in low light too.
- Strong contrast: dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background.
- One font, two at most. Fancy script only for headings, if at all.
- Enough space between categories and dishes. White space makes the menu calm.
- Better one page more than squeezing everything together.
- Screen above the counter: the menu has to be readable from the queue. So fewer dishes per screen and big text.
The quick test
Put the menu on a table and take one step back. For the screen, stand at the end of the queue. Can you read dishes and prices without effort? Then it works.
Up to date
A menu that's always right
Crossed-out prices and notes stuck on the menu look messy. Think from the start about how you'll make changes.
If a dish has run out, guests should see it before they order. Handwritten changes and sticky notes are quick, but soon look messy.
Daily specials, a lunch menu or a seasonal menu are best on a small menu of their own. That way your usual menu stays the same, and only the extra changes.
The least work is one single list for everything: for your QR menu, your paper menu and your screen. Then you change a price once, not in three places.
Checklist
Common menu mistakes
Go through your menu once with this list. Every point is quick to fix.
- Too many dishes: drop what hardly anyone orders.
- Old prices: every price on the menu matches the till.
- Crossings-out and handwriting: better print it again.
- Text nobody can read: too small, too fancy or too little contrast.
- Missing allergens: they belong with every dish.
- Abbreviations nobody gets: better write “w/ chips” or “h/made” out in full.
- Fancy names without explanation: a short sentence says what's in it.
- Typos: have someone proofread the menu before you print it.
With momoscreen
Your menu with momoscreen
You add your dishes once. They become your QR menu, your menu for printing and your screens. How it looks is set by the style you pick.
In the app: “Categories”
Add dishes with a description
Tap a category. In “Edit Category” you turn on “Description per dish” and write a short sentence under every dish.
In “Edit Category”
Highlight dishes
Turn on “Add product tags” and tap a symbol on a dish: vegan, vegetarian, organic, mildly spicy, spicy, very spicy, gluten-free or new. It then shows next to the name. In the QR menu and on the printed menu, a key explains the symbols.
In the app: “QR menu”
Pick the order and style
With “Sort” you set the order of your categories. Then you pick one of 30 styles and your colours. If the text is hard to read with your colours, the app tells you. One tap on “Make text readable” fixes it.
TipDon't want a price column? In the “Elegant” style every dish sits in the middle, with the price below it.In the app: “Print menu”
Print your menu
Your menu for printing takes the dishes, descriptions and tags from your categories. The 30 styles are here too. Under “Design” you set the “Text size”.
Change it once, up to date everywhere
- Changed a price? Save once. Your QR menu and your screens update automatically.
- Open your menu for printing and print it again. The new prices are already in it.
- Dish run out? With “Mark as sold out” it's crossed out in the QR menu and on your screens.
- Add a lunch menu or seasonal menu under “Special menus”. Guests open it with a button at the top of your QR menu.
- momoscreen shows prices without a currency sign.
Questions
Quick answers
What many owners ask before they redo their menu.
How many dishes should a menu have?
There's no fixed number. A good rule of thumb: few enough that guests take in each category at a glance. Drop what's rarely ordered, and better split long categories in two.
How do I write prices on a menu?
Simple and easy to read: “4.20” without a pound sign, and for whole amounts just the number, so “9”. A line like “All prices in pounds” at the bottom of the menu is enough. What matters is that every price sits clearly next to the right dish and is correct.
How do I describe dishes well?
In one short sentence: the main ingredients and how it's made, for example “with clotted cream and jam”. “Homemade” or where it comes from only if it's true. One or two words like “crispy” are enough, don't overdo it.
Which font works for a menu?
An easy-to-read font, big enough and with strong contrast to the background. Use one font, two at most. Fancy script for headings at most. In momoscreen every style comes with its own fonts: you only pick the colours and, for the printed menu and the screen, the text size.
How often should I change my menu?
Prices and dishes always have to be right, so with every change. Go through the whole menu best when the season changes. Things that change often, like the lunch menu, go on a small menu of their own.
How do I design a menu layout?
The categories come in the order guests order: in a restaurant from starters to desserts, in a café what most people want comes first. In every category you list each dish's name, a short description and the price.
Read on
Goes well with this
- Printable menuAn A4 menu from your dishes, in 30 styles – as a PDF or printed directly. Changed a price? Just print it again.
- Menu price display rulesIs a QR menu on its own enough? Do prices have to go by the door? What applies in the UK and in Ireland.
- Allergens on your menuWhich 14 allergens you have to show, how to do it and what applies in the UK and in Ireland.
- The momoscreen QR menuGuests scan the code at the table and see your menu on their phone, in their language too.
Your menu, designed well once. Up to date everywhere.
Sign up for free, add your dishes with short descriptions and pick a style. Your QR menu, your menu for printing and your screens all come from one list.
No subscription, no costs.