1. In a market where suppliers, staff and consumers are constantly changing, the menu is one of few
restaurant mainstays. Once a functional list, today’s menus are dynamic marketing tools, carefully
designed to boost the bottom line.We talk to Louisa Sumagui, Group Marketing Director of Spilt
Milk design company, on how to make your menus work in 2016.
A new
order
A
customer enters your restaurant, they
are greeted by your server, seated and
given a menu – it’s their first physical
interaction with your brand. The contents of
that piece of paper can determine their entire
experience. Too much choice and menu anxiety
sets in, too minimalistic and there is a feeling of
being ripped off. Striking a balance that fits your
brand can be difficult. But since the menu is —
arguably — a restaurant’s most important piece
of marketing material, it’s worth getting it right.
But what does ‘right’ mean?
There are three tenets of successful menus:
user-friendly, comprehensible and current.
Let’s start with usability. Your menu’s primary
purpose is to tell the customer what dishes are
available; overcomplicate this and you’re in
trouble. “If there’s one rule to follow in menu
design it is K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple Stupid,”
advises Louisa Sumagui, Group Marketing
Director of Spilt Milk, sister company of interior
design firm Stickman. “There’s really no excuse
for making this process anything less than
PRO CHEF
100 HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST
pleasurable or you run the risk of confusing
customers, slowing service and negatively
affecting the average spend,” she continues. In
a nut shell, leather-bound directories of dishes
with hundreds of tabs should be used as a
doorstop and nothing else.
Next on the list is comprehensibility. What
sort of clientele visit your restaurant or resort?
Chances are you’ve got Arabs, Europeans,
Russians and Chinese, to name just as few.
Each and every one of your guests needs to be
able to read and understand what’s on offer:
that means dual language menus. But don’t get
caught out with a rookie error. It’s important
that the English and alternative description
appear in the same entry - if you relegate the
second language to the back of the menu how
will your English speaking staff know what is
being ordered?
Being comprehensible also extends to what
is on offer. Got hogget on your menu? Don’t
make your guests have to ask the waiter what
it is (and feel foolish in the process). Instead
provide a glossary explaining unusual items. As
Sumagui warns, “A great menu should be the
start of the conversation, never an impediment.”
Symbols also comes under comprehensibility.
Vegetarians, vegans and those with allergies or
intolerances tend to scan the margin of a menu
looking for signs identifying suitable dishes.
Give them a hand and dot a breadcrumb trail of
icons across the menu.
Lastly, be current. Before you can get creative
with your menu design you need to make sure
the content is correct. There’s no point including
salmon in your specials if your supplier hasn’t
delivered in three months. Missing dishes are
liable to infuriate diners, especially if it’s their
favourite. “F&B outlets need to update their
menu at least twice a year in order to stay fresh
and innovative,” explains Sumagui. “Seasonal
updates are always nice, but ultimately it all
comes down to costs,” she concedes. If the
budget doesn’t allow for quarterly reprints then
use inserts as a cheap and easy way of keeping
offerings up to date.

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101HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST
Novosibirsk, Russia. A single Russian firm
designed the entirety of this café, but it’s the
menus that really stand out. Going down the
picture root, the menu features colour-saturated,
high resolution photographs of their actual
dishes. The food literally sells itself.
Vera, Saragoza, Spain. The team at
printing craft workshop El Calotipo
made these beautiful, thick wooden
menus for cafe Vera. The white
lettering is printed manually on an in-
house press and, in a nice touch, the
prices are printed on stickers to ensure
they are always accurate.
The menu for Frangipani restaurant
in Abu Dhabi, as designed by the
Spilt Milk team.
Cellarmaker Brewing Company, San Francisco,
US. Designed by Gamut, this menu not only
provides you with a comprehensive list of
beverages, it also serves as a helpful reminder
of what you’ve already sampled. Each tipple
can be ticked off the list!
Quiseteumquam,quioptatdoloipitam
volectassumfuga.Netfugiadoluptatibus
invelesciisautetliquuntremdoluptatestrum
iumandantvoluptainverumutamnusrequist
volestiavolorumnamlissitemqui

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102 HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST
13 Wives, Singapore. The team at
creative agency Foreign Policy took
the concept of the menu well and
truly outside the box with this project.
The bar’s beverage list is a story of
the 13 women who inspire each drink
found in this little black book. The
team behind it hand assembled and
printed 35 copies.
Fade St. Social, Dublin, Ireland. Created
not by a design firm but illustrator, this
Irish gastropub opted for the colourful
doodles of Steve Simpson. The striking
scribbles communicate the restaurant’s
relaxed atmosphere and showcase its
unique Irish character and charm.
L’Encant, Spain. Design company Nuria
Vila went for a fusion concept with the
menus a L’Encant, a Spanish sushi bar.
Designed to reinforce the restaurant’s
blend of Japanese and Catalan culture,
the team developed this concept to
connect the prevalence of fans in both
Spanish and Japanese culture. Inside
the wooden cover, menus are printed
on stone paper.
TIPS AND TRICKS TO
MAXIMISE MENU SUCCESS
“Human habits have a huge effect
on design. One that’s engineered
correctly with great design draws the
attention of the consumer directly
to the desired item, driving the sales
mix and flat out increasing revenue”
explains Sumagui. The best way to
do this?
• The eye naturally gravitates to the
upper right quarter of a menu.
• Boxes, borders and bold font draw
the eye.
• Get colourful. Red stimulates the
appetite and yellow grabs our
attention. But Sumagui offers a
word of warning: “never use green
for anything other than juices – it
tends to be associated with food
that is mouldy or has gone off.”
• Seven is a magic number for menus.
Any more in each section and diners
feel overwhelmed by choice.
• Drop the price symbols. A study
from Cornell University found that
writing prices out using full words
rather encouraged people to spend
more money.
• Speaking of words, longer
descriptions sell more food – up to
50% more according to one study.
• Start the menu with a couple of
expensive offerings and it makes
everything else look reasonably
priced.
• Get snap happy. Giving a visual
representation of a dish is a great
trick for stimulating the appetite
and increasing the average spend.
Careful though, the pictures need
to be high quality, and too many
of them can make you look like a
cheap fast-food joint.