How to Design a Menu Card for a Restaurant: Step-by-Step Guide

A well-planned, vibrant menu card design is a crucial sales tool for your restaurant, driving more foot traffic inside the restaurant. It even increases the number of online visitors, resulting in more orders and higher profits. As a food and beverage entrepreneur, knowing how to design a menu card for a restaurant can save you tons of money.

Dull colors and cluttered layouts make the restaurant menu card design unprofessional and unattractive. While many prefer to hire graphic designers, that’s not ideal if you’re a budget-conscious restaurant owner. That’s why you need to know every nitty-gritty detail of using food graphics and brand elements for designing a restaurant menu card professionally without breaking the bank. 

I’ll cover the basics of restaurant menu card design, including various types of menu designs, standard sizes, and the ultimate steps to create a menu card. Additionally, learn how to design a menu card and optimize it in DocHipo, a beginner-friendly online menu maker. 

What is Menu Design

Typically, food business owners believe that menu card design is solely for listing dishes. But in reality, it’s more about creating a visual experience for the guests and guiding them to try flavorsome food effortlessly. 

Menu card design involves planning and arranging food and beverage items with unique names, enticing descriptions, and price charts, incorporating engaging visuals to create attention-grabbing layouts. This strategic and creative process enables you to present your restaurant offerings in an attractive and scannable visual format.

Check out the bakery menu design with a stunning and scannable layout, including names of items and prices, so that customers can choose what they like to order easily. 

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Why Does a Well-Designed Menu Card Matter

Now, let’s understand: Why is menu design important?

Food menu card design is the art of balancing prominent layout, readable yet catchy fonts, and head-turning color combinations to make food listings look irresistible. 

It’s the silent salesperson for your restaurant and cafe, tactically guiding how your guests should explore options and spot special offers for quick order placements. Done right, a menu card design isn’t just functional, it’s a vibe that leaves a lasting taste before the first bite.

It delivers the following touchpoints:

• First touchpoint of your brand: the menu sets the tone instantly and reinforces your identity through visuals and style.
• Decision-making touchpoint: guides guests toward featured dishes.
• Revenue touchpoint: influences upsells and higher-margin choices.
• Experience touchpoint: adds to the overall dining atmosphere.
  

Types of Menu Card Designs

When it comes to menu card designs, they don’t come in one format. You need different menu card designs for various kinds of food joints.

Meanwhile, design menu cards that reflect the unique vibe of your restaurant. Don’t overwhelm your visitors with too many options. If you offer hand-picked options, use a single-page menu design. For too many menu items, a readable layout is more suitable in a multi-page style. 

You can also add the following unique menu segments to your design to capture customers’ attention: à la Carte Menu, Du Jour Menu, Static Menu, Kids’ Special Menu, etc. 

Different menu designs based on the menu structure and offered items:

• À la Carte Menu: A mix and match of various dishes for a customized dining experience.
• Du Jour Menu: Chef’s special or seaonal menus.
• Static Menu: Includes separate categories, such as starters, main courses, beverages, desserts, etc., and often serves the same menu all year round.
• Kids’ Special Menu: Menu items designed to entice kids and the young population, served in age-appropriate portions.

What is a Good Size for a Menu

Menu card sizes depend on the concept of your food business. If the menu card size perfectly showcases your dishes with a pleasant design space, you can consider it perfect. Usually, restaurant menu cards are printed on paper size 8.5 x 11 inches. 

Examples of the best menu card sizes:

• Lunch menu card size: 8.5″ x 11″
• Dinner menu card size: 8.5″ x 11″, 8.5″ x 14″, or 11″ x 17″
• Drink or Dessert Menu card size: 4.25″ x 11″, 4.25″ x 14″, or 5.5″ x 8.5″

If you want to add special menu segments with exclusive dishes or flash seasonal offers, ensure that you use a multi-sectioned layout and that the menu card size does not exceed 12 x 18 inches. 

How to Design a Menu Card for a Restaurant: Recipe for Success

After learning the basics, it’s time to dive into the steps and learn how to design a menu card for a restaurant. I’ve discussed several points to consider when designing a menu card. 

1. Create a Strong Brand Identity for Your Restaurant

As a marketing content creator, if you ask me how to start the menu card design process, I’ll tell you to take a few steps back and think about what has inspired you to own the restaurant or the food joint. Let’s find out: What is the most important consideration in menu planning?

I’m talking about your brand personality, the first image of your restaurant that you’ve woven in your head, way before calculating the budget and researching the market size. Your menu card design should reflect the experience you want to provide for the guests. So, the look and feel of the menu design should align with the brand image you’ve established. 

Two crucial things to consider:

a. Choose Colors

If you choose the correct color palettes, you can positively influence your customers to elevate their mood and enhance their experience. So, which color is good for a menu? You can choose vibrant colors from the color wheel, such as red, green, yellow, and orange. 

Warm colors, such as red, vermilion, orange, and yellow, are considered to stimulate appetite. On the other hand, cool color palettes with light green, jade, and olive green make your food menu look fresh. It’s a classic way to promote vegan and eco-friendly menu options. Meanwhile, a classic combination of beige, white, and black can reflect a luxurious experience, serving high-end dishes.

Take a look at the stunning menu design template below, which exudes an energetic vibe with a vibrant and fresh appearance, featuring a glossy green background.

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Take a look at the eye-catching menu design template below, which features a bold, warm red color palette designed to stimulate the appetite.

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b. Style and Theme of Your Restaurant 

When exploring a menu design idea, be mindful of the style and theme of your restaurant. It’s not just an aspect of your hotel’s decor; instead, it’s the extension of the dinner experience you provide. 

Suppose you own a Japanese Sushi restaurant that aims to become a popular eatery spot, kindling a light-hearted spirit in your visitors. Then, a minimalist typography in the following breakfast menu template, with enough white space and a clear layout, makes a perfect match.

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2. Understand the Target Audience

If you want to know how to create a food menu like a pro, conduct thorough market research. Identifying the right audience and creating a buyer persona will help you to make a menu card design that’s based on real facts. Let’s understand how to make the right menu card design for your customers.

a. Choose Ideal Location and Demographics

Place, age, gender, everything matters in menu card designs as a part of your marketing strategy! If you see a food truck near a college, you’ll notice that its menu card features bright colors and bold food icons to convey a lip-smacking experience for the youth. 

Take a look at the following fast food menu card design for a similar food business, which delivers a retro and casual vibe with its graphics.

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b. Understand Their Preferences and Food Habits 

Researching everything about your ideal customers also includes their food habits and craving points. You should know what type of food they like from the broader food segment you’re targeting. 

Suppose you want to build a cafe around quick and crispy munchies, something that would go perfectly with people who want a cozy downtime with their favorite people while grubbing on light and tasty snacks. In that case, if you’re going to narrow down their choices to provide what they truly like. 

When you understand your customers’ food habits and preferences, you can thoughtfully design the best menu while highlighting their favorite items with compelling visuals and strategic placements. In the template below, you can see appetizing pictures of fulfilling sandwiches and meaty burgers for customers who want to grab a quick bite while having a fun conversation.

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3. Choosing the Right Categories  

If you ask me how to make a restaurant menu, I’d recommend including eye-grabbing, popular food items. Here’s how to create a food menu list:

• Group your food items in natural orders so that your customers can find them easily.
• Keep your food menu card simple and uncluttered, with only five to seven food categories. Try not to overwhelm your customers with too many options at once.
• Maintain consistency with your restaurant’s theme and branding by either creatively naming food categories and menu items or keeping them simple, as people are commonly familiar with them. 

Here’s a menu design inspiration for bakery stores and cafes. It displays limited categories in unique titles to capture customers’ attention and has added popular bakery items that people generally love to have.

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4. Optimize Your Menu Structure and Content

Maintain readability with an organized and customer-friendly structure. Create clear sections and include the right amount of words and visuals to ensure each section receives sufficient attention. Let’s talk about how to design a menu layout in detail:

a. Choose a Readable Menu Design Layout

Keep the layout simple by logically grouping items and using enough white space to make the menu card look breathable. Keep the whole design clutter-free with a simple and mindful layout. For example, you can place popular or special dishes in the top-right corner, as shown in the following template. 

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b. Use of Sensory Language in Menu Description 

If you’re offering special menus themed to a particular cuisine, season, or festival, use words that ignite the specialness of your service. Instead of using ordinary words in the menu description, add “crispy,” “creamy,” “juicy,” “velvety,” “topped with,” “slow-cooked,” “sizzling,” etc, to trigger smell, taste, and the pure emotion of cravings.

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c. Incorporate Ingredients and Preparation Methods

Be one step ahead of others and include a short preparation mentioning key ingredients to make your food menu more credible and appealing. Also, it adds transparency about your offers, making your cafe or restaurant stand out.

5.   Appropriate Pricing Structure for Your Menu

Smart pricing boosts sales while ensuring customers feel they’re getting good value.

a. Tease with Psychological Pricing  

You can be smart about pricing that will make your customers feel that they’re getting a good deal. Use $10.99 instead of $11, or else try to avoid the dollar sign in the menu card. 

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b. Balance Cost and Value  

Your price list should be perceived as valuable. You must reflect quality through your pricing.

6. Choose Layout and Format

Select a layout that suits the amount of information you want to share on the menu card. Also, the proper menu card layout plays a crucial part in branding. 

So, decide on a portrait or landscape layout and formats, such as unfolded or folded (bi-folded and tri-folded), based on the length of your menu. 

If you want to promote a casual eatery or a hyped cafe spot, go for horizontal layout and folded menu card designs. 

If you’re serving the happiness of fine dining, make your dinner menu cards look classy with unfolded horizontal or vertical layouts. 

7. Add Tempting Visuals

Visuals can make your menu card designs very engaging, and using bright colors to highlight special menus can really spark customer interest. Utilize color psychology to entice customers to order more; incorporate colors like orange, green, or red to stimulate appetite. 

Use colorful food icons, illustrations, and high-quality images that effectively showcase your offerings. Create a prelude for an exciting experience awaiting them at your restaurant. Check out the following menu card template, which blends the warmth and magic of Christmas with delicious menu offerings. 

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8. Select Clean Fonts and Emphatic Typography

If you have a specific typographic design for your brand, use it in your menu card design as well. It should be easily recognizable and readable. Avoid mixing too many font styles; stick to two types of fonts for your creative menu card typography. You can use bold, innovative, or larger fonts for category titles and use small fonts in the short descriptions. 

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With the above steps in mind, you can create your own menu card design from scratch. Remember, mastering such extensive research on consumer behavior and expert design planning takes time. 

If you like to try something simpler, you can use online menu card design templates. Let’s talk about how to use menu card design templates for branding in the following section. 

How Do You Design a Menu in DocHipo

Now, you can design menu cards without hiring a personal graphic designer. You can create your own food menu card design in just three simple steps with Dochipo. Before I give you a tour of DocHipo and show you the steps, you need to sign up to use its templates and access all the design features. 

Let’s see how to make menu cards at home or without a professional using DocHipo.

1. Choose a Menu Card Template

After signing up, you’ll enter the templates page where you can see all types of document categories organized in a minimalist style. Type “menu” in the search bar and select the option to explore the menu card templates.

Now, select the first option to explore DocHipo menu templates in various categories. You can explore free and premium templates across multiple categories, saving you a significant amount of time. On the other hand, you can select categories without scrolling through using the category filter on the right side. I’ve chosen the marked menu template, as shown in the picture below, and I’ll use it to demonstrate the customization steps.

Watch the short video to find the desired templates easily in DocHipo.

2. Customize the Template

After choosing the right template, put a file name, and enter the editor. 

Here, you’ll get neatly sorted and well-organized design widgets on the left panel. I’ll use these widgets to customize the selected template with minimum tweaking. Let’s get started.

Edit Text 

If you need to edit existing text with your restaurant name, menu items, and prices, you can double-tap on the text element and write your version. You can use the text widget to add more menu names, descriptions, and taglines.

Watch the video below to edit texts in DocHipo.

Edit Visuals

To add visuals, you can either upload professionally clicked, high-quality pictures from your device or add relevant stock images. 

To make the design more professional and balanced, you can even remove the image background for a fresh look.

You can also edit the template with coffee, nutrition, fruit, and ice cream icons, or add food stickers if needed, to make the design more eye-catching.

Use Brand Kits for Branding

To align your menu design with your brand, use the Brand Kits in DocHipo and apply your brand colors, fonts, visuals, and logo to the design. You need to store your brand assets in the Brand Kit to use them in your design. 

3. Download Your Customized Design

Now, download your final menu design from the three dots in the top-right corner. If you want a digital menu card, use the PNG format and download your design in PDF for a printed menu card. 

Watch the video to explore the stunning menu templates in DocHipo.

In a Nutshell

Knowing how to design a menu card for a restaurant is crucial for modern food business owners. Indeed, it’s a challenging task to design a menu card from scratch if you have not done it before. However, with this comprehensive guide, actionable steps, and DocHipo menu templates, you can do it in a jiffy. 

So, sign up to DocHipo, and start designing your menu cards like a professional.

FAQ

What are menu cards?

Menu cards are printed or digital lists that display the food and drink options available at a restaurant. They typically include descriptions, prices, and sometimes images to help customers make their selections.

How to make restaurant menu design?

To design a restaurant menu, start by researching your customers to understand their preferences and the kind of food and experience you aim to create for them. Then, select a layout that fits your brand. Organize your menu items into categories, use appealing visuals and fonts, and ensure the text is easy to read. Consider including high-quality images, icons, or illustrations, along with descriptions, for key dishes.

How to make a digital menu for restaurant?

To create a digital menu, you need a functioning website. Then, use a menu card design app like DocHipo to create branded digital menu card designs. You choose a particular template that matches your vibe or start from scratch with your idea.  Select an engaging layout, incorporate interactive elements (like links or QR codes), and ensure the design is mobile-friendly. Also, regularly update the menu to reflect changes in offerings.

Can AI design a menu?

Yes, AI can assist in designing a menu by generating layouts, suggesting color schemes, and even creating content based on culinary trends. However, it’s essential for a human touch to ensure the design reflects the restaurant’s unique style and brand. Meanwhile, you can use DocHipo AI image and AI writer not just for inspiration, but for creating thoughtful, creative designs, graphics, and mouthwatering descriptions of food platters with simple prompts. 

How can I design my menu?

To design your menu, start by researching your target audience and competitors. Choose a theme that aligns with your restaurant’s concept, create clear categories, and prioritize the most popular items. Focus on layout, font selection, and readability for an appealing design. 

For designing a restaurant menu card with zero effort and no design skills, you can try ready-to-use DocHipo menu card templates. 

What makes a good restaurant menu?

A good restaurant menu effectively showcases your offerings and drives sales. It should be well-organized, visually appealing, have a clear brand identity, include descriptive text that entices customers, and accommodate dietary preferences. Simplicity and clarity are key.

Which color is good for a menu?

The best colors for a menu depend on your restaurant’s theme and target audience. Generally, warm colors like red or orange can stimulate appetite, while cool colors like blue may suppress it. Ensure good contrast for readability and choose colors that reflect your brand personality.