What are the main points of a menu?

Question

I have to craete a menu for a school project and I dont really know how to go about doing it. What are the main things that I need to have? Its for a Restaurant. Its like a country fish place. What should the background be, or should i even have a background? A simple "times" font or something classy? What color should the text be? Oh, the menu is going to be a to-go menu.

Answer 1

im not sure what a country fish place is but i had to do a menu for class and this was my outline:

Appetizers, Soups/Salads, Chicken Meals, Steak Meals, Seafood Meals, Burgers, Sandwichs, Wraps, Kids Menu, Drinks, Desserts.

I had them in that order on my menu. Kids menu, drinks & desserts on the back. the front cover was a picture of my made up resurant. I made my background a wash-out of the picture on the front so that it wasn't boring white.

As for fonts - typically they say not to use more than 2 fonts per page and 3 fonts over all. My first page was a different font than the rest.

hope this helps! :)

Answer 2

No background, no contrasting colors. You have to think about how easily can a person "read the menu". This has to do with how quickly can your menu be deciphered? You don't want confusion, you don't want the customer to feel pressed. Then there is the layout. A to-go menu should be something that can fit into the pocket. A single page, three-fold, A picture of your place on front with mission statement. The inside first fold will include apps, salads, soups. The second page, entrees, specials. The last page is drinks, delivery details, up-charges etc.

Answer 3

You definitely want the name of the place, a phone number, and address and other basic info first. Then a list of drinks, appettizers, and soups/salads. Next list entrées, you might want to divide this up into categories like fish, crab, lobster, oysters and whatever else you have. You said it was a fish place but if they serve other stuff like chicken or pasta put categories for that too. Perhaps after the entrées list some side dishes. Finally, a ist of desserts. You could also include a senior discount menu and a children's menu as well. Make sure to list prices of each item and perhaps a short description of what each item is.

A background should be keep simple, you have to be able to read the menu over it remember, so stick with something like a watermark. A nice border around the whole page would also be nice. Choose a font and/or color different from the item's names and descriptions for titles like "Appetizers" or Desserts" but make sure they are still easy to read, as for the rest of the menu stick with something simple for a font, again to make it easy to read. I'd stick with black for the item's names and descriptions.

I would also make different words on the menu different sizes, like the name of the place would be the largest, then titles (such as "Appetizers"), then the name of the food ("Salmon Fillet"), then the description of the food ("A grilled fillet of salmon served with rice and your choice of vegetables"), the price should be about the same size as the description or between the description font size and the name of the food.

Answer 4

If you go to Staples or Office Max, they sell themed paper, so try some either with food or fish on it. Or, use your regular print paper and see if you can download free pictures from free websites and copy and paste them. Next, you probably have to name your restaurant -- how about: "Something Catchy". (Get it? You catch fish.) The name should be centered in BOLD ITALIC CAPS (try either verdana or tahoma fonts, size 22) Then a few spaces below still in bold caps (size 18, same font)and centered, put: TAKEOUT MENU

Break your menu into the various categories:

For the "sides section", a cute heading in the same font as above but smaller (16) and only initial caps needed, would be: Small Fry (16 font)
(items like fries, coleslaw, etc.).

Another section on your menu could be: Soup/Salad (16 font)(lobster bisque soup, clam chowder, Caesar salad, tossed salad, etc.)

Then for the main entree section maybe you could call it: Best Catch (16 font) with items like Popcorn Shrimp, Ravioli stuffed with crab meat, Tuna Casserole Pie, etc. You should also offer some non-seafood items like hamburgers, hot dogs etc.

All of the food items should be listed in the next smaller font, 14.

Don't forget pricing. And, I've run out of ideas, but you'll have to think of some dessert choices.

A dark blue font (like the ocean) would look great. Good luck!

Answer 5

For a fish place, I would definitely have a big net on the menu. This will let the customer know that the catch is fresh. For the country part of the menu, I'd call the menu item something like "Big Bubbas Bass sandwich" or "Fannie's Fries". this will alow the customer to feel at home rather than being stiff necked. Hope this is a great start for you.

Answer 6

I think Arial is easier to read & not too fancy.
Maybe you could have a picture of a fish or anchor on the front of the menu; for the inside I wouldn't use a background, but color paper would be good.
You could have specials & kid meals on one page
sides, drinks & desserts on the last page, & other dishes on the inside pages. List prices & give a breif description of the dishes.

Answer 7

I love both fruits and fresh vegetables better, regardless how they look and taste. You desire a little of both.

Answer 8

In the event it's a fruit it includes seeds, otherwise it's a vegetable. And vegetables are usually grown in the ground while fruits are grown in trees.

Answer 9

Name of dish
Summary of dish (ingedients, preparation)
Price of dish