Restaurant Marketing Unlocked: How to save time, money and boost morale when planning your menus

As part of our Restaurant Marketing Unlocked series, we’re bringing key marketing insight that will help inform your restaurant’s bounceback campaign.

This week, we take a closer look at the updated government guidelines on using disposable print or digital menus for restaurants and what impact this could have on your business.

Time to peruse new menus

When previously it was acceptable to reuse menus during each shift, updated coronavirus guidelines indicate this can no longer be the case for restaurants. The Center for Disease Control & Prevention, advises those in the industry to look at using disposable or digital menus for restaurants to limit customer contact with commodities.

Deciding which option is right for your restaurant depends on your personal taste, budget and brand.

A new frontier for menu design

One option for new menus in your restaurant is to make them disposable. Disposable menu cards can be printed on paper and discarded after customer contact.

Although inline with regulations, this option could prove to be unsustainable in terms of printing costs for the long term.

Another option is to scrap individual menus altogether and instead use digital menu boards to showcase all food available.

These can be installed with ease, but some restaurant owners could find them too expensive to fit and upkeep.

There’s also the risk of diners moving around your restaurant to get a better view of the digital screens – not ideal when you’re trying to keep strict social distancing in place.

A more modern approach to Covid-friendly menus is through customers ordering via your website or app. This ensures contactless ordering and keeps customers safely seated at their tables.

Expanding your online ordering service

It is relatively simple to set up and brand online ordering for your restaurant, you’ll just need to find the right platform that works for your business.

As well as encouraging customers who are dining in your restaurant to view your menu and order via your website or app, you could also roll this service out to the wider community.

Online ordering could be used for both click & collect or delivery, with customers directed via a link on your website for both click & collect or delivery options, providing you with ownership of customer data and a commission free service.

In our latest whitepaper ‘How to get your restaurant open for business within the current government guidelines’, we delve deeper into how to choose the right menus to suit your business that will keep both your team and customers safe.

Why this will benefit your restaurant

Taking the time to analyse and weigh-up your new menu options now will save you potential problems in the future. By opting to use digital menus, you will:

• Ensure you’re working in accordance of the updated government guidance
• Save on printing costs over disposable menus
• Offer another revenue stream through online ordering, click & collect and delivery
• Ensure diners feel comfortable browsing and ordering from your menu

Sound good?

Download our free whitepaper today to get the inspiration and insight you need to choose the right menus for your restaurant.