Think of it like this: If you want to help someone, you don’t start by guessing their age, job, or hobbies. You start by asking, “What are they struggling with?”
Menu design, or menu-engineering, as some people would call it, is a blend between art and science.
Menu design is more than just fulfilling its aesthetic purpose
Art and science share a commonality in terms of how both fields try to understand and better express the matter around us. Both disciplines use a different approach and methodology. Art expresses creativity, aesthetic taste, and emotion. Science, on the other hand, takes advantage of logic, experimentation, and facts.
However, in a design project, it is essential to understand how businesses approach and apply art and science accordingly, rather than the other way round because I believe art and science are the lead supporters to any successful menu design project
“Art and science are the lead supporters to any successful menu design project”
In this series, I would like to introduce and highlight some approaches in the menu design process that the designer and new restraunpreneur could easily leverage, and, as I often put it, make your design work hard for you.
In a first meeting with a client, the role of the designer is to listen. Usually, the mind does not want what the heart wants, and the job for the designer is to listen and interpret the expectations from the client. Quite often, the designer has to educate the client, to help them understand the role and importance of good design. However, to the client, their primary concern is more along the lines of… “Can you design something that will bring more profit to the table?”
Designer & Restauranpreneur
Thus, one of the important pieces of information that I request from a new restauranpreneur is “Can you list your menu items from the highest profit margin to the lowest?” For a new restaurant owner, aside from giving the customer the best dining experience, the business goal is quite straightforward, that is to increase revenue.
If the restaurant has been in business for quite some time, you can ask about the popularity of their dishes based on the customer purchase data and plot it to a matrix.
A+ = These menu items will be given a higher priority in the layout.
C = Menu items in this segment may need to reconsider the value they bring to the menu.
The challenge for restaurant owners is knowing how to keep it simple by making their menu less confusing for the customer, while at the same time keeping their profit margin high. One can be idealistic regarding listing all the menu items but one must also be realistic. As Gordon Ramsey, a British chef, restaurateur, and notable food critic has said,
“Play to your strengths and use what you have got.”
Put another way, focus your fire rather than blindly and rapidly scattering your shots at one time.
“Play to your strengths and use what you have got.” — Gordon Ramsey
One of the most interesting menu designs that I have encountered is from Pizza in the Sky in Okinawa. All the menu items are on this fan and that’s it! Super simple and customers are not spoiled for choice.
All the menu items are on this fan and that’s it!
They serve delicious pizza, but, in fact, their “strength” is this spectacular view from their restaurant.
Picturesque view from Pizza in the Sky
The challenge designers face is first to understand that every project starts with a goal (business or communication) and to discover what that is. Then, secondly, how to use design principles, such as visual hierarchy, colour, or contrast to help the client to achieve their goal accordingly.
Learning notes
After introducing design principles to new designers, I like to assign menu design projects because it provides a deeper understanding of those principles and an avenue for how to apply them with a clear objective.
On top of that, students are also encouraged to observe and explore the menu from a different perspective whenever they are in a restaurant. “Why is the menu design this way? What leads me to choose this menu item and not something else?” Etc.
Be curious
In the next article, we will share further on how to design a menu with the information that we have received from the client so far.
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