How to Optimize Your Menuboards Through Design
Orora Visual’s color management experts assure Dairy Queen’s menuboards are spot on whether front lit or backlit.
Menuboards are the single most important visual communication element within a fast-casual dining and quick-serve restaurant (QSR) and are critical to overall sales. In fact, menuboard optimization has one of the highest ROI of any option available to foodservice operators according to King-Casey.
During the COVID-19 pandemic drive-thru windows saved the day. With dining rooms closed, they became the sole source of revenue for QSR chains. (Prior to the pandemic, the drive-thru lane accounted for as much as 50-70% of total QSR sales)
The influx of drive-thru orders forced operators to evolve quickly to meet challenges such as eliminating long lines and wait times and reducing order errors. This resulted in a new standard for customer service that is here to stay. Optimizing your menuboards can ease customers’ decision-making process, shave precious seconds off the ordering process, speed up throughput, and increase the number of transactions while boosting overall sales.
11 Menuboard Optimization Design Tips
Here we share design tips and considerations to assist with how effectively the menuboard’s images, colors, typography, layout, navigation, and legibility come together to communicate and support your brand’s menu strategy.
Research has proven consumers prefer to order by images. Include big, bold, and highly appetizing food photography
Focus on pricing with minimal print is critical in helping customers navigate the menu and assists with faster decision-making
Feature the highest margin and best-selling items (typically the combo meals, or signature items) in the “hot zone” – the dead center of a horizontal menu, where more customer’s attention is focused
Likewise, items that are offered as a LTO (limited time offer) push are going to sell better if they are displayed on the center-most position
Vertical boards vs. more horizontal layouts tend to provide easier communication, resulting in a better customer experience. This relates to how people naturally read a book.
Studies also indicate that customers are most likely to order from the right side of the vertical menu-board
An uncluttered, easy-to-read menu board that strategically groups like items is important
Indoor and outdoor menus should be very similar, if not identical
Outdoor boards don’t have as much space or real estate, so keep the content concise and easy-to-read
If a menu description is too long or complicated, consider putting it on the pre-sell board (yard sign)
It is very important to enhance visibility on the drive-thru menuboard after sundown with proper lighting. A word of caution: food subject photos that look amazing in reflective light can appear much differently when backlit at nighttime.
Finally, learning to think like your customer can help you assess your menuboard’s ease of navigation. Which will ultimately assist the customer with their decision-making process, deliver a greater customer experience, and provide more share of wallet for your restaurant operation by increasing the average order size.
Orora Visual supports the LSR industry with every aspect of your foodservice brand’s visual communication needs both indoors and out. Put our expertise in design, color management, and color manipulation to work for you. With four strategic locations across the U.S. and our robust print manufacturing redundancies, we make press checks simpler, assure brand compliance, and assure speed-to-market on your national and localized in-store campaigns. Learn More about our Restaurant solutions.