For many, takeout menus serve little purpose beyond listing menu items, prices and contact information. This is a BIG mistake for restaurants. A well designed, carefully planned takeout menu can help not only skyrocket sales, but bring in new, returning and lifetime customers to your restaurant. Let's dig into 5 ways to convert a basic takeout menu into a GOLDMINE for sales.
Turn Your Takeout Menu into A Marketing Machine
Simply using your takeout menus as JUST a takeout menu is a huge missed opportunity. Use your menu to drive an immediate response from potential customers. Add limited time specials, web/social links, QR codes, and appetizing photos that will entice customers to take immediate action. Just having the basics is not enough, generate interest, a sense of urgency and cravings with your menu. If your customer's mouths aren't watering after looking at your menu, it's time to rethink your design.
Add Your Menus to Delivery and Pickup Orders
Tired of paying 20 - 30% commission fees on your orders? Throw in your takeout menus with those packaged orders and give your customers a chance to order directly from you. It sounds simple but you will be surprised by how few restaurants are doing this. Even if you only convert a small percentage of those customers, think of how much it will add up over time when you no longer have to pay those commissions. Not only will you save, but your customers will too and they will thank you with more orders in the future.
Leverage the Power of Print
Print marketing has stood the test of time and is becoming even more popular in an overcrowded online and social space. Print provides a unique value that the online world cannot - something tangible that customers can hold in their hands, put on their coffee table, or on their desk at work as a constant visual reminder that you not only exist but that they can have your delicious food in front of them in an hour or less! What gets lost in the vast sea of online ads and content, will stand out in the world of print.
Dress Up Your Menu With Photos to Create Instant Cravings
We touched on this earlier but it's worth repeating - your takeout menu should spur a call to action. A little secret that many food marketers know is that people eat with their eyes first. So add more visuals to your menu. Well taken, extremely appetizing photos that drive your customers into action. The mere sight of food can have a very powerful effect on people. Take advantage!
Use Your Prints to Grow Your Online Presence
While print is making a comeback, we will not deny that having an online following is important as well. Add your web and social URL's to your print menu as a way to drive more traffic and increase your online followers. Better yet, make it extremely easy with a QR code that instantly directs users to your Instagram page, your website or online ordering portal. The possibilities are endless and the results can be mind-blowing when you combine the two.
By re-thinking your takeout menus, you can turn your basic takeout menu into a well designed marketing machine that inspires cravings and most importantly ACTION. So with all this in mind, where do you get started?
You can hire a photographer, a graphic designer, contact a printer... but you're a busy restaurant owner and you probably don't have the time or budget. Let Menu Group take care of all that for you. Our team of professional photographers, marketers, designers and printers is your one-stop-shop to creating a takeout menu that SELLS.
With over 12 years of print and marketing experience and over 300 restaurants using our services, it is our job to fill your print, marketing and online ordering needs. From simple menu or price changes to complete menu re-designs, we've done it all. We can even assist you in mailing out your menus to targeted areas and track your orders to optimize future mailing campaigns.
Get started today. Contact us and see the difference a well designed and carefully planned takeout menu can make!
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