Make Sure You Check Out Our FREE eBook: Make More Money In 3 Months
Which is the best digital menu for restaurants?
Written by Jonas Square on Mar. 9th 2021
Your menu is, in a matter, your silent salesman. It can have a severe impact on your restaurant. Here, we will try to discuss the universal aspects of what makes a digital menu great.
There are many things that we will leave behind to keep this article as short and as to the point as possible. For example, if you analyze our first criteria, "How easy is it to use?" you can quickly find out that it is difficult to specify all the things that make a menu easy to use. There is no one correct answer for every restaurant out there. Unless you have a lot of customers trying out your menu, keeping track of what they are ordering and getting lots of feedback, you cannot be sure that you have created a user-friendly menu and that it is fulfilling its purpose to your goals. This is also true for traditional menus (hard-copies) as well as digital menus. We could create a whole article just expanding on how to tell a story through your menu, promote the dishes you would like to sell more, accent the titles of items, help people navigate through your dishes, and so on. We won't do that. Here, we will try to discuss the universal aspects of a digital menu.
Through our long career in the hospitality industry (HoReCa), we have learned that to define the best digital menu; the below criteria should be assessed:
1) How easy is it to use?
Regarding an online menu, there are some best practices that you should always have in mind. These best practices can be interpreted into the below features:
• Multi-level category structure (a menu should not show ALL the items in one long, never-ending page)
• Thumbnails(small photos) for dishes that get enlarged when clicked
• Promotional banners
• Popular dishes, special offers, recommended items, favorites, limited tags
• Allergens, diets, freshness and spiciness labels
• Clear differentiation between titles, descriptions, prices, tags and labels
• Multiple languages
• History of orders
• Search feature
2) How appealing is it to the user?
There are 2 kinds of solutions:
• Responsive: This kind of design means that the eMenu is always adapting to the screen size and shows everything coherently on a smartphone, a tablet or a desktop. This is very appealing to the user.
• Static: Using a static pdf or image means that the eMenu is not adapting to the screen's size. The user will have to zoom-in and zoom-out, scroll horizontally and vertically to use the electronic menu. It is by far the most unappealing solution possible.
3) How easy is it for a user to access it?
There are 2 kinds of solutions:
• Web-App (Web-application software): This is the easiest way for your customers to access your digital menu since it is actually a website, so there are no extra steps for your customer.
• Mob-App (Mobile-application software): This is the most challenging way for your customers since they will have to download a new application on their device. Research has shown that adoption is very unlikely.
Of course, in order to share the link for your menu, customers will need to scan a QR-code or tap an NFC-tag located at their table.
5) What extra features or values does the platform present to the business?
It can provide the possibility for:
• The staff to place orders via tablets
• The customers to call a waiter
• The customers to place orders and pay while they are seated
• The customers to place orders and pay while they are at home (take-away or delivery)
• The business to view in-depth analytics
6) How much does it cost?
There are 4 options:
• Free
• Freemium – meaning only some features are free or it has some usage limits that, when exceeded, you are charged
• Once-off fee
• Recurring monthly or yearly fee
Some might be more important than others to each business owner, but ALL of the above should be considered when selecting a digital menu. Our recommendation is definitely "QuiQi".
• Regarding ease of use: it takes into consideration all of the best practices discussed, such as multi-categories, multi-language, search feature, history, image display.
• Regarding the appealing factor: it has a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes, so it is always beautiful no matter the size of the device.
• Regarding easiness to access: it is a cloud web application; thus, the user can simply view the menu in their web browser without downloading a mobile application.
• Regarding easiness to start and get going: Each business can create their e-Menu through a web-dashboard and edit it anytime. It doesn't get any easier than this. If you need someone to import all your items and create your first e-Menu, their support team can do it for a small fee.
• Regarding extra values: It also has innovative features such as providing the customers with the possibility to place orders and pay while seated (future-proof).
• Regarding price: It is FREE. Just provide the below coupon to their customer service support, and they will lift all the limitations for the online menu!
Make more money in 3 months
Make sure to check out our FREE eBook! Discusses the past and the future of ordering and reveals a tested method on how any hospitality & catering business (HoReCa) can
increase their profits by 38%.
FB Comments Will Be Here (placeholder)
About QuiQi
In the HoReCa environment, for most of the businesses, automation, efficiency, and speed are the key factors of their success. An entire industry was created based on these values. One, if not the most, fundamental problem yet to be solved, is the line of communication from the customer to the kitchen and vice versa.
Our objective is to minimize the number of actions needed and therefore maximize the efficiency and the speed of service. Our solution allows users to browse a digital menu, place an order, call a waiter for help, and pay directly from their smartphone.
Check out QuiQi NOW!
Sign Up to Our Newsletter
All Your Information is Protected When You Sign Up
About Author: Jonas Square
CEO of QuiQi
CEO of JoinMyWifi
10+ year expericence in the HoReCa industry
In The News
- Fact 1 - about 60-65% of people use QR Codes on a daily basis for the abovementioned uses.
- Fact 2 - 91% of active iOS users have access to QR Code scanners due to the installation of iOS 12 and above
- Fact 3 - Consumer usage of QR Codes will be 5.3 billion QR Code coupons to be redeemed by smartphones by 2022 and 1 billion smartphones will access QR Codes.
- Fact 4 - In Brazil, 75% of shoppers are ready to scan QR Codes on a regular basis to access shopping assistance. (Packaging Insights, 2019)
- Fact 5 - Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike and Amazon have added Qr Codes to their marketing stack
FB Comments Will Be Here (placeholder)
Social links
External links
Powered by QuiQi
All Rights Reserved
Make Life QuiQier