Menu design tips that make cafes more money
Nine rules from the studio that prints for Sydney's South-West hospitality scene.
A menu is not a price list — it's a sales document with a takeaway problem. We print menus for cafes, restaurants and food strips across Sydney's South-West, and the businesses doing the numbers all treat design as a revenue decision. Nine rules:
The nine rules
- Lead with your best margin. Eyes land top-right first, then top-left. That prime zone is where your most profitable dishes go — not the cheapest item.
- Box one thing per page. One bordered or shaded feature ("House favourite") pulls attention like nothing else. Use it once; use it on margin.
- Drop the dollar signs. Menus that price "12" instead of "$12" consistently test better — currency symbols trigger cost-awareness.
- Descriptions sell, adjectives sell more. "Pancakes" competes on price. "Buttermilk stack, salted caramel, macadamia crunch" competes on appetite. One appetising line per dish, maximum.
- Limit choice. Seven-ish items per category is the sweet spot — a 60-item menu makes every decision slower and your best dishes invisible.
- Typography is ambience. Readable at candlelight by a 60-year-old: minimum 11–12pt body, generous line spacing, high contrast.
- Materials matter in hospitality. Matte-laminated or synthetic waterproof menus survive the steam and the sauce; foiled and velvet-touch covers for the evening venue.
- QR is a servant, not the boss. A QR to your current menu saves reprints mid-season — but always have a handful of physical menus for the customers who won't scan.
- Reprint with the seasons. A menu that says "Spring" in its design and its dishes sells more in Spring — and seasonal reprints are cheap when the design system is already built.
Design once, print everywhere
A proper menu system — dine-in, takeaway, window poster, table-tents — comes from one design, which makes every future refresh a one-file change. See what we do for hospitality at our hospitality page, or look at the Hospitality Pack for the full first-round bundle.
Need this done properly?
Quotes are free and fast — send your files or your rough idea, we handle the rest.