Digital Menus for Restaurants: A Step-by-Step Guide

88% of restaurants are considering switching to digital menus. And they have many good reasons for that. Price change? You’ll need to reprint that paper menu of yours. Spilled coffee? Reprint. A dish out of stock? Maybe just tape it over… With a digital menu, you can update your entire menu remotely with just a few clicks. Digitalization offers unparalleled flexibility and adaptability.

Plus, going digital is one of the best ways to extend your restaurant’s reach. You provide your customers with instant online access to information about dishes, reviews, and more. And they will love the more convenient order processing and payment methods. Online platforms or apps designed for the restaurant industry can help you modernize your restaurant’s menu and better serve your customers.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the key characteristics of digitalization in the restaurant industry.

Digitalization in the Restaurant Industry

Customer Engagement

The digital revolution goes way beyond just streamlining transactions —it fundamentally transforms the way businesses engage with their customers. Take an example: social media. Restaurants now have a direct line of communication with their diners. Social media opens the door to real-time menu updates, dynamic promotions, interactive content, and more.

Digitalization also makes it possible for restaurants to track their customers’ spending patterns, which is key for tailoring promotions to individual customer preferences or building personalized loyalty offers. Taking a data-driven approach to customer engagement enables you to better tailor your restaurant’s experience to your customers’ preferences, ultimately improving their satisfaction.

Additionally, implementing digital tools provides your restaurant with the ability to gather feedback from customers in real-time. This immediate feedback loop allows you to make quick adjustments to menu items or service quality as needed.

Streamlining Order Processing

Digitalization in the restaurant industry also makes the ordering process much easier for both diners and restaurant staff. Self-service kiosks, digital menu ordering, mobile ordering, and other convenient order management solutions make it possible for customers to place their orders with little to no wait time, greatly improving the customer experience.

Similarly, the best digital ordering tools integrate seamlessly with kitchen operations to minimize errors and expedite food preparation. For example, an automated ordering system can automatically prioritize orders to help kitchen staff manage peak times of the day without compromising service quality.

So, ready to take your business to the next level and implement a digital menu for your restaurant? Let’s go through all you need to ensure a seamless implementation:

• Types of Digital Restaurant Menus
• Benefits of Digital Menus for Restaurants
• Step-by-Step Guide to Digital Menu Implementation
• Digital Restaurant Menu FAQ

Types of Digital Restaurant Menus

Digital menus come in many different forms. Here are a few of the most common types of digital menus for restaurants:

1. Interactive Touchscreen Menus

Interactive touchscreen menus are one of the most popular kinds of digital menus for restaurants. They’re perfect for offering customers a hands-on, self-service experience. Diners can use touchscreen menus to browse food and beverage items and customize their orders, effectively streamlining the ordering process.

2. QR Code Menus

The QR code menu is another kind of digital menu that has gained popularity thanks to its convenient and contactless nature. Customers can quickly scan a QR code with their smartphones and instantly access your restaurant’s digital menu.

3. Mobile App Menus

Mobile app menus are one of the most effective types of digital menus. If you have a dedicated mobile app for your website, you can integrate your digital menu directly into the app to provide your diners with a one-stop experience for ordering, paying, participating in loyalty programs, and more.

4. Tablet Menus

Equipping your tables with tablets is one of the simplest ways to digitalize your restaurant’s ordering experience. Tablet menus enable customers to browse the menu, place their order, and pay for their meal right from their table.

5. Kiosk Menus

Kiosk menus are similar to interactive touchscreen menus. You can place these standalone devices strategically around your restaurant to provide convenient self-service locations for your diners to place their orders and make their payments whenever they’re ready.

6. Digital Signage

Implementing digital signage is another common way to leverage digital tools to improve your restaurant experience. Using large, digital displays, you can position dynamic and eye-catching menus all around your restaurant to showcase popular menu items or current promotions.

Benefits of Digital Menus for Restaurants

Implementing a digital menu at your restaurant has many benefits. Here are the two main payoffs:

Improved Customer Engagement and Satisfaction

One of the most significant advantages of digitalizing your menus is the ability to engage customers in a way that traditional menus cannot. Digital restaurant menus can incorporate multimedia elements like interactive images or videos to provide your customers with a more convenient and immersive dining experience.

Studies have shown that visual cues significantly influence the food choices consumers make. Digital menus make it easier to show off accurate and appealing images of your restaurant’s food that will entice diners to try new dishes.

Streamlined Operations

Another major benefit of menu digitalization is the way it streamlines restaurant operations. Using digital menus, customers can easily browse options, place their orders, and make payments directly through the digital interface. In this way, digitalization not only reduces the time customers spend waiting for service but also minimizes the potential for errors in order transcription.

Additionally, by automating order management and payment processing, digital menus lighten the workload on restaurant staff. This allows servers to focus on providing excellent service rather than taking orders and processing payments.

Step-by-Step Guide to Digital Menu Implementation

Digitalizing your restaurant’s menu doesn’t need to be complicated. To get started, just follow these steps:

1.  Assess Your Current Menu and Set Goals

First, thoroughly review your current menu to identify any areas that need improvement. Consider how you could streamline order processing, enhance customer experience, or improve operational efficiency. For instance, are you running out of space in your current menu? Are you considering making an update but don’t want to invest in re-printing… again? Evaluate whether your current menus include important dietary information, such as including detailed ingredients and allergens. Perhaps you want to enable your customers to customize their orders. Can your current menu accommodate that easily? These are all questions you should be asking as you assess your menu before going digital.

2. Choose and Integrate a Digital Menu Platform

Next, research a suitable digital menu platform for your needs. Make sure the platform you choose integrates seamlessly with your point of sale (POS) system, or choose a POS system with built-in digital menu capabilities, like Sunday. Here are some other important features to look out for when choosing a digital restaurant menu platform:

• Easy re-ordering
• Easy and fast updating
• Multiple languages
• Upsell and cross-selling support
• Custom Branding
• Automatic translations

3. Design and Optimize Your Digital Menu Layout

Once you’ve selected a digital restaurant menu platform, you’ll need to create a visually appealing and user-friendly layout for your digital menu. Try to incorporate high-quality images and clear descriptions for each menu item, and make sure your menu layout is optimized for mobile devices.

4. Train Your Staff and Test the New System

Now that you’ve designed your digital menu’s layout, it’s time to familiarize your restaurant staff with the new system. Conduct comprehensive training to show your employees how to use the new digital menu, and make sure they understand the digital tools well enough to answer questions from customers. Before you officially launch your digital menu, it’s important to thoroughly test it to identify and address any technical issues.

5. Promote Your Digital Menu and Inform Customers

After you test and launch your digital menu, spread the word to your customers with updates to your website and social media or with in-house signage. Make it easy for your customers to find step-by-step instructions to guide them through the new digital menu ordering process.

6. Gather Feedback and Monitor Analytics

Once your digital menu is fully up and running, you should actively encourage feedback from customers, as well as use analytics tools to track your most popular items and understand the ways your customers are interacting with your online menu. All this information is crucial for improving your digital menu experience over time.

7. Perform Continuous Updates and Maintenance

Don’t forget to regularly update your digital restaurant menu to reflect any changes in prices or to advertise ongoing promotions. It’s also very important to have a plan for ongoing technical maintenance to make sure your digital system remains secure and efficient at all times. Digital security is an especially important consideration if you’ll be accepting digital payments from customers.

Digital Restaurant Menu Frequently Asked Questions

What factors should I consider when choosing a digital menu platform?

The most important factors to consider when choosing a digital menu platform depend on the specific needs and goals of your restaurant and its customers. In general, some of the most important factors include:

• User-friendliness
• Customization options
• Scalability
• Integration capabilities with your POS system

Is staff training necessary for implementing digital menus?

Yes, comprehensive staff training is an essential part of implementing a digital restaurant menu. To guarantee a smooth transition, your staff should be comfortable using the chosen platform, addressing customer questions, and handling any minor technical issues that may arise.

How can businesses measure the success of digital menu implementation?

The best way to measure the success of your restaurant’s menu digitalization is with customer feedback. You can also keep track of efficiency metrics like order completion time and compare them to the same metrics pre-digitalization.