The structure, design and construction of your menu play an important role in how your selection of food is presented to your customers. The type of menu cover that you choose is an important part of creating your menu. Whether you decide to go with leatherette menu covers or are looking for something that is more flexible, all of these decisions need to be made to produce an effective menu.
On top of your menu cover, the choosing of the menu structure will also be something that you will have to do. Let’s take a look at three of the most popular menu structures for successful restaurants:
Triple Fold-Out, Six View
This is one of the more popular menu structure options because it folds out in a way that presents to your customers exactly what you have. It provides the ability for you to insert three different pages, meaning you can have six different page views when utilizing both the front and back.
One of the few downfalls of this option is that it forces your customer to spread the menu out three pages deep. For this reason, you want to be sure that the measurements of your table match up to make this a viable choice.
Double Panel, Four View
The double panel four view allows you to insert two pages and provide your customers with four separate views. This is a popular choice for restaurants that specialize in a certain type of food and do not have a large menu. Typically you will see the front of this menu be nothing more than the name, logo, and other information related to the restaurant.
The one downside of this popular option is that it will not allow for sufficient white space on the menu for those restaurants with several options to choose from. It is best suited for cafes and places that serve only breakfast.
Triple Panel Gatefold, Six View
This menu is similar to the triple fold out six views, except that this option has flaps that are typically one-third or half the size of a full page. The smaller sides mean that less space will be used when opening the menu while still giving you the opportunity to feature six page views.
If there is a downfall of this option, it’s that it could initially create some confusion among some customers as far as seeing what all you have to offer. It certainly shouldn’t take them long to catch on to how they work, however.
The Final Word
After choosing whether you want leatherette menu covers or something more simple, the decision about menu structure needs to be one that you put a great deal of thought in.
