Restaurants need menus. Whether it's a board on the wall or something you hand out, you have to tell your customers what you are serving.

A menu should reflect the attitude of the restaurant. A tropical, breezy, colorful restaurant should have a menu that fits that same theme. A boring, text only, black and white menu just wouldn't quite do it. A corporate cafe in a downtown complex might want to appeal to the business crowd who is in a hurry to just get their lunch and get back to work. You should consider what you want to convey to your customers. Are you there to entertain them? Get them fed and out in a hurry? Wine and dine them for the evening? A menu does so much more than tell someone what food you are serving, it sets a mood for their dining experience.

Menu design requires collaboration with the chef or owner to acheive the perfect menu. How many items you want to include or how you want to break the menu up will have a great deal to do with how the menu is layed out, knowing this information before you even start will help get your project done quickly.

Restaurants also need other materials to make their business successful. Marketing to potential customers is important. Creating advertisements, direct mail campaigns, flyers to hand out, and coupons to pass out require an overall plan of action. You need to plan advertising campaigns and have a schedule for mailings and ads in newspapers. Advertising requires multiple mailings or ads to acheive the ideal response. Most people don't visit a restaurant the first time they see an ad. You should get a response, but your responses will be greater with each advertisement. Sending out a direct mail piece every six weeks or so will attract more attention than sporadic mailings. Putting a smaller ad in the newspaper every week will get more responses than putting in larger ads every other month. Branding is important, get that logo out there so people recognize it. Look at the large chains, they get people to visit because they are recognized. People who are looking for a place to eat will pull into a restaurant that they are familiar with, whether it's because they've been there or because they've been seeing ads and have been interested to try it. You have to get your restaurant's name out there so people think of you when they are planning to go out and eat. Unless you are in an extremely high-traffic area, you are going to have to do something to get people in your place. By creating a recognizable logo that is out there circulating you will be producing your own traffic. And that traffic is residual, new customers come in as old customers come back. Your business grows and everyone is happy.

Marketing to your existing customers is vital as well. You've got them in the door, you make great food, your staff is great...but what are you going to do to get them to come back instead of trying someone else? How do you make them a "regular"? In house advertising is usually less expensive and more effective. Hand out a Gift Certificate with your checks. Tell them you appreciate their business and would love to have them come back. Depending on your average ticket price, give them a gift certificate for $5, $10, whatever is relatively painless to you but attractive to them. Give them incentive to come back. Table tents advertising your lunch specials to your dinner customers give them a reason to come back. So do posters, customer appreciation specials (buy 10 sandwiches get the 11th free), and VIP cards offering discounts or free items on their 5th or 10th visit. There are a thousand ways to get your customers back in the door, be creative. If you do something different, you'll be remembered when it counts.

Restaurants require everyone to be working on the same plan at the same time. Creating contests, having employee meetings that outline what you are trying to do, and being open with your employees about your plans is how you make your business grow. Give your employees business cards with their names on them after they've been with you a couple of months. Give them a sense of pride in where they work by making them feel important. You can even put a coupon on the card offering a discount so they hand out their cards, then run contests giving the employee who has the most cards come back a cash prize. Your employees will be out there advertising for you. You both win in that situation.

Your designer should be aware of the special needs of restaurants and be able to come up with new strategies with you. Make sure you are comfortable with your designers sense of what you want. This is a relationship that will last for a very long time and keep your business pumping out fresh ideas to get customers to spend money. Don't settle, it's too important to your business.

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by Wendy Milonas

© 2007, Wendy Milonas

Wendy Milonas, is a wife, a work at home mom to 2 terrific kids and an entrepreneur! She has two beautiful daughters, 7 and 8 years old. She has a successful home based graphic design business. Her mission is to encourage and assist other women in creating a successful lifestyle. You can learn more about Wendy and view some of her designs and illustrations at WendyMilonas.com.