A successful menu board does more than just display the items that a menu contains. It will help sell your food, highlight specials and reinforce your brand. Let's create a scenario in which you and your restaurant are getting ready to install digital menu boards:

You've just had a team come in and do a total makeover on your establishment. Part of that makeover was replacing the old with the new including your menu boards. Digital signage is a great way to display menu items especially if you have an ever-changing menu and need to update descriptions and nutritional information often. Here are a few things you will want to think about ahead of time before you start:

First

The first thing you will want to think about is where you will install your screens. What is the ideal location (in your space) where a customer could stand, read and absorb the information presented without being in the way of others? 2.

Second

Second, how many screens will you need to hang in order to present the menu in a way where all the information can easily be displayed. This is where you need to take your menu into account. How large is your menu? How many screens will it take to display all that content? Do you want to incorporate imagery?

Third

Third, how large are my screens? This depends on the location of the screens. A coffee shop displaying only the "special of the day" might be able to get away with an iPad on the counter, but a fast food restaurant would need larger monitors mounted behind the register to display their entire menu.

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Helpful Tips

• DO NOT try and squeeze everything into a small amount of space.
• DO NOT rotate content. Before you decide if this is a good idea, put yourself in the position of the customer. You're looking over the menu, trying to decide if you should order the salad or the chicken sandwich. Just as you go to compare price and nutrition, the menu changes to show something else. Your static menus don't change, and just because digital signage has the ability to change doesn't mean that a menu board should. There is a time and a place for it, like rotating through a limited number of specials; food imagery can rotate but text should remain static.
• Use imagery to help sell food. Have your imagery correspond with the items on the board (beverage images with beverage items, hot food imagery with hot food items)
• Subtle animation can help sell your brand and food items but be careful not to overwhelm. Subtle is key.
• Be sure your text is large enough for all to see. Test it out before you go live.
• Be sure to pay attention to the layout of your screens. Group similar items, keep it organized and give text breathing room.