A free guide for restaurants and cafés
Restaurant menu design: 12 tips for a professional menu that sells more
A menu is more than a price list: it is the thing customers read most in your restaurant. This guide shows you how to organise, design and price it, printed or digital, with a ready sheet you can print and plan on.
- Start free
- Arabic and English
- Nothing for customers to download
- 1Customers choose faster
- 2They order your best earners
- 3A menu that is easy to update
Restaurant menu design
Before you design: organise the menu
Good design can't save a messy menu. Start with the structure.
Sections in eating order
Starters, then mains, then desserts and drinks. Customers read the menu in the order they eat.
Fewer dishes per section
Too many choices slow customers down. If a section is long, split it or drop the dishes nobody orders.
A clear name and a short description
A dish name people understand at once, with one line about the ingredients or how it is cooked.
Arabic and English, kept tidy
If your customers use both, write both in the same order for every dish, or make one Arabic side and one English side.
Restaurant menu design
12 tips for a menu that sells
Tips that work on printed and digital menus alike.
Put your best dishes where eyes go first
The first dish in each section and the top of the page get the most attention. Put the dishes that earn you the most there, not the cheapest ones.
Find your best earners with the planning sheet below.
Highlight just 2 or 3 dishes
A box or a “Most popular” tag around two or three dishes draws the eye. Highlight everything and nothing stands out.
Real photos, without overdoing it
A real photo helps customers choose. On a printed menu, photos of your highlighted dishes are enough; on a digital menu every dish can have one.
Shoot in daylight on a plain background, and never use internet photos of food that isn't yours.
Descriptions that make people hungry
Instead of “Grilled chicken”, write “Chicken marinated in lemon and garlic, grilled over charcoal”. A few words about taste and cooking make the difference.
Prices that don't shout
Write the price as a number after the description, without dotted lines leading to it and without sorting dishes by price, so customers choose by the food, not by the cheapest.
A clear font at a comfortable size
An easy-to-read font, large enough, with strong contrast between text and background. Some people read your menu in dim light.
Colours from your brand
Use two or three colours from your logo and repeat them across the menu. Too many colours tire the eye.
Suggest what completes the order
Next to the burger, write “Add fries and a drink for…”; next to coffee, suggest a dessert. A clear combo grows the order.
Learn more: QR code menuSmall marks that help
Marks for spicy, vegetarian and new dishes. They save your staff a lot of questions.
For cafés: drinks in a table
Put the sizes (small, medium, large) as columns with their prices side by side, and extras like an extra shot or a milk choice on one clear line.
Leave white space
A crowded menu is hard to read. Space around the sections rests the eye and lets your highlighted dishes stand out.
A digital menu you update in a minute
With a QR menu you change a price or add a dish without reprinting, and customers see the menu with photos on their phone.
Learn more: QR code menu
Restaurant menu design
How to price your menu, simply
A simple way to start, which you then adjust to your market.
Work out the dish cost
The cost of every ingredient on the plate by weight: the meat, the bread, the sauce, even the box for delivery.
Pick a cost share
Many restaurants keep ingredient cost at around a third of the selling price. Divide the cost by that share to get a price.
Compare and round
Check what similar places near you charge, and round to a comfortable number.
Review every few months
Ingredient prices change. Review your costs every 3 months; it is much easier with a digital menu.
Example
- Burger ingredient cost: EGP 50
- 50 ÷ 0.33 ≈ EGP 150
- Similar places nearby charge 140 to 165, so you pick 149 or 155
Restaurant menu design
Printed menu sizes
The most common sizes at print shops, and what each one is for.
| Size | In cm | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| A4 | 21 × 29.7 | A standard table menu, one or two pages |
| A3 folded | 29.7 × 42 | A large menu with many sections, folded to A4 |
| A5 | 14.8 × 21 | A café or drinks menu |
| DL | 10 × 21 | A delivery menu to put in the bag |
Print at 300 DPI, add 3 mm on every side for trimming (bleed), and keep text at least 5 mm from the edge.
Restaurant menu design
A ready sheet to plan and price your menu
Print it or save it as a PDF, and write each dish, its cost and its price before you start designing.
| Section | Dish | Ingredient cost | Price | Cost ÷ price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Foodidu Business
More free guides
A step-by-step marketing plan for your restaurant or café in Egypt: 10 practical ideas, from Google Maps and your menu to loyalty, plus a printable 30-day plan.
Ready to grow your restaurant?
Start free with an exclusive promo code for Foodidu users, and add the tools you need when you need them.
Apply now FAQ
Questions, answered
How do I design a professional restaurant menu?
Put the sections in eating order, keep each section short, write short descriptions that make people hungry, put your best earners first in each section, and use a clear font and colours from your brand. The 12 tips above go through each step.
Can I get a digital menu for free?
Yes. The Foodidu Business Starter plan includes a basic QR menu for free, in return for an exclusive promo code for Foodidu users. A menu in your own design with your photos is in the Growth plan.
What size should my menu be?
A4 for a standard table menu, A5 for a café or drinks menu, and DL (10 × 21 cm) for a delivery menu in the bag. If you have many sections, a folded A3.
How do I price my menu?
Work out the ingredient cost of each dish and divide it by the cost share that suits you (many restaurants aim for about a third). Then compare with similar places nearby and round to a comfortable number.
Is a café menu different from a restaurant menu?
Yes. A café menu is mostly drinks with sizes and extras, so a table (small, medium, large) is clearer, and the menu is usually smaller, like A5.
Should I design the menu myself?
You can start yourself with these tips and the sheet above. For a digital menu in your own design with your photos, there is the Growth plan.