The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way restaurants are conducting business. For years restaurants have been moving away from hard to clean communal menus and coming up with creative ways for their guests to get the same information in a safer manner.
Looking to do something different at your restaurant to improve your patrons dining experience? These tips can help boost customer morale while keeping everyone safer in the process.
Display Menus
Some restaurants are ditching their individual menus in favor of large signs or chalkboards. This hip trend eliminates the need to hand out disposable menus and allows restaurant staff to save time by not having to sanitize communally used menus. Placing large signs in a high traffic area allows customers to clearly see your restaurants menu without having to touch anything. One of the downsides of large signs is that they can be pricey to implement. Chalkboard surfaces are not cheap and printing permanent menu signs can be difficult to edit or change as time goes on, leaving your sign with awkward hand drawn changes as time goes on.
Digital Menus
Creating an environment with increased customer interaction can improve your diners overall experience. One of the more creative concepts out there is to set up your menu digitally while allowing your customers to scan a QR code or visit a link listed on the table to view your menu from the safety and comfort of their cell phone. This unique approach allows users instant access to your menu, and provides your restaurant an easily updatable platform to edit menu items, descriptions and prices at will. One of the drawbacks to going digital is that it requires some level of technical proficiency to update and maintain and some diners may not appreciate the lack of a physical menu to look at.
Disposable Menus
One of the simplest ways to remain in compliance is to simply continually print basic, disposable menus. Disposable menus allow diners to view your menu and take it home with them or recycle the menu when they are finished. Disposable menus can have their own downfalls though, as restaurants need to keep a steady stock of menus to avoid running out. For restaurants with larger menus, the disposable option may not be ideal as continually printing out a 6 page menu for each person can be costly.
Laminated Menus
If you’ve decided to continue with a more permanent menu for your patrons laminating them may be the ideal choice. Laminating your restaurant’s menu makes them easier to clean and helps to cut costs by avoiding having to continually reprint new ones. Remember to thoroughly clean and disinfect laminated menus after each use and allow them to dry completely before reusing them as per your local states restrictions.
Menu Printing Services
If your restaurant needs new menus, New York Marketing help! Whether you are looking to stay stocked up on disposable menus or printouts with scannable QR codes, print and laminate new ones, or you’re thinking about rebranding with new signs or table displays, we can help keep you in compliance. Call us today at (716) 632-7200 and let us know how we can help!
