Discover the advantages of learning menu board basics. Manage the time-consuming task of selecting restaurant signage due to so many different formats. Menu board designs range from LED to back-lit boards for your drive-thru or counter, chalkboards and dry erase boards. Placement of menu boards can showcase specials. Choose different size menu boards to feature key menu items. Small menu boards are perfect for daily specials. Each of these menu sign choices serve an important function in the restaurant, coffee shop, and deli business.

Businesses benefit by selecting innovative and cutting edge restaurant boards to accomplish the goal of fast and efficient transactions. Quality menu signs focus attention on your product offerings. Choose easy-to-read menu display restaurant boards to improve time spent taking customer orders. Use bright colors to draw your customer's attention to new or favorite menu selections. Save on replacement costs by considering protective glass and fade resistant construction to maintain your investment for years to come. Here are a few time saving suggestions:

1. Locate a menu board design that compliments your business theme, concept or image.

2. Learn about the many types, colors and sizes of restaurant menu boards.

3. Purchase menu display from a knowledgeable and reputable vendor.

Action Steps to Find Great Restaurant Menu Boards
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Review a variety of restaurant menu signs

Evaluate a set number of different styles that a company has to offer in menu displays. There's a wide variety of choices in the signage market. A business owner can select a LED sign or a durable, powder coated aluminum sign with fade resistant and UV protected graphics ideal for your outside drive thru.

I recommend: Billyboards has a range of menu boards that utilizes wet erase markers, making it easy to change your sign as needed. International Patterns Incorporated has a variety of signs such as magnetic, illuminated, and digital menu boards.

Choose a menu sign that reflects the business concept

Locate menu displays that are distinctive. Reinforce your restaurant or deli's theme or concept with innovative menu board design. Choose signage with desired features such as protected graphics and shatterproof glass. Showcase your menu in a variety of colors and utilize different sizes for added advertising or consumer appeal.

I recommend: Menu-cast has high definition signs with commercial grade LCD screens which is their standard menu board. Select from a wide range of optional features. Character Company features a unique way to display your menu boards. They personalized characters into a customizable and cleanable sign.

Purchase menu display from a reputable vendor with a range of service and support options

Purchasing restaurant signs is a crucial investment in your business. Locate your menu signage from a business that provides a quality product and stands behind their sales with customer service guarantees and warranty information.

I recommend: IDS Menus offers customer support and quality products and service. Their mission is to produce the most superior product for their patrons and stand behind it. FB Johnston Graphics offers fulfillment services with complete concept design and recommending materials to jazz up your existing signs.

Tips & Tactics to Make Your Choice on Restaurant Menu Boards

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Keep your restaurant signs clean and working with regular maintenance and care.

Your menu board can make a big difference in a customer’s first impression about your restaurant. Menu boards, like all of your restaurant signs, play an important role in establishing your brand identity and in boosting your bottom line. Simply highlighting a high-profit daily special on your menu board can drive sales and increase your take.

When it comes to restaurant signage, and menu boards in particular, today’s restaurateurs have far more options than ever—from simple menu card holders and dry erase boards to back-lit menu signs and high-tech digital models. Once you’ve chosen the best style for your business, there are still more options, including a variety of sizes, frames, colors and type faces. Finding a menu board that makes the right statement about your business and that allows you to change prices and items easily is key.

Finding restaurant menu boards that fit in your budget may limit your choices. Prices can run the gamut from well under $100 for a menu card holder to thousands for an illuminated digital system.

Great menu boards can:

1. Influence diners’ decisions by promoting daily specials.
2. Lead customers to higher-priced dishes and entrees.
3. Enhance your image as a restaurant that routinely has new menu offerings.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Make it easy with dry erase menu boards

For the utmost in simplicity, turn a dry erase board into your menu holder. Use affordable color markers to write in the daily specials coming from your kitchen.

I recommend: Hit your local office supply store or hop online at OfficeDepot.com or OfficeMax.com for a good selection of dry erase boards.

Choose chalk menu boards

A popular menu board option, colorful chalkboards lend a friendly, folksy ambience to an establishment. Write on and erase chalk menu signs on a regular basis or hire professional chalk artists to create a permanent menu board.

I recommend: InternationalPatterns.com offers chalk menu boards priced from about $100 to $1,000. For professional chalk artists, try ChalkItUpSigns.com, which will ship just about anywhere in North America.

Menu board systems

Selling a large number of menu items in your restaurant? Menu boards that are connected together may work best. A menu board system can be made from a number of materials and can be designed for indoor or outdoor use.

I recommend: NationalSignSystems.com offers a good selection of custom menu board options in their product line. For standard back-lit or magnetic menu boards, go to NationalMenuBoard.com, which offers one to six panels in several standard sizes. Find more restaurant menu display providers on the Business.com Web site.

Designer themes for restaurant signs

Instead of a typical rectangle, consider a custom-made menu sign for your restaurant. Signage can be created in the shape of a sub sandwich, ice cream scoops, or some other signature item.

I recommend: InternationalPatterns.com will help you create a menu board that reflects your business identity.

Restaurant menu boards go digital

One of the newest arrivals in the menu board industry: digital menu boards that change content throughout the day. These appealing restaurant signs can provide targeted advertising, animated promotions and instantaneous updates among other benefits. Generally controlled by a computer, you can easily change offerings and price points at any time.

I recommend: IDSMenus.com offers digital menu boards in addition to drive-thru, indoor and outdoor restaurant signs. Suppliers of restaurant furnishings, including digital menu boards, can be found in the Business.com directory.

Point-of-purchase menu holders

Inspire impulse sales and lead diners to your most profitable menu items with a menu holder near the register or on each and every table.

I recommend: Consult FastSigns.com for restaurant signs and menu holders that will motivate customers to make purchases.

Outdoor and drive-thru menu boards

An outdoor menu board system is essential if you have a drive-thru. But other types of restaurants can benefit from an outdoor menu board as well. Called walk-up menu boards, these allow passersby to view your menu and hopefully, entice them to come in for a meal.

I recommend: Howard and Main Street Menu Systems offer a variety of outdoor menu signs.

Updating your menu board

In the restaurant business, you constantly need to update your menu—eliminating items that aren’t profitable enough, adding new dishes and changing prices. Menu boards use several technologies to allow updating, including magnetic (menu strips adhere to metal boards), tracking system (menu strips slide into tracks), static cling (generally used for changing price digits only) and full graphics (a new graphic must be ordered whenever there’s a change).

I recommend: Business.com lists several vendors of changeable letter boards.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many menu board manufacturers also supply stock photos of savory fare to use on your menu board.
• •  Front-lit menu boards tend to be easier to access and update than back-lit menu boards.
• •  Standard stock models of restaurant signs typically cost less than customized menu boards.

Menu boards focus your customer's attention on specials and highlight your restaurant's daily deals. A restaurant sign that is easy to change offers more time for other important functions in your business. Find interchangeable menu boards and flexibility with LED signs for ease in changing out quotes and specials. Customized restaurant menu boards are another way to reinforce the business theme, concept or style.

Explore the range of options when choosing restaurant signs. There are a variety of size options available to display your menu board if facing limitations with space or location. Consider incorporating photos into your menu boards to showcase visuals of different food options and desserts. Utilize a special value menu that offers lower prices and focus on upselling at the register to boost profits. Use menu boards that allow an easy change between breakfast, lunch and dinner items.

1. Use a menu display that is interchangeable and fast to use.

2. Locate restaurant menu boards that are the ideal size for your establishment.

3. Learn about the differences in lighting and imaging in menu boards when choosing a style.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Consider a simple menu board design to accommodate frequent product changes

Chalkboards and LED designs allow you to change your menu at any given time. Use easily changed menu boards so that you can focus your time on other projects. In addition, utilizing chalkboard signs is an easy way to change your sign just by erasing the old information.

I recommend: The Webstaurant Store has easy to use black easel write-on sidewalk signs. This allows for the menu placement outside your restaurant. The LED Company features LED designs that will direct your potential customer to your business with eye-catching lights and displays and make it easy to change out on a regular basis.

Select the correct size and style to properly display menu signs

Measure the width and dimension for ease in setting up and displaying a menu board in your business. An improperly fitted display can cause unnecessary problems with placement of the menu board.

I recommend: National Menu Board has specific sizes listed and can custom make restaurant signage for your business. Their menu boards also come with a 2-year warranty. Sign Wholesale has super slim light boxes that come with product dimensions and visual dimensions for you to view.

Evaluate the vast number of menu board lighting choices

Choose restaurant signage that has eye-catching lighting and imaging available with menu displays. There are many different types of lighting such as LED and back-lit imaging and graphic designs. Choose a menu board that focuses your customer's attention on target menu items.

I recommend: Cyber Lightbox features a variety of interlocking menu boards with back-lit imaging and a modular design. Menu-cast has a gallery of recent menus you can view and have customized with high-impact graphics.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Teach employees how to properly use any menu boards that require changing.

A menu board can be an integral part of your advertising budget, but there may be some key terms you don't know. These are common terms that can help you decide which type of menu board you want to work with. It's best to show as much information as you can on menu boards if you run a restaurant or diner. Here are a few key terms to get you started on sounding like a professional when discussing menu boards.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Drive-through menu boards

A menu board is the first thing a customer looks at when using your drive-through service. A menu board can show specials, your menu and any other information you want your customers to see.

I recommend: QSR Web has information on choosing menu boards.

Back-lit menu signs

Back-lit menu signs are menu boards that have a lit-up background displaying your menu. The exterior is lighted so that it draws attention to the menu board.

I recommend: Airpark Banners & Signs explains how back-lit menu signs are used.

Dry erase boards

A dry erase board can be a handy tool to use as a menu board for businesses that change specials frequently. A dry erase board is sometimes called a whiteboard. This is a glossy surface that can be written on and erased with ease. It is similar to a chalkboard, but a special pen is used, and the writing can be easily removed. Different color pens can create an attractive display.

I recommend: Wise Geek explains what a dry erase board is and how it works.

Digital menu boards

Digital menu boards are a way of advertising your menu in an eye-catching way so that customers are drawn to whatever food or drinks you are offering. It allows you to easily change your menu and display.

I recommend: Smarter Sign offers a guide on menu boards and their use.

Menu holder

A menu holder is a display that sits at the customer's table showing different specials, food or drink items, as well as information on the restaurant. These are handy because they showcase certain foods that can be purchased impulsively.

I recommend: Displays2Go has valuable information on menu holders. It also shows pictures of different models.

Point of purchase menu holders

Point of purchase menu holders are floor stands or a cardboard cut out that displays a certain menu item or special. These are an excellent resource in showing off an item and drawing your customer's attention to the special.

I recommend: Sales Packaging has information on point of purchase menu holders and how they help a business display its menu.