Menu Board Magic: the Visual Tricks That Thicken Your Margins

An eye-catching, well-lit outdoor menu board is a great marketing tool for increasing sales. © Erik Mclean, Pexels

Key Takeaways:

• Digital menu boards offer a range of benefits for restaurants, including the opportunity for a 2% to 5% increase in sales and savings on menu printing.
• Elements like real-time customization, video and animation capability, interactive touchscreens, point-of-sale integration, and scheduling are incorporated into digital menu boards.
• Digital menu boards afford improved brand awareness, operational agility, customer engagement, and franchisee independence.
• Restaurants and cafes can use digital menu boards to highlight high-margin items, market according to real-time events, suggest combos and upgrades, and use video and animation to capture customers’ attention.

Restaurant marketing is as much about visual appeal as it is delicious food and consistent service. People “eat with their eyes,” so to speak. That’s why successful restaurants invest so heavily in food photography and have traditionally employed printed menus as a marketing tool.

These days, however, printed menus have given way to social media advertising and digital menu boards. Modern cafes, restaurants, and other eateries are increasingly using digital signage as a marketing tool, both inside and outside their businesses, to increase sales margins.

Eateries favor these dynamic, screen-based menu displays over static signage for many reasons, but mostly because they pay for themselves in a short period of time. Consider these significant digital menu board statistics from The Howard Company:

• Eateries that implement digital menu boards see a 2% to 5% increase in sales.
• Digital menus can save $200 to $300 per location in menu printing costs.
• 85% of customers are influenced by visual menu elements in their ordering decisions.
• Engaging digital menu content reduces perceived wait times by 15%.

Key digital menu board features

Digital menu boards employ technology to offer features like:

• Real-time customization, enabling operators to instantly advertise seasonal specials and other limited-time offers, updated pricing, new menu offerings, and more.
• Dynamic content display, including videos and high-resolution photos, to capture customers’ attention and appeal to their senses.
• Point-of-sale integration, ensuring pricing and inventory are automatically updated. For example, a digital menu board could cross out or grey out items that have sold out for the day.
• Interactive touchscreen displays. Kiosks with touchscreens allow customers to browse menu items, view nutritional information, and customize orders.
• Scheduling. For example, a digital menu board may automatically switch to a lunchtime display at a certain hour, or certain menu items may appear larger or be highlighted at certain times of day.

Benefits of digital menu boards

Digital menu boards aren’t just a “pretty face” to show customers. They’re workhorses that restaurants can employ for interactive marketing and operational efficiency. Here are some of the top benefits of upgrading to a digital menu board:

• Brand awareness. Since menu boards are typically the first thing customers see when they enter your business, they can elevate your brand and increase awareness of what your eatery has to offer.
• Agility. An agile business is a successful one. Dynamic menu boards enable operators to experiment with different marketing and visual techniques, update pricing, try out new menu items, and more.
• Customer engagement. A dynamic menu board visually captures customers’ attention and can even provide entertainment while waiting to be served.
• Franchisee independence. The dynamic, real-time updates menu boards offer enable individual franchise owners to easily update pricing and menu items as desired. For example, a location could offer “local favorites.”

Tips for maximizing menu board marketing

Maximize your menu board with these strategic marketing tips:

• Highlight high-margin items. Showcase your most profitable menu items in larger print or animated text, or place them in the center of the sign where the customer’s eye naturally falls. Advertise higher-priced limited-time offers to boost sales.
• Group items for higher profitability. Suggest combos or meal upgrades to boost sales, and place them in prominent menu board locations.
• Leverage real-time data to boost sales. Digital menu boards’ interactive capabilities allow you to take advantage of real-time events. For example, if it’s 90 degrees, highlight lemonade or another refreshing drink. If it’s cold, highlight hot drinks like hot chocolate, coffee, and tea.
• Include video and animation. Since movement draws customers’ eyes and keeps them engaged, it’s a good idea to include videos and animation as part of your menu board. For example, play a short video of the owner explaining the origin of a menu item or participating in a news story. Use animated callouts like moving text or pulsing borders to highlight a menu item.

The bottom line

Exploring restaurant signage options for a possible upgrade to exterior or interior signage is a great way to elevate your business. Digital menu boards, whether they appear inside as large signs, as part of customer kiosks, or outdoors in a drive-through, offer numerous marketing and operational efficiency opportunities. In addition to their sleek appearance, they offer marketing versatility and integration with point-of-sale and inventory for maximum efficiency.