Spice Up Your Menu - Words

Last time we described how colours used in menu design can actually affect how and what people buy. Some colours can make people feel happier and even more hungry, and can also make them buy more.

But apart from colour, the words you use are also as important to people's buying choices, so it's good to make food descriptions more interesting, attractive and tempting.

To make your food more desirable and enticing add a short description of what it contains and how it is cooked which not only makes people more satisfied with their meal but also makes them much more likely to return again and again. This extra wording can increase sales by as much as 25%. For example, you could add words like 'home-made' or 'carefully prepared by our chef' or 'our special family recipe' etc.

Using bold type or a slightly larger typeface can highlight one item in each section of your menu to make it look more special and better value, and can help to sell items that may be less popular but which are more profitable.

When you shop online you often see the words 'Frequently Bought Together' which shows items that people have bought at the same time. You could try this with some of your items such as 'Usually Ordered With Salad', or 'Goes Well With Chilli Sauce' etc. You could add a 'Free' item in some places such as 'Comes With Free Garlic Bread' or 'Free Mayonnaise Dip' etc. because it looks more tempting and better value.