How to Create A Menu For Your Las Vegas Restaurant

No matter how good the food is and how well your restaurant menu was conceptualized, people will never buy something that doesn’t suit their taste buds based on their culture or fit their budget. In creating a restaurant menu, make sure to consider the following:

• Demographics
• Average Income
• Location
• Food Trends
• Cuisine Styles
• Favorites

Given that your business is new, it would be wise to start with a few options and gradually add more dishes once you are established. You can even be creative in introducing a new addition to your menu by having a flavor of the week thing, flavor of the month, or a seasonal dish.

• Make a list of Menu Items (limit option to 10 or 12 items in the beginning)
• Distinguish your menu from nearby competitors
• Have a selection of dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• Offer specialty dishes and healthy food choices
• Come up with a unique name for each food item
  (ie. “Lava Twirl” for a Strawberry Sundae or “Joe’s Smoking Burger” for a Hamburger)
• Include beverage

It would make sense to organize the selection of food choices your restaurant offers, calculate the cost, and come up with a reasonable price for your customers.

• List menu options in a Excel spreadsheet  or Google Sheet (Traditional pen & paper will do as well)
• Categorize your selection of food (ie. Breakfast, Lunch, Appetizers, Main Course, Speciality, Vegetarian, Soup and salad, Cocktails and beverages)
• Add a description (Joe’s Smoking Burger: Quarter-pound lean beef patty with grilled mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, honey-mustard sauce and 3 layers of cheese including cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper jack.
• Note if your dish is spicy or if it contains ingredients that could cause allergies

In ensuring the profitability of your restaurant business and continue operations, calculating for the unit cost of each item on your menu by adding the price of ingredients with the overhead is necessary to know how much you should charge. Let’s just say the unit cost of the burger is $7 and you decide to sell it for $10

• $10 Sale Price – $7 unit cost = $3 Gross Margin
• $3 Gross Margin / by $10 Sale Price = 0.3 x 100 = 30% Margin Percentage
• $3 Gross Margin divided by $7 unit cost = 0.42 x by 100 = 42.76% Markup Percentage

Considering the location and the average income level of your niche market, make adjustments to maximize your profits by doing the following:

• Getting the best deals with your suppliers
• Change your ingredients to something that is comparable but not as costly
• Revise your menu
• Markup Percentage on meats should be sealed at 50%
• Have an 80 to 85% markup on pasta and salad dishes
• Keep the markup percentage for alcoholic beverages between 50% to 70%

The internet is flooded with countless number of resources and information of providers simply by typing the keyword(s) restaurant menu templates, samples, design or ideas. Checking each of these sources could stir your imagination or draw some inspiration.

• Check Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and similar applications for available templates.
• Check pages 1 and 2 of the resources presented by your search results on google or other search engines that you are using.

Depending on the style, theme, and atmosphere that you would like to have for your restaurant with consideration to your niche market, it would be a good idea to choose color combinations that compliment the interiors of your establishment. Keep in mind that different colors evoke certain emotions and it affects our perception of food.

In line with your restaurant’s theme and in reference to the ideas that you got online, draft a sample menu using a simple and easy to read font using any of the following: Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, Canva Templates and other similar platforms.       

• Take photos of the food on your menu during the restaurant’s soft opening to be used in creating an appetizing menu and enhance the quality of the image using any type of photo editing application. You may consider hiring a professional photographer to help you if you wish.
• Employ the services of a Graphic Designer by utilizing LinkedIn, Upwork, Craigslist and other similar platforms.
• Double-check each page to make sure that it is free of errors.   
• Draft and print 2 to 3 designs of your menu to be evaluated by 3 qualified individuals (Restaurant Owner/Manager, Chef, Foodie Experts) and give their honest feedback for necessary revisions.

Taking into consideration the important details and insights that you have received from qualified individuals concerning your menu, apply the necessary changes for revision and finalize the design for printing and do the following:

• Proofread your work by going through the entire menu without skipping every detail
• Print your menu and pay for binding services. You have the option to DIY if you have the resources or you can have this all done through a printing service near you. You can check Digital Insight Printing, Minuteman Press, or Staples.