· 4 min read
Menu descriptions that sell: sensory words, origin, restraint
How to write restaurant menu descriptions that earn their line: one sensory fact, a real origin, the adjectives to cut, and why a paragraph on every dish flattens the card. · 5 min read
How many items should a menu have? Choice, measured
How many dishes a restaurant menu can carry before guests stall and the pass suffers: section limits, lunch versus dinner, and the type size you win back when you cut. · 4 min read
Where to place high-margin dishes (the golden triangle is overrated)
Why the menu golden triangle is a weak guide, where high-margin dishes actually get ordered, and how to order each section after you have done the engineering. · 4 min read
Menu pricing psychology: charm prices, anchors and the euro
What actually moves a guest on a printed menu: charm endings, a real anchor dish, where the euro sign sits, and the layout habits that cheapen a price. · 5 min read
Menu engineering basics: stars, plough horses, puzzles and dogs
How to classify every dish by popularity and contribution margin, what to do with each of the four categories, and how the result should change the design of your menu.
· 5 min read
The handwritten look: doing it well on a printed menu
Three honest ways to get a handwritten feel on a printed restaurant menu, the fonts and scanning techniques that work, and the mistakes that make it look fake. · 5 min read
Dish name, description, price: a typographic hierarchy that sells
How to size, weight and space the three elements of every menu entry so guests read the dish first, the story second and the price last, with exact settings. · 5 min read
Free vs licensed fonts for menus: what you can legally print
Which font licences allow you to print a restaurant menu, what free for personal use really means, what a commercial licence costs, and how to check before you print. · 5 min read
How many fonts should a menu use? Two, and here is how to choose them
Why two typefaces cover every job on a restaurant menu, when a third is justified, how to pair them, and a role-by-role map so nothing on the card is set by accident. · 5 min read
Accents, ligatures and special characters: typesetting multilingual menus correctly
How to keep accents, ligatures, apostrophes, the euro sign and language-specific punctuation intact on a multilingual restaurant menu, from font choice to the print PDF. · 5 min read
Typography for French bistro menus: the chalkboard look on paper
How to translate the Parisian chalkboard into a printed bistro menu: typefaces, capitals with accents, the formule block, price conventions and the details that feel French. · 5 min read