How can you highlight your restaurant's signature dishes on the menu?

1 Understand your customers

Before you decide how to highlight your signature dishes, you need to understand who your customers are and what they want. What are their preferences, expectations, and motivations? How do they make their choices? What are their pain points and delights? You can use various methods to gather this information, such as surveys, feedback forms, loyalty programs, social media, or observation. The more you know about your customers, the better you can tailor your menu to appeal to them.

2 Apply menu engineering

Menu engineering is a technique that analyzes your menu items based on their profitability and popularity. It helps you identify which items are your stars, plowhorses, puzzles, and dogs. Stars are high-profit and high-popularity items, which are likely to be your signature dishes. Plowhorses are low-profit and high-popularity items, which are reliable and satisfying. Puzzles are high-profit and low-popularity items, which are potential stars if marketed well. Dogs are low-profit and low-popularity items, which are candidates for removal or improvement. By applying menu engineering, you can optimize your menu mix and focus on your best performers.

3 Use visual cues

Visual cues are elements that draw attention to your signature dishes and make them stand out from the rest of the menu. They can include icons, labels, boxes, colors, fonts, images, or symbols. For example, you can use a star icon to indicate your signature dishes, or a label such as "Chef's Choice" or "Customer Favorite". You can also use a different color or font to highlight them, or place them in a separate box or section. If you use images, make sure they are high-quality and realistic, and avoid using too many of them.

4 Write enticing descriptions

Descriptions are another way to highlight your signature dishes and entice your customers to order them. They should be concise, clear, and appealing, and use sensory and emotional words to create a vivid picture of the dish. They should also emphasize the benefits and value of the dish, such as its freshness, quality, origin, or uniqueness. You can also use storytelling techniques to add some personality and intrigue to your descriptions, such as mentioning the inspiration, history, or ingredients of the dish.

5 Test and refine

The final tip is to test and refine your menu design and see how it affects your sales and customer satisfaction. You can use different methods to measure the impact of your menu changes, such as tracking your sales data, conducting customer interviews, or running A/B tests. You can also ask for feedback from your staff, suppliers, or peers. Based on the results, you can make adjustments and improvements to your menu until you find the optimal way to highlight your signature dishes.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?