Restaurant Menu Covers
The design, material and color scheme that goes into the planning of a menu cover not only communicates a lot to a hungry diner about how the restaurant perceives itself, but also about how well it is doing economically. While it's often said that you can't judge a book by its cover, a menu cover that looks as if very little thought or imagination went into it may suggest that the meals listed on the inside are equally uninspired and not worth the customer's time.
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History
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Although the concept of eating meals in a restaurant has existed since the Song Dynasty in China, written menus that were handed out to customers did not come into vogue until the mid-1700s. Prior to that, the only choice that customers had was to eat whatever the owner of the establishment felt like cooking (or had in supply) that day or go somewhere else. Observant restaurateurs who noticed that certain dishes were more popular than others gradually made the segue from communal "family-style" dining, wherein everyone ate exactly the same thing, to allowing patrons a small number of options that would then be cooked and brought to the table in individual servings. The combination of illiteracy and the expense of paper led the French to respectively have servers give an oral recitation of menu items, as well as point to a chalkboard which listed the meals that were available; both could be changed daily without incurring any new expense. The evolution to printed menus called for the need to protect them from excessive handling and spills, thus prompting the invention of durable portfolios.
Size
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Original menu covers were approximately 4" x 6" (slightly smaller than the cover of a paperback book). Menus didn't have to be much larger than that because restaurants had not yet evolved to having dozens of appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts and beverages to choose from. Materials such as sailcloth or cotton treated with linseed oil were good for resisting stains. Another method was to affix the menu to a small, flat board. The menus could be stored with the print side down and the wooden backing might have a carved or painted design that identified it as property of the restaurant. Modern menu covers range in size from 5 1/2-by-8 1/2 inches to 10-by-13 inches (or slightly larger) and utilize heavy card stock, plastic, vinyl, fabric, canvas, cork and leather. Restaurants that are popular for receptions or do lots of catering generally use a 9-by-12 inch format, because this menu size fits easily into envelopes for mailing. For establishments that routinely offer new dishes and seasonal specials, the interiors come with pockets or album-style corners that allow pages to be easily inserted.
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Features
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The type of restaurant it is--and the clientele it caters to--dictates what the front cover is going to look like. A common denominator, however, is that all of them are going to include the name of the eatery. A posh restaurant, for instance, that uses expensive leather covers for its menus may choose to only have its name and logo centered on the front or in the lower right-hand corner. A chain that caters to families with young children is probably going to have a laminated surface with eye-popping colors of burgers, desserts or pancakes. Restaurants that can trace their roots back through multiple generations may incorporate vintage photographs or pen-and-ink renderings of the original building. Others may opt for famous artworks or promote the work of local artists to reflect the overall theme ( for example, Renaissance, Gilded Age, Art Deco, New Age, and the like). While the backs of pricier menu covers aren't going to have anything printed on them, mid-range or laminated menu covers either use this space for listing beverages and desserts or--in the case of vintage restaurants--providing a timeline narrative that makes for entertaining reading while diners are waiting for their server to return to the table and take their order.
Types
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For low to mid-range eateries, the entire array of choices will be housed between the front and back covers of the menu. For upper-end restaurants, the wine list and the dessert list will have their own separate menus, but their cover designs, colors and themes will be consistent with the main menu. The wine list is oftentimes quite a bit thicker than the main menu. In contrast, the dessert menu is always quite a bit smaller than the main menu and is the closest to resembling what original menus looked like. Restaurants that have successfully been in business for years and have thrived as a product of word-of-mouth generally don't see much need to change whatever menu cover has served them well from the beginning. New establishments, however, often hire a PR firm or professional graphic designer who appreciates that an attractively designed cover is part of an effective sales package.
Potential
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Like everything else, menus have entered the digital age. Not only are consumers able to preview entire menus online before they ever set foot in the restaurant, but there are also trendy eateries and bars that have already eliminated the need for menu covers altogether. By installing electronic devices that allow patrons to make their choices by scrolling a screen, tapping their choices, and having their requests sent directly to the kitchen, the absence of menus and covers contributes to a greener environment by cutting down on the amount of materials that eventually have to be recycled.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Photo courtesy of morguefile.com
