Bakery Menu Designs

Elements of an Effective Bakery Menu (7 Steps)

How can you determine that your bakery menu has what it takes to be called effective and informative? Through its elements, of course. You can’t just throw in any set of details onto a menu without considering if those details are relevant or not. The list below enumerates the different elements that should be found on a menu card for it to be called effective.

• Step 1: Name and logo of the bakery

  The first element on a bakery menu is their name and logo design if they have one. This helps to make their menu easily distinguishable from their competitors and also promote their branding identity. These two elements are commonly found on the menu’s cover and back pages.

• Step 2: Location or address of the bakery

  This is another element that is commonly seen on the cover and back pages of the menu, and this indicates where the bakery can be found. This is quite useful when the bakery has other branches since people can easily identify where those branches can be found and see if there is one that is more convenient location-wise.

• Step 3: Bakery’s contact number

  This usually goes together with the business’ address and this indicates how the bakery can be contacted. This element allows customers to make orders or deliveries in the most convenient way possible. To further make it convenient, you should also include alternatives such as an email address or a social media page.

• Step 4: List of products

  This element obviously contains the different pieces of bread and other products that are being offered by the bakery. Aside from bread, this usually includes cakes, tarts, and pies, just to name a few. If in case there is a large selection of products, it would be best to organize them into different sections.

• Step 5: Product description

  You can never always expect all customers to know what a product is made from, which is why it is very important to accompany each item with a short description. Here, you might want to describe some of the product’s ingredients and also explain briefly how the product was prepared.

• Step 6: Price list

  To complete the lists of products, you should then add a corresponding price for each product. While the product list is usually found on the left-hand side of the menu, the price list should be found on the side opposite from it. This element is meant to inform customers on how much they will need to spend on each product.

• Step 7: Graphics or photos of products

  And lastly, in order to keep the menu from looking dull and uninteresting, there should be graphical elements to help in enhancing the design. Try not to overdo it, though, since having too many photos and/or illustrations might clutter up the menu’s layout.

How to Design a Good Bakery Menu (7 Steps)

Certain steps need to be taken in order to achieve something, although there may be other possible ways of doing it, following a unified process can actually make things flow a consistent path. In terms of designing a good bakery menu, the guidelines below can help in making the entire process more organized and structured.

• Step 1: Sketch out the design of the menu

  It’s always better to have a plan in mind when designing something, and some of the best ways to plan for design is by either making a rough sketch or by simply describing it through notes. This way, you’ll have a clear picture of what elements to include and how to arrange them on the layout.

• Step 2: Make a draft of the possible content

  Just like the sketch of the design, preparing a draft of the content can be very helpful in providing you with a basis on what items to write. Also, writing a draft beforehand will also allow you to easily make changes when you need to, and this minimizes the risk of committing any errors.

• Step 3: Download a bakery menu template

  After making all the necessary preparations, the next step is to download a bakery menu template. Templates already come with a design, which means you’ll already get a head start right after downloading one. Make sure to choose a particular design that matches with the sketch that you have prepared, this will actually help you save a lot of time.

• Step 4: Make changes to the design

  The best thing about templates is that they are fully editable, but only if you’re using the appropriate editing tool. Which is why you should also be mindful of the file format before deciding on a template. When making changes to the design, you may either add or remove elements, and you may even rearrange them on the layout.

• Step 5: Write the content of the menu

  After making the necessary changes to the design, your next focus should be the menu’s content. Here, you’ll be listing down the items that you wish to include on the menu; and if you have written a draft beforehand, you will simply need to take the finalized version of that draft and add it onto the menu.

• Step 6: Finalize your bakery menu

  Finalizing your menu involves making final touches to the design and evaluating it according to its level of appeal. Also, finalizing means ensuring that the content is free from any form of error; and for menu cards, you will really need to ensure that there aren’t any misspelled words.

• Step 7: Print out copies of your bakery menu

  After finalizing the menu, the only thing left for you to do is to have the design printed out. You can always choose to have it printed yourself or by printing companies, and if you choose the former, just make sure to use a high-quality ink toner and a durable card or paper stock.

Types of Menus

No menu is considered to have a general purpose, each type of menu is intended for a specific use which may or may not involve the type of dish as one of its factors. Below is a list of some of the most commonly-used types of menus, and they also come with a short description to help you differentiate one from the other.

• A la carte menu:

  An a la carte is the practice of ordering foods and drinks according to how they are being stated on the menu. In fact, the term a la carte menu is French for “according to the menu”, and its menu items are listed individually. This type of menu gives more freedom for the customers to choose what they want to have, and this makes the a la carte the most preferred among the types of menu.

• Du jour menu:

  The du jour type is a very common choice among smaller food establishments since it allows them to easily change their list of menu items according to the available ingredients in their stockroom. This type of menu may be called du jour because of its dishes that are only served for a particular day, but this is also known as a chalkboard menu because they are commonly written on a chalkboard.

• Prix fixe or table d’ hote:

  These types of menus have a lot of similarities that they can be considered as one and the same. For both of these types, they usually list down their food items into sets, similar to the ones on catering menus. The customer will then be asked to choose a set and then customize the entrees that come with it. In the end, the customer will still be paying a fixed price according to the set regardless of what the entrees are.

• Cycle menu:

  A cycle menu is one that uses and reuses the same food items over a given time period. The cycle for this type of menu may either be weekly, monthly or depending on the establishment’s preference. Once the cycle is completed, the list is then customized and another cycle begins.

FAQs about Menus

You might still have some other concerns regarding food menu cards that haven’t been discussed in this article, and it might be what’s holding you back from starting to work on your menu. Below are some frequently asked questions about food menus that might help provide you with the information that you need.