Designing a menu that is both functional and user-friendly is crucial for encouraging customers to place orders on your site. While creating a menu might seem challenging, gaining a clear understanding of the process can help you efficiently manage your catering business's evolving menus without missing out on potential orders.

Here are some tips to help you optimize the appearance and functionality of your online menu.

The Back Office Menu Module is excellent for formatting menus, but it doesn’t always show how the menu will appear to customers on your site. To better understand how your online menu functions from a customer’s perspective, keep the Online Ordering Site open while creating or editing menus.

This approach also helps you understand how various formatting tools impact the functionality of your menu from the customer’s perspective. The more you observe how changes in the Back Office are reflected on the Online Ordering Page, the easier it will be to create and refine your menus.

The name of the menu should clearly convey what it offers while remaining appealing and enticing. While names like Buffet A and B are straightforward, consider using more creative and appetizing titles to make them stand out.

The menu picture is what customers see on your Online Ordering Page. A high-quality menu image adds visual appeal to your site and encourages customers to place orders.

The picture should accurately represent the food being served and appear appetizing. While many businesses opt for stock photos, using images of your own food can be highly effective. Ensure that the photos are clear, showcase the food attractively, and align with the style and branding of your business.

The description helps customers understand the type of menu they are ordering. It can also provide important details, such as minimum order requirements, portion sizes, and included items.

In addition, you can add Item Descriptions and Production Notes to individual Items, giving your Customers and Staff clear understandings of the food they Order.

Menu Availability lets you control when a menu can be ordered and who has access to it. Menus will not appear if a selected date or time falls outside their set availability. Likewise, if a menu is assigned to a specific customer, site, or location, it will only be visible to users logged in as that customer or ordering from the designated site.

If you don't see a Menu that you or a Customer is trying to order, oftentimes it's related to the the Menu Availability not being met.

While the menu description provides an overview of the entire menu, an item description focuses on a specific item within the menu. Item descriptions are displayed on the Online Ordering Site, allowing customers to view ingredients and better understand what they are ordering.

Item Descriptions don't show up in Production Notes.

Similar to item descriptions, production notes are essential for detailing a menu item. However, production notes are not visible to customers; they are intended solely for back-of-house staff. These notes provide instructions to your kitchen crew and caterers on how to prepare the item.

In some cases, you may want to copy the item description into the production notes if the information is relevant for both customers and caterers to know.

Keep your kitchen staff in mind, just as you do your customers. Write clear and helpful production notes to make fulfilling orders smoother and more efficient.

If your food contains common allergies like nuts, dairy, eggs, etc, Spoonfed offers the option to list this within each Item. You can also add common Dietary Labels like Vegan, Gluten Free, and Kosher to inform your Customers what Items meet their dietary needs.

Be sure to only add these labels if you're certain that the food meets the standard.

Put an Extras Menu into a Fixed Price Menu to encourage Customers to add on extra Items like drinks, desserts, or sides. This feature makes it easier for Customers to view and order popular Menu Items without having to navigate to a different Menu Category.

Supplements are also a great way to upsell premium Items on a Fixed Price Menu.

After making any changes made to one Menu Section, you must click Save Section before moving on to the next Section. If you don't, any details you entered will be lost. This also applies when switching between the Details and Sections and Items Tabs. If you change details in the Details Tab, click Save Menu before moving on.

Frequently saving your progress is a good way to make sure your progress is not lost.

Create a Fixed Price Menu

Create an A La Carte Menu

Why Can't I See My Menu Online?

Menu Terms
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