How to Design Your Coffee Shop Menu Board

How to Develop Your Coffee Shop Menu Board

How to Develop Your Coffee Shop Menu Board

A well-designed coffee shop menu board can be an effective communication tool for your customers. Your coffee shop menu is designed to communicate all the options your customers have to purchase from you.

Your coffee shop menu should be clear, easy to read, and blend into the idea and concept of your coffee shop.

A menu board doesn't have to be fancy but should have some essential components. These are your drink and food options, the sizes you offer, and the prices of each size, substitute milk options, food, and other specialty items. Your coffee shop menu board may also serve as the centerpiece of your customer communication plan.

Coffee Shop Menu Board Placement

Traditionally, many coffee shops place their menu above their counter and behind the coffee bar. Customers who visit McDonald's, Starbucks, or other restaurants and cafes will be familiar with this placement.

Additionally, with the menu board above and behind the counter, the customer’s eyes will gravitate to other items placed on the counter. Items like cookies, desserts, muffins, snack bars, etc., are all within view. It’s a natural and practical location because the customer sees all the options right in front of them.  Optimal placement of your items will generate more sales for your coffee shop.

A menu board above or behind your coffee bar is common but not necessarily the only placement opportunity. Coffee shop menu boards can come in various styles, sizes, and colors.

A variety of coffee shop menu boards exist on the market. As you may have seen in McDonald's or KFC, the latest trend is digital menu boards, where the images are constantly changing and provide more customer engagement and potentially more sales. However, while this may make sense for larger less-intimate restaurants with hundreds of options to offer, as well as thousands of customers, it may be overkill for your coffee shop. What works for larger international companies and franchisees may not work for the independent coffee shop.

With a small-to-average-sized coffee shop, you might want to stick with a traditional menu board to save on your overall operational costs. Your coffee shop menu plays a big role in your coffee shop startup from the very beginning. 

Choose a Coffee Shop Menu Board The Works For You

The placement of your cafe menu board will depend on your coffee shop's overall design, but it can be located in any number of places. For example, it can be placed on a coffee bar in front of a barista and your coffee shop POS-system. Depending on your menu board's size and style, it can be placed on a tri-stand to the side of the coffee bar.  Or it can be placed both above the counter and on the front door.

No two coffee shops will be the same.

Whichever menu board you decide to develop, your coffee shop menu board should offer your customers clarity. In doing so, you'll help your customers make the right choice and reduce questions on offerings and prices directed at your baristas.

If you are working with a mobile coffee truck, your mobile coffee menu may look slightly different. Having a mobile coffee business, you will want to develop a menu that works well for your space restrictions and mobility issues. 

Coffee Shop Menu Access to People with Disabilities

Your coffee shop should be ADA-compliant and address the needs of customers and employees with disabilities. Coffee shop menu boards should offer those with difficulty seeing the ability to read or see as clearly as possible.

Larger and clearly written print or the use of pictures would be essential to help those with disabilities. Besides, training your baristas to help those with disabilities by reading the menu display sizes and describing the menu items, size availability, and costs is essential.

Tips to Improve Your Coffee Shop Menu:

• Use large text. Your menu board font should be big enough so that people who don’t see very well can still read the text. Simultaneously, the font shouldn’t be too large because you won’t be able to fit all your drink options. You also don’t want the menu to “scream” at your customer with large letters.

• Use a simple font. Your font shouldn’t be too sophisticated or embellished. Use clear fonts that people are used to: Baskerville, Arial, Helvetica, Proxima Nova, Open Sans, etc.

• Contrast colors. The color palette you choose for your coffee shop menu board should match your style, branding, and concept. Color should match each other and not be too loud. For example, you can use a color scheme generator to create a color palette that matches your coffee shop concept. Your font should be contrasting enough to be seen from far away.

• Use pictures. In case you want to liven up your menu, you might want to add a picture or two if it matches your menu board and coffee shop's overall style.

Develop Your Coffee Shop Menu

Your Coffee Shop Menu Elements Continued

• List the essential options. Too many options might overwhelm and frustrate customers. What you want is effective decision-making, less hesitation, and fast-moving lines in your coffee shops. For example, you don’t need to list all your desserts or snack options on your menu board. Use little price tags next to where they are placed.

• Keep it bright. Your menu board should be bright enough so it’s easy to see and read. If you decide on a darker style or your coffee shop lacks natural light, use a separate light source that might illuminate your menu board. Or use a menu board that lights up inside.

• Break up the text. Use several menu boards or break one into logical segments: Hot drinks, Cold drinks, Drink specials, Other drinks, and Additions. This will make it easier for a customer to make a decision.

• Keep it simple. The simplest idea is to use a black chalkboard and colorful chalk – it’s easy to wipe off and draw new menu items. You can accompany it with good art and calligraphy skills. Or you can install plastic, metal, or wooden frames with large printed menu posters.

Digital or “Old School” Analog Menu Boards

What kind of menu board do you go with? You have the option to spend more and go digital. Computer-based coffee menu boards offer some advantages we will talk about later. You can also order 3D lettering on acrylic boards using different colors.

You can go simpler by mounting a letter board with changeable letters. Whether you decide to make a coffee shop menu board yourself or order it from a fabricated one, your menu board should match the vibe of your coffee shop.

You can make your own coffee board by utilizing wood, picture frames, chalkboards, or printed-out materials. Chalkboards make great menu boards because you can beautify them and change them without spending any money.

Develop Your Coffee Shop Menu

Your Coffee Shop Menu Should Offer a Clear List of Options

On your coffee shop menu board, your coffees and beverages may be the center of your coffee shop offerings. You will highlight various espresso-based and signature drinks, sample ice drinks, smoothies, etc.

Many of the following beverages will most likely be listed on your coffee shop menu board:

1. Hot drinks: Espresso; Cortado; Ristretto; Macchiato; Breve; Americano; Café Au Lait; Cappuccino; Flat White; Latte; Flavored latte; Mocha; Steamers; Chai tea; Hot tea or chocolate;
2. Drip coffee
3. Pour-over: Don Eduardo Coffee Farm, Colombia;
4. Cold drinks: Nitro Brew; Espresso tonic; Frappe; Cold brew; Cold Brew Latte; Iced coffee; Iced tea;
5. Specials: Vanilla Oatmeal Latte; Lavender Spring;
6. Other drinks: Soda; Apple juice; Apple cider; Fruit smoothies (strawberry, banana); Milkshake, Sparkling Water, Mineral Water
7. Add-ons: Extra shot of espresso; Whipped cream; Milk Substitutes: Oatmeal, Almond, Soy; Hemp, Cashew; Syrups: Vanilla, Caramel, Lavender, Peppermint, etc. 

Develop Your Coffee Shop Menu

• Allow enough space between your coffee menu segments to be easily read and offer clear choices.
• You want to specify at least two sizes for all hot drinks and respectively write different prices. Common sizes of hot drinks are 4 oz. (for Espresso and Cortado only); 6 oz., 8 oz., 12 oz., 16 oz.; and 20 oz.
• The prices should be written next to the drink. If a drink comes in two sizes, you can make two columns and write two prices under each size. You want your customers to see clearly which price corresponds to which item, so many cafes connect them with dots or draw a line between an item and price.

For Example Menu Listing:

• Unlike coffee, snacks can often change, so it might not be a good idea to permanently put them on your menu board. However, if you have decided on your coffee shop menu and have a fixed set of snacks, you may put it on a menu board.

• Deserts and pastries. Let’s say you serve gelato. Consider writing:

Gelato:

Flavors: Vanilla; Caramel; Pistachio; Chocolate; Hazelnut; Mint; Chocolate chip

Snacks

• Gluten-free granola; Avocado toast; Ham sandwich
• Substitutes and Alternatives. It’s very common for coffee shops to offer coffee substitutes, milk alternatives, and extras.

Developing Your Coffee Shop Menu Prices

How to Price Your Coffee Shop Menu Items?

Pricing your coffee shop menu items to maximize profits is both an art and science. An adequate pricing strategy is the cornerstone of your success because what you sell is your only revenue source. It makes sense, right?

It is critically important that you get your pricing right. Elements of coffee shop pricing aren’t the scope of this article. For a more in-depth discussion on coffee shop pricing for profits, our Complete Coffee Shop Startup Kit provides an excellent guide on the subject.

You will need to cover all of your startup and ongoing operational costs, so you want to set higher prices. These costs should be embedded in your pricing.

But you want to balance your cost with what your customers can pay. What kind of prices can your target market bear?

You need to meet your customers’ expectations of prices in your locale. If your prices are too high, you will have fewer sales and struggle to reach your break-even point. If the prices are too low, you may not be able to cover your costs.

Pricing Your Coffee Shop Menu Holistically

On the infrequent occasions when my dad took our family out to eat, he would read the menu from right-to-left. He always looks at the prices first and chooses based on costs.  He forced us, kids, to do the same.

My dad is not alone. Many customers will purchase your coffee menu items based on the prices on your menu.

So, let’s consider some elements of their menu price thinking:

Your Coffee Shop Competition and Your Menu

When you do your market research as part of your coffee shop business plan, you need to figure out your direct competitors' pricing levels. These are other coffee shops and food establishments in your area of operation. Your customers will expect you to be in the same general price range as your competition.

When considering your competitors, you have three options:

1) Price your items lower than your competition if you offer average quality products;

2) Price your items the same as your competition and focus on your unique concept of brand to increase sales;

3) Price higher than your competition if you offer more added value, outstanding products, specialty coffee, and unique ambiance.

If your menu items are higher than the competition, consider looking for places to add value. These can be the quality of your coffee, products, and service, for example. 

Let’s consider other elements of your coffee menu pricing:

Location. It’s crucial to know your target market to price your items adequately. If you are located in a college area, and your main visitors will be college students, you can’t expect them to pay high prices.

The same can be applied to the areas inhabited mostly by retired or older adults. Maybe your Unique Sales Proposition (USP) just doesn’t fit in the area.

You have two choices: 1) Rethink your concept and USP to make it more appealing to your potential audience; or 2) Find a new location with a different target audience who will appreciate your coffee shop USP.

Your Coffee Shop Costs and Your Menu Board

The main goal of your menu pricing is to cover your costs and have a profitable coffee shop. Coffee is a high margin product, but your food and snack items may not be.

Your costs accumulate quickly, and the invoices need to be paid back so you can do a couple of things:

• Upsell high-margin items, create bundle deals, and market your coffee shop to attract more customers and have more sales;
• Control your costs by avoiding overspending, having shorter hours for your baristas during typically slower hours, and getting better deals from your coffee roasters or inventory vendors.

Develop Your Coffee Shop Menu

Promote Items on Your Menu with Other Signage

There are plenty of complimentary options to promote your coffee shop menu items. We already mentioned A-frame signs. A-frame signs are useful tools because they attract foot traffic.

Once purchased, A-frame menu board signs don’t necessarily cost you anything. They effectively draw attention to special offers, combo deals, seasonal drinks, or free samples.

Another customer-attracting option is to print out colorful posters and place them in the windows. Printed materials and in-store marketing are prevalent and effective. It is often recommended that you have your loyalty cards, flyers, and stickers printed out and disseminated among your customers and nearby businesses.

Your outdoor signage with your coffee shop's name doesn’t promote a particular drink or food item, but it’s the best representation of your coffee business. Many customers create their first impression of your coffee business judging by your outdoor signage.

If you want to make a great first impression, make your outdoor signage clear, easy to read, and positive.

Additionally, it should fit into your concept and transmit your values and menu so that customers can understand right away what you sell and feel a connection with it.

Should Your Coffee Shop Menu Be Digital?

Digital coffee shop menu boards are getting more and more popular with a general cultural shift towards visual representations of data and information.

A digital menu board has a lot of advantages. It’s more engaging and entertaining for the customers because you can add videos, animated graphics, and sounds. As a coffee shop owner, you have total control of what is being displayed.

Additionally, you have more freedom to change and edit whatever and whenever you want. For example, you can push certain items during specific periods of time of the day and take them off or promote something different in the evening.

With a digital coffee shop menu board, you don’t need to reprint, repaint, or remake your menu board manually – everything is being done on a computer.

Digital coffee shop menu boards also have some drawbacks. Digital menu board software can be too expensive for a small coffee business with limited drink and food choices. It might not fit your coffee shop's overall ambiance if you aim for a high-end, sleek modern design. It can be too distracting for coffee shop customers who look for a calm and cozy atmosphere inside a coffee shop.

Your Coffee Menu Board on Social Media & Your Website

Have you ever checked out a restaurant or café’s menu online?

Many customers utilize their phones to look at your coffee menu! So, make it a priority to have your coffee shop menu on your social media and coffee shop website.

You shouldn’t abandon your online presence because it’s your window to many potential customers. Share your story, coffee shop menu, and special deals on social media regularly.

Upload pictures and videos of how baristas make coffee or food. Engage with your customers by asking them to share your posts and offer rewards. Pay for targeted ads or invite social media influencers to promote your coffee shop.

Your Baristas Are Your Best Promoters

Your menu is only the start.

Barista training and barista motivation play a key role in upselling and promoting your coffee shop menu items and, as a result – more revenue. This means that baristas should be professionals in what they do. They need to be very familiar with each menu item – what it’s made of and how it’s made.

Barista training should not be focused only on espresso extracting and latte art skills. Familiarize your baristas with new coffee roasts, cup coffee together, make them describe coffees, and develop their taste palate. Make them taste new desserts, snacks, and food items to know how to present and promote them to your customers. Instruct your baristas to upsell the purchases that need to be pushed or sold quickly.

The main idea is that your baristas learn how to interact with your customers, make recommendations, and establish friendly connections by talking to customers and helping them make decisions. You want to avoid impersonal service. Customers value authenticity, openness, and knowledge of your baristas.

Maximize The Effectiveness of Your Coffee Menu Board

1. Experiment With Your Coffee Menu

Updating, trying new menu items, and deleting items that don’t sell is a natural process of working out a perfect menu for your coffee shop.

You might think that the most popular drink will be 16 oz. Lattes and the most popular food will be gluten-free granola. However, your target market may dictate something else. They may want cold brew and green smoothies instead. You can only find out what your target market wants by regularly offering new menu items. Develop your menu options by seeking out what they want. Offer free samples, collect customers’ feedback (instruct your barista to do this), and figure out what sells and what doesn’t.

2. Update Your Coffee Shop Menu Often

Your menu boards need to be updated often enough to be appealing to your customers, meet the latest design trends, and feature the changes in your branding or logo. However, it’s not recommended to update your menu boards too often so that your customers can get used to and develop trust and attachment to the current one.

3. Promote Your Coffee Shop Menu Items

Once you decide to update or add something to your menu, you should promote and market it to your customers. Otherwise, they won’t know about your new delicious bagels and seasonal pumpkin lattes. You have to work on two marketing fronts simultaneously: online and offline. Utilize your social media accounts to push your new products, create stories and short videos to engage new customers. Market your new menu with the help of new interior and exterior posters and signage, A-frame signs, flyers. Your baristas should know how to promote new items and always offer new seasonal drinks and bundle deals.

4. Make Your Coffee Menu Board Informative

Your menu is the front door of your coffee shop. Make it appealing and informative so that your customers know what your deal of the week is and what seasonal drink you offer.

Make a separate menu board or menu segment to promote your Coffee of the Week. This may be a signature drink that you change every week. Encourage your baristas to be creative and offer a Drink of the Week!

Just a few ideas of signature drinks that you might want to offer:

• Red Velvet Latte
• Vanilla Chai Latte
• Cinnamon Honey Latte
• Tropical Coconut Mocha
• Cherry Almond Milk Cappuccino
• Pistachio Ice Coffee
• Matcha Espresso Fusion
• Blackberry Infused Earl Grey Ice Tea Latte
• Gingerbread Turmeric Latte
• Chocolate Orange Coffee

Let your imagination run free!

Let your customers know the contents of your coffees and food items. Add Nutrition Facts onto your Seasonal Drink or Drink of the Day section.

You can also print out a poster with all your coffee's nutrition facts and place it on a wall. Or print folding leaflets and put them on each coffee table. Another interesting idea: order to print out coffee cups with general nutrition facts of your coffees and pour your coffees into respective cups.

In any case, your baristas should always be ready to provide nutrition facts of all items to your customers, so it’s a good idea to print them out and disseminate them among your baristas.

Utilize Your Coffee Menu Board to Communicate With Your Customers

You want your coffee shop menu board to communicate with your customers in a friendly and effective manner. This can be achieved by following the tips outlined at the beginning of this article. Moreover, you want to:

Remind Customers About Calendar Events

Tell your customers about upcoming holidays (Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Veterans’ Day, St. Patrick’s Day, anything you can think of) by offering dedicated Drinks of the Week or simply writing a greeting.

Advertise happy hours

If you want to increase your receipt's average price, consider offering special deals during rush hours. For example:

8-10 am
Free extra espresso shot

5-7 pm
10% off on all sandwiches

If you want to increase your receipts during slow hours, think about happy hours with attractive deals.

For example, you might have something like:

10 am – 1 pm

Get a bagel with every coffee at 50% off!

Whatever deal you decide to offer, calculate methodically whether you make a profit on it or not.

Coming Up With Constant and Revolving Coffee Menu Ideas

We shared a lot of ideas that can make your coffee shop menu board more efficient. However, we suggest utilizing your baristas’ input to create a winning coffee shop menu.

Your baristas are key to your coffee shop's success for many reasons: they are the face of your brand and your main promoters, they brew your focus product – coffee, they maintain the culture and promote the values of your coffee shop, they directly interact with your customers.

Motivate your baristas to create new drinks and develop new promotional ideas by offering them coffee bonuses or free barista training.

Develop trustworthy relationships with your baristas, listen to your customers, involve your friends and family, keep an eye on your competition to stay creative, and constantly improve your coffee shop menu.

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