Drink Menu Design | How to Write A Successful Drink List

A good drink menu design can help you create a memorable dining experience. It can also help you maximise your profitability. If you have a lot of beverage options, read our post to find out how you can create a successful drinks menu for your cafe, bar or restaurant.

1. Analyse Your Clientele

While thinking about your drink menu layout, you should have in mind the type of customers who your business will serve. Some of the questions you ought to ask yourself are: are they a corporate class having drinks after work, spending lunch breaks at your business or college students having random beer sessions after classes? Knowing when people drink and who they are, will be helpful in coming up with a drink list design.

Before crafting your perfect menu, refer from your POS to determine the kind of drinks which sell most and those that need more attention. If you discover that there is a particular imbalance between spirits, rum or brandy, you may consider coming up with a cocktail menu with a signature drink. A signature drink is more likely to increase the consumption of the hard liquors and create a balance in their use.

2. Separate Drinking Menus

You might have visited some establishments and received a menu with many pages, making it hard for you to figure out the kind of drink you need. That type of arrangement is unprofessional and does not showcase your prowess as clients find it cumbersome flipping through pages with unrelated beverages of different types. You need to have separate menus which put drinks of the same kind in one place. Bar drinks menu should be different from restaurant drinks menu. Such drink menu layout gives clients a more relaxed time navigating through a simplified version and does not overwhelm them.

3. How Many Options are Available?

When choosing drinks for your establishment menu, you need to give a thought to the various options that will be included. While you don’t want to overwhelm your customers with numerous options, limiting their preferences may be even worse. Ensure that you have at least twelve different options for cocktails, beer and wine. This figure, however, is flexible and will vary considerably depending on various factors.

For an establishment offering craft beer, having more than a hundred beer options on the menu will be a good idea. Clients frequent such bars due to their wide variety of beers, and exclusion of some would chase away many clients. Other clients expect a cocktail menu with many options to choose from, including those that they are not familiar with.

4. Update Your Menu

One of the worst clients experiences is to flip through a drinks menu and order for their favourite, only to be notified that the beverage is no longer available. Ensure that you update your menu whenever a new beer, wine or cocktail is introduced, and remove any drink which is no longer offered at your establishment. If you are operating from a location where there are changes in seasons, ensure that you indicate on your menu about the new beverages that you have included to suit the clients for that particular time of the year. A coffee menu is no different. You need to indicate when you are offering iced coffee during the hot season.

5. Drink Descriptions

Clients would want to know the kind of drinks that they are ordering, and a drink description is the best way to do so. Ensure that you use catchy phrases like, ‘crispy,’ ‘slow-roasted and succulent to catch the attention of your customers. Include the ingredients used starting with the main ones, followed by those that are included in less quantity like syrup and bitters. While describing the kind of drinks being offered, always make sure that the statement is small and does not offer unnecessary information. To give a better impression of the beverages being described, you may consider using drinks menu with pictures.

6. Artistic Cocktail Names

Having creative cocktail names plays a big role in determining the kind of drink that customers choose. Come up with creative names to give your cocktails and let them stand out from your competitors.’ More than half of the clients are likely to choose a specific cocktail simply because of its name, even though they have never tried it before.

7. Strategic Placement of Drink Prices

While designing your drinks menu, always ensure that you include all the drink prices. Clients are more likely to spend more on drinks they are sure of their prices and save them the time and embarrassment of having to ask the prices of beverages before ordering. As you arrange your drinks, ensure that you start with the most expensive on the top and follow a defined order. Such an arrangement is a great idea of increasing your sales.

8. Drinks Origin

Many people would like to drink wine based on its origin, mostly due to their experience or desires to support their local brands. On the menu, indicate the origin of the drinks being offered as some people are willing to even pay more for a drink based on its origin.

9. Leave out Calories’ Amount

Many revellers are not interested in knowing the number of calories in their drinks. Avoid including them in your drink lists and instead, have a section where you indicate the available options with lower calories. This is a much better strategy for a good and profitable drink menu design.