{"id":999,"date":"2017-08-01T17:41:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T21:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zacsburgers.com\/?p=999"},"modified":"2022-06-09T08:42:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T12:42:39","slug":"10-tips-creating-food-truck-menu-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacsburgers.com\/10-tips-creating-food-truck-menu-board\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for Creating Your Food Truck Menu Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may seem like a small part of your overall food truck business, but the food truck menu board can have a big impact on how successful your food truck really is. It doesn\u2019t matter how delicious your food is if you can\u2019t attract the customers over in the first place.<\/p>\n

A lot more goes into creating a food truck<\/a> menu than just scribbling your specials on a chalk board. Take the time to plan, organize and design your food truck so that it will attract your target audience.\u00a0Here are some 10 tips for creating your food truck menu board:<\/p>\n

Highlight Your Best Dishes<\/h2>\n

When you are designing the menu board<\/a>, leave the upper right hand corner or the center of the board for your most popular dishes. The eye is naturally drawn to these spots first and this way you are ensuring that your best dishes are noticed first. Not every passerby will take the time to read the whole menu so you want to make sure the best of what you offers pops easily off the board.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Be Afraid to Experiment a Little<\/h2>\n

While there is certainly the saying, \u201cDon\u2019t Fix If It Ain\u2019t Broken,\u201d sometimes tweaking your popular dishes a little can lead you to a different item to add to your menu at little cost to you. For example, if you have burger on your menu, why not experiment with different toppings and sauces to offer something a little bit different? It is an easy and inexpensive way to increase your offerings.<\/p>\n

Offer Only Key Items on Your Menu<\/h2>\n

When you are worried about having something for everybody, it is tempting to fill your menu with lots of options, but that can get overwhelming for both you and your customer. If there is a lot of items all jammed together on the menu board, it can make it more difficult for your customers to choose and they might head to another food truck with a simpler menu. Also not to mention, having too many items to make will also strain things for you inside the food truck. There are only so much space back there so storing a lot of ingredients can be difficult. Plus you don\u2019t want the taste to suffer and that can happen if your staff is juggling making too many very different dishes.<\/p>\n

Along the same vein, even if you just have a few dishes to promote, don\u2019t fill the board with extra information that isn\u2019t necessary. Keep everything short and sweet and make it easy for the customer to find the information they are looking for.<\/p>\n

Make Your Food Truck Board Easy to Update<\/h2>\n

Prices are always going to fluctuate and certain vegetables may or may not be in season at different times of the year, so make sure your menu board is easy to update whenever you need to. Fancy boards might be harder and more expensive to update so take that into consideration.<\/p>\n

Choose the Right Colors and Visuals<\/h2>\n

Your food truck menu board is another great way to reinforce your brand. Use colors and visuals that reinforce your brand and attract potential customers. If you want to include pictures, stay away from clip-art and use photos of your actual dishes instead. For best results, hire a skilled food photographer to take the pictures for you. Bad photographs can actually do more damage than no photos at all.<\/p>\n

Proofread Your Menu<\/h2>\n

Nothing is more embarrassing to you and distracting to the potential customer than typos on the menu board. It might seem like a little thing, but it does matter. Remember, that we are all susceptible to typos. Our minds tend to see what we expect it to say and not what it actually says so that is why it is best to have extra pairs of eyes checking it for you. If a small mistake gets spread around social media, it can actually cost a lot of damage to your reputation.<\/p>\n

Avoid Fancy Fonts and Calligraphy<\/h2>\n

Readability is the most important ingredient for creating your food truck menu board. Fancy fonts might seem fun and interesting, but what is the point if your customers can\u2019t understand what is on the board?<\/p>\n

Highlight Special Dishes on the Board<\/h2>\n

If you offer special vegetarian or vegan dishes or menu items that are gluten-free or heart-healthy than it will be helpful to your customers to make them prominent on your menu board. Otherwise they might not know you offered these dishes and move on to another food truck.<\/p>\n

Get Schooled on Menu Psychology<\/h2>\n

Yes, this is actually a thing. Psychologists have studied the design and wording to menus to center in on what makes a menu work or not work. Here are just a few psychology tips to consider when designing your menu<\/a> board:<\/p>\n