In the competitive world of hospitality, grabbing customers’ attention and enhancing their experience is paramount for prosperity. A compelling yet straightforward approach to achieve this is by showcasing a restaurant menu on television. It modernizes the atmosphere and offers a lively, visually stimulating way of highlighting selections, spotlighting special deals, and streamlining assistance. This instructional guide will walk one through practical ways of exhibiting a menu on TV, the advantages of digital signage, and simple suggestions so one can remodel the TV into an eye-catching digital menu board.
Explore how our digital menu boards can make your offerings more appealing and dynamic
What is a digital display menu?
A digital display menu is when you use your TV or a digital screen to show your restaurant’s menu items, promotions, and updates. Instead of using traditional printed paper menus or boards, digital menu boards can transform your existing television into an appealing display that will showcase your products in the best possible way. Additionally, if you use the proper software, your digital menus can be customized, updated in real time, and play engaging animations to further enhance customer experience.
What benefits does offer a digital menu board?
Digital menu boards are more than just a modern trend of the 21st century – they offer many advantages that can uplift your business operations and customer experience. Here are some key benefits:
- Instant updates: Need to remove a sold-out item or promote a limited-time offer? Digital menus allow you to immediately change it without printing new materials.
- Increased sales: Enticing visuals can make it easier to highlight promotions or upsell opportunities, like combos, for example, and can lead to higher sales.
- Enhanced aesthetic appeal: Forget faded colors and images that don’t stand out from a distance. With a digital menu, you can now design your menu using high-quality images with amazing colors, lively animations, and all this while adjusting it to your brand colors and identity. This way, you create extremely visually attractive menus that will draw customers in more easily.
- Improved customer experience: By offering a well-designed and easy-to-read menu to your customers, you make their lives easier. You reduce waiting times by a lot, and you help them decide faster, focusing only on your products and avoiding any sense of frustration that might appear.
- Cost-Effective: Indeed, setting up digital signage will require an investment, but once you do it, you no longer have to worry about recurring costs for printed materials that run constantly. In the long run, you will realize that digital signage is a cost-efficient solution.
How do I turn my TV into a digital display menu? (Step-by-step guide)
It may sound difficult, but turning your TV into a digital display menu is much easier; you just need guidance. Here’s your step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Choose the right TV
If you don’t already have a TV, it’s important to choose one that suits and complements your space. A large TV is generally a good option because you want your content to be easy for customers to read, but be mindful of the size of your space. You don’t need an overly large TV if your business area is small. As for the type, opting for HD or 4K resolution is preferable to ensure sharp text and clear images.
Step 2: Get the necessary hardware
If your TV doesn’t have built-in smart features, you will need a media player such as Amazon Fire Stick or Yodeck’s media player, which is based on Raspberry Pi, the world’s most reliable, secure, and affordable microcomputer. This gadget is essential as it allows you to stream content from your computer to the TV.
Step 3: Pick digital signage software
The heart of your TV menu display is the software. Popular and user-friendly options include:
- Presentation software (e.g., PowerPoint or Google Slides): Create a slideshow-style menu with images and text. You can manually update slides to reflect menu changes.
- Digital menu software: Platforms like Yodeck provide ready-made templates, scheduling features, and remote management.
- Content Management Systems (CMS): A proper digital signage software solution has CMS that lets you design, schedule, and update your digital menus from anywhere, anytime.
Step 4: Design your menu
When designing your menu, create a layout that reflects your restaurant’s brand. Use high-quality images of your dishes and bold colors to grab attention and ensure the text is legible even from a distance. As mentioned earlier, some digital signage solutions, like Yodeck, offer customizable templates that simplify this process and help achieve a more professional result.
Step 5: Display your menu on TV
Now you’re ready to display your menu on your TV. Connect your TV to the media player and stream your menu from your chosen software. Double-check that everything looks good on the screen and that the text is easily readable from different room angles.
Digital menu board vs. traditional display menu on TV
If you’re considering a TV menu display, you may weigh the options between using your TV as a static menu or transitioning to a dynamic digital menu board. Here’s how they compare:
| Aspect | Traditional Menu on TV | Digital Menu Board on TV |
| Visual Impact | Limited to static images or PowerPoint slides | Engaging animations, real-time updates, and customization |
| Update Flexibility | Requires manual changes, which may take time and effort | Instant updates with easy-to-use software |
| Customer Engagement | Less interactive or visually stimulating | Interactive elements (if using touchscreens), promotions, and videos |
| Cost Over Time | Higher initial cost but no recurring printing expenses | Higher initial cost, but no recurring printing expenses |
To sum up
Displaying your digital menu on a TV screen is an excellent way to modernize your restaurant, boost customer satisfaction, and streamline your operations. You can create a dynamic and engaging digital menu board with the right setup, software, and design. Thanks to the simplicity of many digital signage platforms, designing a menu has never been easier. Whether you choose DIY tools for your TV menu or invest in digital signage software, the steps outlined above will help you seamlessly implement this solution and enjoy the long-term benefits of a TV menu display.