How to make a café menu: a step-by-step guide

1. Start with what you actually serve

Write down everything you make today, then cross out anything you can't make well, every time, on your busiest morning. A menu is a promise, and each line on it is something the bar or the kitchen has to deliver.

Group what's left into sections guests already recognise. Most cafés need four to seven:

• Espresso drinks
• Filter coffee and tea
• Cold drinks
• Breakfast
• Sandwiches and light lunch
• Pastries and cakes

2. Keep it short

Guests decide in seconds, often while standing in line. A long menu slows the queue, makes choosing harder and leaves more stock to waste.

Five to eight items per section is plenty for most cafés. If you like to try new things, keep one small section for seasonal specials and change it often, rather than adding to the main menu.

3. Price every item with care

Work out what each item costs you to make: ingredients, plus the cup, lid, napkin or box that goes with it. A common starting point is to keep the ingredient cost of food at about a quarter to a third of its price; coffee drinks usually cost less than that to make. Then look at what cafés near you charge, and decide where you want to sit.

Write prices plainly and the same way throughout: "18" or "4.50", not a mix. If the whole menu is in one currency, you can state it once instead of on every line. Put the price at the end of the description rather than in a separate column, so guests read about the item before they compare numbers.

Show extras once, near the drinks they apply to: oat milk, an extra shot, a larger size.

4. Name and describe each item

Use names guests understand. If you have a house name, such as "The Morning Walk", add a plain line underneath that says what it is.

Keep descriptions to one line: the main ingredients, how it's made, and what makes it yours. "Slow-cooked eggs, labneh, chilli butter, sourdough" tells a guest more than "a delicious breakfast favourite".

Mark what people need to know before they order: nuts, dairy, gluten, vegan or vegetarian. Keep the marks short and use the same ones throughout.

5. Order it the way guests read

In a café, drinks come first. Within each section, put what you most want to sell near the top: that is where eyes land first, on a board, on paper and on a phone.

Highlight one or two signature items, not ten. If everything is special, nothing is. If drinks come in sizes, show the sizes once at the top of the section instead of repeating them on every line.

6. Use good photos, or none

A photo sells an item only when it looks as good as the real thing. Shoot in daylight, on a plain background, from the same angle each time, so the photos look like a set.

Never use stock photos of food that doesn't look like yours. A menu without photos still looks finished when the type and spacing are good; you can always add photos for your best sellers first.

7. Speak your guests' languages

If your guests speak Arabic and English, write the menu properly in both, not through a machine translation. Arabic should read right to left, in a font made for Arabic, and look as considered as the English.

Keep item names consistent across languages so staff and guests talk about the same thing. On a digital menu, let guests switch language with one tap instead of printing both side by side.

8. Choose paper, digital or both

A printed menu or board is quick to read and needs no phone, but every price change means a reprint. A digital menu opened with a QR code updates at once, carries photos and two languages, and costs nothing to change; it does need guests to have a phone to hand.

Many cafés use both: a short board at the counter for people in a hurry, and a QR code on each table for the full menu. Print the QR code at least 3 cm wide, add a short line such as "Scan for the menu", and test it from the seat before you put it out.

9. Test it before you launch

Ask someone who has never been to your café to order from the menu while you watch. Wherever they hesitate, something needs to be clearer.

Check every price and spelling, in every language. If the menu is digital, open it on an older phone on mobile data, not just on the café's Wi-Fi.

10. Keep it alive

Look at your sales every month. Items that rarely sell are taking space from the ones that do; remove them or replace them. Update prices when your costs change, not once a year in a hurry.

Change your specials with the seasons, and take sold-out items off straight away. A menu that is always right builds more trust than one that is merely pretty.