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Simple menus in restaurants

"Have you ever looked at a menu in a restaurant and become overwhelmed at the number of choices available? Is it really necessary to have so many choices on a menu? Would things be simpler and overall service better if menus were minimal and more focused?"

Have you ever looked at a menu in a restaurant and become overwhelmed at the number of choices available? Is it really necessary to have so many choices on a menu? Would things be simpler and overall service better if menus were minimal and more focused?

Divided as it might be, menu sizes is entirely up to personal preference. Some visitors to restaurants prefer a vast variety of food to choose from while other prefer a select few dishes that have been cooked to perfection. Each approach has its befefits and drawback.

A large menu means that ingredients cannot be kept as fresh since so much inventory must be kept in house to satisfy the menu. Large menus often mean that it takes quite a bit more time to make a decision due to the information overload of the menu. To many choices can often make things more complex than they appear.

Small menus allow for specialized service while keeping ingredients fresh. A minimal approach allows a chef to concentrate on creating dishes that are both delicious and satisfying. The drawback, however, is the lack of variety to choose from.

We can all agree that the reason we go to a restaurant is to rely on the expertise of the chef to create an experience that we will not soon forget. Although there are a wide variety of tastes, it seems that the most agreeable approach is to provide a small menu that changes frequently, allowing the chef to concentrate on that weeks dishes and allowing for the freshest possible ingredients to create a satisfying meal for all.

18 comment(s) so far

jonathanmarks thinks: Most restaurants would benefit from having a shorter menu, but then ensuring that the menu line-up changed more frequently, lets say once a month. I never go back to restaurants with 100 dishes that seems to be printed once every 5 years. There is no way they can have fresh ingredients ready for all those dishes. I would like the option to be able to access those menus on a mobile device or from home. That way I would choose next week's restuarant on the basis of the menu offered by the chef- not just the location. Restaurants might even want to offer 10% discount for advanced booking where they knew exactly what the clients were having a day in advance....I'd guess this would lead to a more efficient use of resources.

bsaghini thinks: Reading through an overloaded menu is a waste of time in my eyes. There is no better example of this than preselected meal menus at fast food restaurants and even more so at places like In-n-Out Burger where the menu amounts to about 10-12 selections. It makes the selection process much easier and saves time and resources all around.

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