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Menu, Menu...Menu!

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My wife got a five-dollar restaurant coupon, and in our house five-buck restaurant coupons get used.

 So we went that night. Medium-priced restaurant. Great location. Good concept.

But when we sat down we each received three menus. Three. And one wasn’t the main menu, another the drink menu and the third a dessert menu. All had food and drink.

We were totally confused. Took way too long to make a selection. Restaurant menus always have been a topic of interest to me because so many leave so much to be desired.

Like the ones you can’t read because the type is so small. The others you can’t read because they’re printed in brown ink on a brown background, or black ink on a gray background. Or simply because you need a flashlight to keep from bumping into the tables, and they actually give you one to read the menu. This is supposed to be sophisticated, I think. But it’s just hard.

Menus should be easy to read and easy to understand. And there should be only one per diner. Not two or three. Much research has been done that proves people like choice, up to a point. But too much choice just confuses people and delays or negates a buying decision.

 

To reach Mr. Malmo, hear and read more of his commentaries, or to ask him your own marketing question, go to http://askmalmo.com