Menu Management for Your Restaurant
You’ve got a great location, talented chefs, and out-of-this-world food… but could you be doing more to make your restaurant as successful as possible? In today’s digital age, it’s critical to have your menu posted online. But it’s not enough to have a downloadable PDF anymore. You’ve got to consider search engine optimization (SEO), responsive design, and placement as well. Here, we’ll take a look at how to make your menu work for you.
More Than a PDF
PDFs are little more than images, which makes it difficult for search engines to “crawl” the text and surface your content when users are making searches online. To solve for this, your menu needs to be text-based so it’s searchable on the top sites, such as Google and Yelp. A text-based menu also means when customers are searching online for specific menu items, yours will show up (if you offer the food they’re looking for, obviously). The easiest way to make sure your menu is searchable is to work with a restaurant management company, whose job it is to get your menu recognized on top sites like Google. Places like Bentobox offer a digital updating tool that “allows for quick and painless menu updates on your restaurant website.” Cycle Menu Management offers menu planning and reporting capabilities to help you keep food costs down, streamline production, and more. And SinglePlatform describes itself as “a single platform to publish your menu and restaurant information everywhere it needs to be – search engines, social media, travel, & review sites.”
Post it Everywhere
Not everyone is navigating directly to your restaurant’s website to learn what food you offer. There are tons of folks who might conduct a search for “Best Pizza in Philly” or “Hamburger joint near me.” Which is why it’s crucial to have your menu posted not just on your website, but places like OpenTable, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.
Make it Mobile (Optimized)
Want to hear a crazy stat? According to Statista.com, “In 2018, 52.2 percent of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones.” So if your menu and website haven’t hopped on the mobile train, it’s time. In order for an online site to be mobile-friendly it needs to be designed to resize itself depending on which device the user is on—be it a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. All of the content should be kept in proportion. Customers who land on your website but can’t seamlessly view each part of the site are going to abandon ship—and fast. Make sure your site and digital menu are ready for the world by optimizing them for mobile ASAP.
ARF Financial is an expert in the restaurant industry, so we know a thing or two about optimizing your business from the inside out. A small business loan is your best bet to make sure you’re equipped to up your menu game, and the best part is that you can get an offer online today! Head over to arffinancial.com and tell us a bit about your business. We’ll get you hooked up with one of our seasoned loan consultants who can help build the perfect loan for your restaurant.