What files should I prepare for a restaurant menu designer?
Put your dishes, prices, artwork and print dimensions into a brief a menu designer can quote from, using a sample dish as a starting point.
Describe where guests will read the menu
A sheet handed to a seated guest and a board outside the entrance may carry the same dishes, but people read them at different distances. Specify the location, folded and open sizes, languages and frequency of price changes. If the format is undecided, measure the inside of the holder and photograph it with a blank sheet in place.
Give each dish its own row
Use columns for section, dish name, short description, portion, price, second language and allergen information confirmed by the kitchen. For example: Hot dishes | Baked mushrooms | Thyme and cheese | Serves one | [approved price] | Fırın mantar | [kitchen to confirm]. Flag missing values. Reconstructing prices from photos of an old menu creates extra checks at every revision.
Try changing just one dish
Imagine one dish sells out at lunch, then its price changes the following week. Would you reprint every menu, or put daily specials on an insert? Decide before asking for a quote. For a bilingual menu, try the two longest dish names side by side on the proof.
Before printing
Gather the vector logo, licensed original photographs and dated price sheet in one folder. Get the trim size, bleed and PDF settings from the printer. Print one page at actual size and read it under the restaurant lights. Have one person check prices against the sheet and another check translations and line breaks.
Source · Adobe InDesign · Package files for output
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