Good morning!
Putting together our “new bistro pizza to go” shop and the FAQ list and forum discussions have just been invaluable, thanks!
Some of the sources mentioned for menu printing, box toppers, and more have been real money savers! Any good sources recommendations for a sharp menu board!
Thanks!
Ben Ciliberto
“Baked on Main”
Hi Ben,
Maybe you could tell people what kind of menu board you are looking for? eg. a chalk board, dry erase, etc…
Go digital with some large LCD monitors…
I think that Royster has a great idea! Using a large LCD or plasma screen is definitely more expensive then a traditional write-on menu board, but they can be really attractive to customers if you put good content on them. It also gives you some cool possibilities like putting different pictures up on rotating basis.
another good idea is to print on vinyl, it looks GREAT and if you can do the art work, you can save a bunch.
I love the idea of using a digital menu board, but I don’t know if it would be the best in all situations. We’re opening as a “pizzeria & pub” and the high-tech flash isn’t the direction I’m heading. If you simply “Google” “menu chalkboards” you’ll get more than enough hits to keep you occupied all afternoon.
Thats exactly what I did lol. Came out pretty nice. One guy that I sent it to for a quote wanted to hire me lol.
I designed the 5 menu boards, told him exactly what I wanted and he made it, and I did the installation myself. Saved a ton.
The red you see is one solid rectangle piece of 3 mm pvc, and the white piece was custom trimmed to give it those curves using 2 mm pvc and it was attached over the red piece with printed vinyl over that. You can see the depth and dimensions of the boards, and I got the top half to stick out from the wall about 4 inches so its angled down for easier reading.
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv338/PizzaGuy_22/th_MenuBoardS-1.jpg
deacon an LCD screen can be as loud or quiet as you want it…
The problem with fixed signage is that it is fixed…Say you get a great buy on “chicken wings” and want to promote them as a temporary special how do you change your fixed sign…Say you want to promote a “school event”…With an LCD monitor you can change it in a few minutes with little or no cost…
Fixed signs can be out of date as soon as you install them…
PS…If you feel the need to go low cost, buy a vinyl cutter and DIY…
http://cgi.ebay.com/SignMakers-Vinyl-Cutter-Sign-Plotter-Start-a-Business_W0QQitemZ230377169611QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a38ca2cb&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262
I would not recommend doing that lol… It says 400 bucks but it would cost you a lot more than that, not to mention TIME.
Good and valid point Royce, I’m just saying for my own venue, all ‘pub’ theme, tin ceilings, brick walls…having a LCD flatscreen up as our menu board would look out of place. We’ll use a chalk-board for our daily specials, but our service is all at table so we’re old schooling with printed menus in folders. Were I in a different concept, say a walk up to order counter…absolutely a video monitor would be a sweet way to go. I know chalkboarding is pretty “80’s” in some circles, but I think it still works depending on what your set up is.
If you aren’t artistically inclined you can still get some amazing artwork done for a reasonable price by having a contest at http://www.99designs.com
Are you going to have TVs?..lol…
:lol: TV’s?? I’ve heard of them, not sure what they are though… (wink) you know as soon as I posted my last comment I did start to think, hmmm…one could design a monitor with a nice antique-ish looking picture frame built around it and satsify both the decor, and function. Hmmm…dang you Royce, you’re going make me add another project to my list!! Jeff
I saw some stats somewhere about how much digital signage increased sales but I can not find it…But it seems to me it was chain restaurant where they had digital signage over some stations and static signs over others…The digital stations had higher sales…I think it was about 7%…
I agree with everything you say. Our menu is on vinyl and that’s the problem. When we want to run specials we have to have a sign promoting the special. Vinyl is still in my opinion the best low cost option. Having said that we are going the LCD monitor in our place
Sammy I do not think vinyl is that cheap over a period time…Say you need 1 sign every week for 2 or 3 years…I think your overall costs will be way higher that an LCD monitor (and maybe less effective)
Absolutely. Over the long run, LCD in my opinion is the way to go. But in the shortrun vinyl is of a cash outlay. We switched to vinyl 2 years ago. Once a year we get atleast one main board updated. Everytime we want to promote a special, we have a new sign made. That’s why the 1st time you mentioned LCD in previous posts I began looking at it.
But I’m not sure Ben could use LCD in his situation, vinyl may be a better choice. I don’t like the chalkboard idea’s at all, but again that’s me
Thanks all-- good ideas and sharp vinyls!
I’m going to try lcd’s or digital photo frames, or maybe couple of each, gotta check out pricing options. figure we can add pics of folks eating pizza on the smaller frames, menu on the bigger. i’ll check in in a month let you know what we worked out. thanks again! 
Wouldn’t you still want a separate sign or something that promoted it as a “special” instead of just changing the price of the item, which doesn’t let people know there is anything special about it?
[quote="Registered Guest
I agree with everything you say. Our menu is on vinyl and that’s the problem. When we want to run specials we have to have a sign promoting the special. Vinyl is still in my opinion the best low cost option. Having said that we are going the LCD monitor in our place[/quote]
Wouldn’t you still want a separate sign or something that promoted it as a “special” instead of just changing the price of the item, which doesn’t let people know there is anything special about it?
[/quote]
You could use a separate sign as well as the LCD to promote a special. You could also run it on your LCD, but I still like the idea of separate sign for promotions.
