Whether your drive-through uses a traditional or digital menu board, you’re going to have different priorities for it than you might for an indoor menu board! Here are a few things to think about when choosing or designing your layout.
1. Organization: While a clear and well-organized menu board is a blessing no matter where it’s located, keeping things organized is especially important in a drive-thru setting, where people have a limited amount of time to read the menu. If you don’t want to hold up the drive-thru line, you have to take in the information on the board and make a decision pretty quickly, so having a well-organized board is essential. That means placing combos front and center, and grouping things by type: keep the burgers in one place and the drinks in another.
2. Minimize text: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and nowhere is this more true than in menu board design. Particularly in a drive-thru, long descriptions of menu items just take too long to read. Instead, focus on attractive pictures of food, especially items that might require an explanation. There’s probably no picture needed for a standard cheeseburger—everyone knows what that looks like—but the Super Taco Bowl Deluxe might require a picture since people are less familiar with what that means.
3. Stay consistent: Though you may have different needs (and less space) on your drive-through menu board, make sure that your tone and organization are consistent whether a customer comes inside or takes the drive-through. There are important differences between the two settings, so your menu boards won’t be identical, but if the drinks are on the bottom right indoors, don’t put them on the top left on the drive-through board. That’s a recipe for confused customers and a slower drive-through.
When customers choose the drive-through, they’re looking for efficiency. Make sure that that’s exactly what you give them!
Origin Display Group | originmenuboards.com | origindigitalsignage.com | 888-235-2579
