A digital menu board for the TV or monitor in your venue

What a screen can do for you

Plenty of bars and pubs already have a TV. When the football isn’t on, it can work for you:

• Today’s set menu in view from the bar and from the door, with no paper to hand out.
• Bar snacks or specials, which change more often than the printed menu.
• The cocktail menu at night, when the lights go down and paper is harder to read.
• Faster ordering at the bar: customers decide while they wait.

A screen isn’t a full menu blown up. It works with what customers need to read at a glance: few dishes, clear prices and type you can see from across the room.

Export the image as “Screen 16:9”

In MenuDesign the menu and the format are separate, so there’s nothing new to make:

1. Open your menu or your daily menu.
2. Choose the Screen 16:9 format. The page is laid out again in landscape, usually in three columns.
3. Choose a style that reads well on screen (ideas below).
4. Download the image as PNG or JPG: it comes out at 1920 × 1080 pixels.

If the type looks small in the preview, the problem isn’t the TV: there are too many dishes or too many words.

Four ways to get it on the TV

You don’t need any special software. Pick the one that suits your TV and how often you’ll change the image:

1. A USB stick in the TV. Many TVs have a USB port and a photo viewer. Copy the image to the stick, plug it in and open it from the TV’s menu. It’s the simplest. If the TV doesn’t recognise the stick, formatting it as FAT32, the system most TVs read, usually helps.
2. The TV’s photo or slideshow mode. Some TVs show photos in a loop. If you add two images, say the menu and today’s specials, they alternate on their own. Turn off transitions, the clock and any photo details the TV overlays.
3. Casting from your phone or computer. Many smart TVs can mirror a phone or computer screen. It works, but the device has to stay on and connected, and a call or notification may pop up on the TV. Better for occasional use.
4. A small device on HDMI. A streaming stick, a mini PC or an old laptop plugged into the TV, with the image open full screen. The most reliable option if the screen will be on all day.

Two settings worth checking on the TV, whatever the method:

• Auto power-off: many TVs switch themselves off after a few hours without the remote. Look for the energy-saving or sleep timer option and turn it off.
• Zoom and edges: if the image is cropped at the sides, look in the picture settings for an option like “fit to screen” or “just scan”. The name changes from brand to brand.

On OLED screens, a still image shown for many hours can leave a mark. If that’s your case, check the TV’s manual, alternate two images or switch it off when you close.

Make it readable from a distance

A TV is read from several metres away, sometimes at an angle and with reflections. What works on a hand-held menu doesn’t always work there:

• Few dishes. If you need lots of lines, split them into two images, menu and specials, or show a selection.
• Short descriptions, or none. On screen, the name and the price are enough.
• Test from the furthest seat. Stand where the furthest customer sits and read the longest dish. If you can’t read it easily, cut dishes.
• High contrast. Light type on a dark background or the other way round, never grey on grey. A dark background, like the Neon style, is easier on the eye in a dim room; in a bright bar, the Market style, like a fishmonger’s chalkboard, reads very well.
• Simple type. Thin handwritten or very decorative typefaces lose legibility at a distance. There are more ideas in menu fonts and menu colours.
• Prices neatly aligned, the same as on the printed menu.

Turn the TV’s brightness down at night too: a white screen at full blast is dazzling in a warmly lit dining room.

If you’re part of a large business, check calorie labelling: in England, businesses with 250 or more employees must show calories on menus, and in the US, chains with 20 or more locations must show them on menu boards.

When to update it

The image is fixed, so the screen is only up to date if you change it:

• Daily menu: every morning, change the dishes, export and replace the image. The automatic date appears on the image itself, so nobody thinks it’s yesterday’s menu. If you use a USB stick, always save the image with the same name and delete the old one, so the TV doesn’t show both.
• Main menu: whenever you change a dish or a price. The screen and the printed menu must say the same thing.
• Special dates: an image of its own for Christmas, Halloween or the beer garden season, then back to the usual one the next day.

Allergens and translation

The screen doesn’t replace allergen information. You can show allergens as numbers or icons next to each dish if they fit, but always keep the printed menu with allergens, or the allergen chart, available to customers. We explain how in allergens on menus.

If you get a lot of visitors from abroad, export a second image in another language and alternate it with the English one. There’s more in translating your menu.

Make it with MenuDesign

Open the bar menu template in screen format, or your set lunch menu in 16:9, change the dishes and prices and download the image. To compare with the other formats, see which menu size to choose. Free, no sign-up, and your menu stays saved in your browser for next time.