From Paper to Pixels: Why Your Restaurant Needs a Video Menu (and How to Create One)

Picture this: steam rising from a pizza fresh out of the oven with cheese stretching out of every slice, the sizzle of a perfectly seared steak, or the soft crumble of a freshly sliced cake. With a traditional static menu, these images exist only in our imagination.
 

Freshness, quality ingredients, and proper plating — these things can make all the difference if you know how to market them. So why not make the switch to a video menu and show your customers what you’re serving instead of leaving them to wonder how your food tastes and looks based on a few words on a piece of paper?

Or better yet, why just tell your customers about your new dishes when you can tempt them with a video that showcases your latest menu additions? 
 

Why video menus matter

Restaurants have come a long way in making menus more convenient and inviting for customers. Since the pandemic, many have embraced the magic of technology and are now offering the option to scan a QR and get a digital version of the menu on your phone, where you can browse in peace. 
 

Video menus simply take this type of accessibility to a whole new level. Here’s how: 
 

They inform and perform at the same time

In a world where eaters want to know exactly what they’re paying for and what’s going on in their bodies, from ingredients to portion size, traditional static menus are doing the bare minimum. Some simply describe the dish and display the price. Others go a bit further and add a static image of the food or drink item.
 

A restaurant video menu, on the other hand, can do much more. By combining mouthwatering visuals, motion, and music, they grab people’s attention and show the food “in action”, leaving no room for uncertainty. 
 

With this level of menu clarity, people can adjust their expectations and make informed decisions while also being thoroughly entertained. 
 

They speak a universal language

Many restaurants, especially in tourist hotspots, still face the challenge of making their menus - both printed or digital – accessible to a diverse, international crowd.

They offer English menus as an alternative to those in native languages, but sometimes that is not enough to accommodate every kind of customer.
 

With video menus, that’s no longer an issue. Where words fail, images and videos can speak for themselves. Even if customers aren’t familiar with a dish’s name in any language, they’ll surely recognize it once they see it.
 

They build trust and authenticity

Giving customers a front-row seat to watch the work, care, and quality ingredients that go into the preparation of their food can help earn their trust and show authenticity. This is a recipe for trust and authenticity that traditional menus just can’t deliver.
 

For instance, you can use a video menu to showcase farm-to-table stories, tracing the journey of your star dishes or ingredients from field to fork. 
 

They turn new dishes into instant favorites

Whether your menu is always growing with seasonal specials, limited-time treats, or fresh new creations, a video menu is the best way to put them in the spotlight. 

Instead of letting your new dishes get lost in a never-ending list, you can easily introduce them in a video to create a lasting impression and tempt your customers to try the new arrivals. 
 

5 tips for creating an epic restaurant video menu

When putting together a video menu for your restaurant, there are a few key tips to keep in mind to make sure it not only boosts your sales but also leaves a lasting impression, inspiring your customers to come back again and again. 
 

Keep it short and snappy 

Short attention spans and hungry customers don’t go well together. Tempted as you may be to showcase your wide selection of dishes and drinks or describe them in great detail, remember to keep it all brief. 
 

To save some time (and space), group similar dishes together and add only essential info to let people know what they’re ordering. Don’t go overboard with too many transitions or animation, as they can overwhelm and even frustrate your customers before they even place an order. 
 

Feature your crowd-pleasers

Just like any great marketing message starts with a strong hook, your video menu should do the same. Lead with your star dishes –  those favorites that keep customers coming back for more. 
 

Highlighting these signature items grabs attention and sets the right tone for the rest of your menu. 
 

Work with high-quality footage

Few things can sabotage the impact of your video menu more than poor-quality shots. Even the most delicious dishes can lose their appeal when they are not filmed properly. Blurry, shaky footage won’t do your restaurant any favors, so whatever you do, make sure to work exclusively with high-quality visuals.
 

To achieve this, you can rely on professional videographers who know how to capture your dishes in the perfect light and angles and get all those juicy close-ups that will make your customers choose a favorite in seconds.
 

If you’re working with your own footage, you can use Flixier’s video enhancer to ensure that your video content is in top shape.  
 

Add a personal touch 

Your restaurant video menu shouldn’t just be a slideshow of your dishes. You can infuse more of your venue’s personality into the video menu by adding small clips of chefs at work, behind-the-scenes kitchen moments, or a quick greeting from the head chef.
 

Update frequently 

Make sure your video menu stays in sync with all the changes in the kitchen. Whether it’s seasonal specials, new additions or certain ingredients that are no longer available, your video menu should reflect that to avoid any confusion. 
 

This way, your customers can stay up to date with what you have to offer and what new dishes they can check out. At the end of the day, this ensures that all your dishes get the attention they deserve. 
 

How to create a food menu video with Flixier 

Turning your traditional menu into a multimedia project can sound like a big leap you’re not prepared to take. But with the right video editing tools at your fingertips, you can easily transform a simple list of food items into an exciting trailer for your dishes, which will have your customers drool before they even start ordering.
 

Whether you’re looking to design an editable restaurant menu video template or some eye-catching restaurant video menu boards that you can showcase on every screen in your venue, Flixier’s got your back. 
 

All you need is an internet connection and some delicious food footage to get started. Ready to bring your menu to the big screen? Here’s how you make it happen: 
 

Power up Flixier

From the homepage, click the blue Get Started button to open the editing dashboard. Create a new project to keep your work organized. 
 

Upload your media

Time to bring all your juicy footage into play. No matter where you’re storing your files – PC, phone, cloud storage platforms, or other external sources – you can easily import them to Flixier and start editing on the spot. 
 

Depending on your vision, you can use transitions to easily blend together multiple video clips, mix in static images for a more elegant look, or add image to video to combine photos and videos for a layered effect. 
 

Add text 

Also, while the visuals will be doing most of the talking, text is still essential in a video menu. To add text, click the Text button on the left-side sidebar and choose the style, size, and font you need for your menu. To make the video even more engaging and organized, check out Motion Titles (found under Motion in the same sidebar). 
 

Set the tone with music

Don’t let your video menu go silent! Pick a soundtrack that matches your restaurant’s personality, and even sprinkle some sound effects for extra dramatic effect. Flixier has a rich library of royalty-free music you can choose from, so it’s up to you to decide what tune goes best with your dishes. 

Or... just let AI do the heavy lifting! 

Running a restaurant is hard work, and finding time to create a video menu isn’t always in the cards, even with an intuitive and time-saving tool like Flixier. But what if you could hand over the task to AI? 
 

You can start small by turning a simple script into an AI voiceover that perfectly complements your video menu. Want to reach any international guests who step into your restaurant easily? Use the AI video translator to translate your menu into more than 130 languages!
 

Or simply let Flixier’s AI video generator create a brand new video menu from scratch based on your instructions. Once generated, you can tweak it, replace anything you don’t love, and then hit export to share it with your customers or even publish it on social media so that people can get a taste of your offerings before paying you a visit.