How to write a restaurant menu: items, words, prices and the rules

To write a restaurant menu, list what you can cook well every service, group it in the order people eat, give each dish a plain name and a short description (main ingredient, how it's cooked, one detail that makes it yours), set each price, and mark allergens and dietary choices. Then proofread it, put the same words online as text, and update both when anything changes.

Below: the nine steps in order, a simple formula for descriptions with twelve before-and-after rewrites, how to write prices, the US rules a small place should know, how to write the online version, and a checklist to run before you print.

1. List what you can cook well every service

Start with a plain list of every dish and drink you'd like to sell. Then cut it with three questions:

• Can the kitchen make it the same way on the busiest night? If it needs your best cook, it isn't ready for the menu.
• Does it share ingredients with other dishes? Each ingredient used once is waste waiting to happen.
• Will it sell? If you're not sure, run it as a special for two weeks first.

How many items? There's no rule, but shorter menus are easier to cook, cost and read. Many independents run 6 to 10 mains; a food truck or a café often fewer. If you already have sales, menu engineering shows which items earn their place.

2. Group items into sections, in the order people eat

Diners read a menu the way they'll order. Typical order: starters or small plates, salads, mains (split by type if you have many: pasta, grill, bowls), sides, desserts, drinks. A café might go breakfast, sandwiches, pastries, coffee, tea and cold drinks.

• Name sections in your diners' words. "Small plates", "To share", "Tacos". Avoid made-up names that need explaining.
• Keep sections short, about 3 to 8 items. A long section is two sections.
• Put kids' meals, specials and drinks in their own blocks, so the main menu stays clean.

3. Name each dish plainly

The name is what people say when they order and what they search for online. Make it the dish people already know, with your twist after: "Chicken tikka masala", not "Grandma's Midnight Curry". A signature name works if the next words say what it is: "The Hill: smash burger, two patties, American cheese".

• Use the dish's common name so diners searching Google for "birria tacos near me" find it on your menu.
• Pick one spelling and keep it everywhere: menu, website, Google, delivery apps.
• Translate a dish name diners might not know, once, right after it: "Khao soi, curry noodle soup".

4. Write descriptions that make people order

A simple formula that works for almost any dish:

Main ingredient + how it's cooked + what it comes with + one detail that's yours.

Keep it to about 8 to 20 words. Name ingredients a diner would care about, especially anything they might want to avoid. Skip empty words ("delicious", "mouthwatering", "perfectly"): every menu says them, so they say nothing [1].

Only write what's true. "Local", "homemade", "fresh", "wild-caught", "organic" and a farm's name are claims; use them only when you can back them up, and change the menu the week the supplier changes.

5. Write the prices

• Price each item from its plate cost first, then adjust for your market. How to price a menu item walks through the formula.
• Place the price after the description, in the same size type, rather than in a column down the right edge.
• Pick one format and keep it: "16" or "16.00" or "$16". Mixed formats look messy. What the research says about dollar signs and price endings is in menu pricing psychology.
• Write add-ons with their price: "Add avocado +2". A diner shouldn't find out at the register.
• Say "market price" only if it really changes, and tell the server the day's price before service.
• If you add a service charge or a card fee, say so on the menu in plain words. Some cities and states require it to be shown up front; check your local rules.

6. Mark allergens and dietary choices

Diners with an allergy read the menu first and ask second. Make both easy.

• The nine major allergens in the US are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame; sesame was added on January 1, 2023 [2]. Name these in descriptions when a dish contains them in a way a diner wouldn't guess (nuts in a pesto, sesame in a dressing).
• Use a short key and keep it at the bottom of every page: V vegetarian, VG vegan, GF made without gluten. Use "made without gluten" rather than "gluten-free" if your kitchen also handles flour, unless you can back the stronger claim.
• Add one line asking guests to tell their server about any allergy before ordering. In Massachusetts this notice is required on printed menus, menu boards and take-out menus, in set words: "Before placing your order, please inform your server if a person in your party has a food allergy." [3]

7. Know the US rules that apply to a small place

Most independents have only a few menu rules to follow. Check your state and county health department for local ones.

8. Write the online version as text

Most diners see your menu on a phone before they see it on paper. The online menu should have the same words, written as text on a page, not a photo or a PDF:

• Text can be read by Google, so a search for a dish can lead to your menu. How Google reads your menu explains why a photo of the menu doesn't count.
• Text reads on any phone without pinching and zooming.
• Text is quick to change, so a sold-out dish or new price is fixed in a minute, not a reprint.
• Lead with what's open and how to order: hours, address, a pickup button, then the menu.
• Put the same menu on Google and your delivery apps, with the same names and prices (apps may have marked-up prices; say on your site that ordering direct costs less if it does).

If your menu only exists as a photo or a PDF today, you can turn it into a menu website for free: upload the photo and get a text menu with pickup ordering. To make one yourself with free tools, see how to create a restaurant menu online for free.

9. Proofread, print and keep it current

• Read it aloud, top to bottom, with someone from the kitchen. They'll spot a missing side or a sauce you changed.
• Check every price against the POS and the online menu. A mismatch at the register is a bad last impression.
• Print a few, not a thousand. Expect to change prices or items within months; a short run costs less than a pile of old menus.
• Set a date to review it, every three months and whenever a key ingredient price moves.

Before you print: a 12-point checklist

1. Every item can be cooked the same way on your busiest night.
2. Sections follow the order people eat.
3. Each dish has a common name diners would search for.
4. Each description says what it is, how it's cooked and what comes with it.
5. No empty words: delicious, amazing, perfect.
6. Every claim (local, homemade, fresh) is true this week.
7. Prices in one format, after each description; add-ons priced.
8. Allergens a diner wouldn't guess are named.
9. Dietary key at the bottom of every page.
10. Allergy line, and a raw or undercooked note if you serve them.
11. Prices match the POS and the online menu.
12. The same menu is live online as text.

Common mistakes

• Too many items. A long menu is slower to read, cook and cost.
• Clever names with no explanation. Diners skip what they can't picture.
• Descriptions that list every ingredient. Name what matters; the rest is noise.
• Surprise add-on prices. If it costs extra, the menu says so.
• A PDF as the only online menu. Hard to read on a phone and invisible to search.
• An online menu that's out of date. A diner who orders a dish you stopped serving months ago won't trust the rest.

Questions

What should a restaurant menu include?

Sections in eating order, each dish's name, a short description, its price, add-on prices, allergen and dietary marks, and any notice your state requires. Your name, hours and how to order belong on the online version too.

How long should a menu description be?

About 8 to 20 words: the main ingredient, how it's cooked, what comes with it and one detail that's yours.

Do I have to put calories on my menu?

Only if you're part of a chain with 20 or more locations under the same name [4], unless your state or city has its own rule.

Do I have to list allergens on my menu?

No federal rule requires an allergen list on a restaurant menu, but some states require a notice, such as Massachusetts [3]. Naming hidden allergens in descriptions protects your guests either way.

How do I write a menu for a small restaurant or food truck?

Keep it short: a handful of items you can serve fast, in one or two sections, big enough to read from the line. Put the same menu online as text so people can check it before they come.

What's the best free way to make a menu?

Write it in a document first, words before design. Then print from a simple template and put it online as a page. Free options for both are in how to create a restaurant menu online for free.

Written your menu? Put it online free from a photo, as a text menu with pickup orders that ring your phone. More answers are in all our guides.

Sources

1. How to make a restaurant menu, UpMenu, read Nov 4, 2026 (description examples, clichés to avoid).
2. Sesame to become 9th major food allergen on Jan. 1, FDA says, KTVU (AP), Dec 2022 (FASTER Act, signed April 23, 2021).
3. Food allergen awareness guidance, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, read Nov 4, 2026 (105 CMR 590.011(C): menu notice wording; printed menus, menu boards, take-out menus).
4. Menu labeling requirements, US Food and Drug Administration, read Nov 4, 2026 (chains of 20 or more locations).
5. FDA Food Code, US Food and Drug Administration, read Nov 4, 2026 (consumer advisory for raw or undercooked animal foods, section 3-603.11).