Customer stories with Octavio Cordova
Want to make sure your restaurant sells? Create the perfect menu, according to Octavio Cordova!
Don Vito Cucina, a family-style Italian restaurant located in Cumbaya, Ecuador, was founded by Octavio Cordova about 7 years ago. Inspired by his love for food and cooking, Octavio decided to take advantage of the opportunity to purchase a restaurant space from a friend.
Don Vito was initially a much larger restaurant with a staff of over 20 people. But Octavio’s restaurant has since been converted into a smaller space with an intimate ambiance.
Although Don Vito has a loyal customer base that frequent his establishment, he still uses a variety of marketing strategies to increase his audience.
When asked what he likes to use PosterMyWall for, Octavio had one answer:
“Everything!”
From handheld flyers to social media posts, Octavio likes to design everything using PosterMyWall templates. “I wanted a way to create everything by myself without having to hire external help, and PosterMyWall helped me do that,” Octavio said.
The one marketing piece that Octavio focused on most was his menu. He said that your menu should be a true reflection of your brand image. “A good menu helps bring in more customers,” he said.
Here are some of Octavio’s go-to tips on how to create a beautifully designed menu that attracts customers .
Find the right aesthetic
Octavio said the first step in designing your menu should be to think about your brand image and how you want to convey it. This includes selecting the right colors, fonts, and style.
Because Don Vito is an Italian restaurant, Octavio strives to create a subtle, refined aesthetic throughout the restaurant and its marketing. This is evident in the menu design. “We want our menu to give off an elegant vibe, so we avoid anything that’s too flashy,” Octavio said.
Octavio uses white copy on a stark black background to build a sleek, sophisticated look. The Don Vito logo is also in black and white, with hints of red and green to showcase the Italian flag. Because he creates his menus using PosterMyWall’s menu maker, Octavio can update or change his menu in just a few minutes.
Choose from various coffee menu templates, cocktail templates and other restaurant menu templates to pick the one that best fits your restaurant’s look.
Add imagery
Octavio integrates a lot of food images into his menu design. “It’s important for people to see the dish. It compels them to order it.“ he said.
Octavio photographs all the best dishes served at Don Vito to add to his menu. He understands that adding a mouthwatering image of his best-selling pasta dish or new sizzling steak dish helps entice customers to place an order. If he doesn’t have his own pictures available, he looks through the gallery of stock images available on PosterMyWall. He always uses high-quality photographs so the food looks as appealing as possible.
Octavo recommends using the right amount of images to jazz up your menu, which to him means adding several with an eye toward not overcrowding his design.
Include key information
When your menu is your primary means of communicating what you have to offer to your customers, it’s important that it includes all necessary information. Octavio says that restaurant owners should double check their menus to make sure they include everything customers need to place an order.
The details Octavio includes on his menus include descriptions of the food, prices, details about special offers and deals, and contact information .
Restaurateurs often forget to include key bits of information in their menu designs. To avoid this, Octavio suggested compiling all of your important details on paper before you start to design so you don’t forget anything.
Adjust as necessary
During the pandemic, Don Vito was one of the many restaurants to adjust their offerings in accordance with state-mandated SOPs.
Once restaurants opened back up, Octavio made sure Don Vito was a safe place for customers. In addition to deep cleaning and sanitizing, Don Vito replaced its old printed menu cards with QR codes that customers could scan to access the menu.
Promote on social media
Social media is an integral part of Don Vito’s marketing strategy. Octavio said that Facebook and Instagram are his go-to methods of promotion. He makes sure to market his menu and dishes on both platforms as often as he can.
Octavio’s social media strategy is to post enticing images of his dishes. He also posts special offers and promotions on his Instagram–to encourage people to come in.
“People love all sorts of animated videos and promotions,” Octavio said. He also makes sure his online audience knows about every addition to his menu. Octavio uses our video creator online and restaurant video templates to create engaging promotional content.
During the pandemic, Don Vito switched entirely to a delivery-based business model. This made it even more important than ever to use social media to promote the menu and contact information. But thanks to Octavio’s frequent posting, Don Vito was able to keep its customers coming back.
Looking ahead
In the future, Octavio plans to open a second restaurant focused primarily on American cuisine. For this, Octavio plans to handle all the marketing by himself–with the help of PosterMyWall.
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