A guest gives a menu somewhere near ninety seconds. In that time they are not reading it. They are scanning for a shape they recognise, landing on two or three things, and picking one.

Where the eye goes

On a printed page the eye starts near the top right and wanders. On a phone it is simpler and more brutal: down the first screen, and whatever is below is a second decision the guest has to choose to make.

So the first screen is the menu. Everything after it is the appendix. Which section sits at the top is the single largest design choice you will make, and most menus have it by accident.

Section order is a sales decision

• The section you make money on goes first.
• Sides and extras go near the dish they attach to, while the guest is still deciding.
• Drinks near the top for a bar, near the bottom for a dining room.
• Anything with four items or fewer belongs inside another section.

First and last in every list

Within a section, the first item and the last item get read. The middle is a blur. So the dish you want to sell goes first, the second one you want to sell goes last, and the long tail sits between them where it does no harm.

The price is not a column

Prices lined up in a right-hand column turn a menu into a price list, and the guest reads down the numbers picking the cheapest. Put the price after the description, in the same size as the words, and the dish gets read first.

Drop the currency sign while you are there. A menu that says 14 sells better than one that says $14, and every guest still knows what it means.

One dish that costs more than the rest

A single expensive item near the top does quiet work. It makes everything under it look reasonable, and every so often somebody orders it. It has to be a real dish you would be glad to cook, or the trick shows.

Cut before you add

A section with eleven things in it sells less than the same section with six. Too much choice sends people to the thing they always order, which is usually the cheapest one they recognise.

A menu is not read top to bottom. It is scanned, landed on twice, and decided in about ninety seconds.