Sample result
Menu Description Rewriter for Restaurants
The owner asked this:"I wrote the menu myself six years ago and the descriptions are ingredient lists. I want to start with the Bandeja de la casa, the three-meat sancocho and the garlic trout, and the copy should work for delivery too."
① The formula, phase by phase
Before, what sits on the menu today: "Bandeja de la casa. Beans, rice, ground beef, chicharrón, chorizo, egg, plantain and avocado." That is an inventory, not a description: it names eight things and decides none of them.
After, printed menu, sensory register: "Bandeja de la casa. Chicharrón that cracks as you break it, frijol cargamanto simmered 4 hours with the bite the pork gives it, loose rice and an orange-yolk egg. It weighs 780 g: enough for two if one of you is hungry." That is 219 characters, inside the printed menu's 220 cap.
| Phase | What goes in | How it landed on the Bandeja de la casa |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · ANCHOR | The ingredient that decides the purchase, first and with no adjective ahead of it | The chicharrón. Not "a complete platter": the chicharrón, which is what people come for |
| 2 · CRAFT | The technique or the provenance, never both in one line | The technique: frijol cargamanto simmered 4 hours. The bean's provenance is saved for the other register |
| 3 · PROOF | One detail the guest checks on the plate | "Cracks as you break it" and "orange yolk". If it does not crack, the copy lies and the server is the one who takes the complaint |
| 4 · CLOSE | What is needed to decide | 780 g and the note that it feeds two. Nobody orders a platter without knowing the size |
The finding that is not about copy. The Bandeja de la casa sells at 42,000 COP with a plate cost of 14,300 COP: 34.0% food cost, exactly the menu average and above the 32% ceiling the house demands of any piece it pushes. It gets rewritten anyway, because it is 11.4% of the sales mix and the first line everyone reads, but there the problem is not the offer: it is the menu price. Illustrative figures, built from the data you gave.
② The same dish in four registers
The repertoire is not four different assistants: it is one decision per dish. The four texts below describe the same Bandeja de la casa and none of them lies. What changes is what each asks of the reader.
| Register | When it fits | The Bandeja de la casa written that way |
|---|---|---|
| Sensory | When the dish holds up on texture and temperature and the reader is already seated | "Chicharrón that cracks as you break it, frijol cargamanto simmered 4 hours and an orange-yolk egg." |
| Emotional | When the reason for coming is a craving for home cooking, which at Sazón de Origen rules Sunday midday | "The platter that got cooked on Sundays: the beans on since early and the chicharrón done last." |
| Premium | Only above 60,000 COP, where the guest has to justify the price, and always with real technique behind it | Not here: at 42,000 COP inside a 28,000 to 72,000 COP range, the premium register reads like an excuse |
| Provenance | When the source can be named and backed by the purchase invoice | "Frijol cargamanto from the Antioquian highlands and farm pork, cooked as in the 2020 neighbourhood fonda." |
The choice and its three discards, in writing. The printed menu takes the sensory register: it is the one that survives 220 characters without filler adjectives and the one a server repeats from memory. The emotional one is saved for the Sunday midday slot, where the table is a family. The premium one is ruled out on price, not on taste. And the provenance one is ruled out today for a reason that has nothing to do with style: nobody has confirmed the beans always come from the same area, and a provenance the purchasing side cannot hold in January is a promise that breaks itself at the table.
③ The four channels and their caps
The house sets the caps. They do not come from an outside source: they come from looking at where the reader is and how much time they have.
| Channel | Cap | Copy delivered | First line | Signal measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Printed menu | 220 | "Bandeja de la casa. Chicharrón that cracks as you break it, frijol cargamanto simmered 4 hours with the bite the pork gives it, loose rice and an orange-yolk egg. It weighs 780 g: enough for two if one of you is hungry." | Same | Share of the sales mix |
| Digital / QR menu | 140 | "Chicharrón that cracks as you break it, frijol cargamanto simmered 4 hours and an orange-yolk egg. 780 g, feeds two." | Same | Taps on the dish inside the QR |
| Delivery app | 90 | "Chicharrón that cracks and beans simmered 4 hours. 780 g, feeds two." | "Chicharrón that cracks and beans simmered...", within the first 45 | Orders against dish-page views |
| Google Business listing | 180 | "Colombian home cooking in Medellín, two locations. The Bandeja de la casa is built on 4-hour frijol cargamanto; there is also three-meat sancocho and garlic trout." | Same | Route requests and calls |
Why each cap is what it is. The printed menu is read seated, with the card in hand: a long sentence and a size note fit. The QR gets scanned standing up, thumb on the glass, and there a paragraph gets skipped. On the delivery app the dish competes in a list with a photo and a price: the first line is the only thing shown whole, and it decides. And the Google Business listing is read by someone who has not chosen a restaurant yet, so it names the house and the city before the dish. Move the caps if your printed card has a different text box: the rule is the reader, not the number.
The full example has 2 more part(s): you see them inside the library, with your account.