Menu Font Choices for Restaurants

Restauranteurs may invest days, weeks, months, or even a lifetime crafting the ideal menus for their dining establishments. It would be unfortunate if the design of the menu font was so lacking that patrons were disinterested in the quality dishes it featured. A menu frequently creates the first impression customers have of a restaurant, making it essential to design it with a font that is distinctive, easy to read, and welcoming.

How to Choose the Perfect Menu Font for Your Restaurant

With millions of typefaces to choose from, and the best font sites like Adobe Fonts and Envato Elements, how do you choose the perfect menu font for your restaurant?

You don’t need to be a professional designer to select the ideal menu font. Whether you’re designing the menu from the ground up or using a restaurant menu maker, keep these tips in mind to find the perfect combination of lettering.

Identify the Font Family

Before you can select the premium fonts for your menu design, you can significantly narrow down the options by deciding what font family best represents your restaurant’s brand. Will you choose a font that includes a sans-serif or a serif typeface? Perhaps you might even prefer a handwritten script font or a novelty display type.

Focus on Clarity and Readability

Restaurant patrons don’t want to strain their eyes to read your menu, so be sure to choose menu fonts that are readable and clear, even for customers with poor vision. If they can’t read the menu, they aren’t likely to become regular customers who try new foods. While you want to choose unique and memorable typefaces for your restaurant menu design, be sure you don’t sacrifice clarity.

Determine Your Menu Tone

What mood do you want your restaurant menu to inspire? A font carries a lot of weight in determining the overall tone presented by a brand. Do you want your restaurant to be known as classic and elegant? Choose a serif typeface. Fun and adventurous? Stick with San serif or some handwritten fonts. Your chosen menu font gives personality to your brand, and choosing the wrong typeface can result in a confusing dining experience.

Reinforce Your Brand

Does your restaurant have its own logo? Consider your brand’s existing designs when choosing menu fonts. If you can’t match the fonts exactly, consider choosing a typeface in the same font family as your sign, logo, or other food packaging and displays. If your logo relies on a delicate script font, for example, it might not be the best idea to use a relaxed sans-serif display font for your menu design.

Best Handwritten Menu Fonts for Restaurants

Handwritten fonts are typefaces that mimic genuine human handwriting, making them a favored option for menu fonts as they create a personal connection between customers and brands. Additionally, handwritten fonts contribute to distinctive and memorable menu designs. What are some of the best-handwritten fonts for menus?

Timberline

The graceful strokes and textured lines of the Timberline font, available from Adobe Fonts and other popular sources, promise to provide character to restaurant menus. The versatile font could highlight menus for a variety of restaurants, from hip and trendy coffee shops to classic and elegant fine dining establishments.

Rude Cookie

A unique handwritten font with true character, the Rude Cookie font promises to stand out on restaurant menus and joyfully welcome customers to the establishment. Rude Cookie is available from a variety of popular sources, including Envato Elements.

Haste

Another popular handmade font for restaurant menu designs, the Haste font, is available from Envato Elements, among other online sources. Haste is sure to be the highlight of any menu it adorns, thanks to its unique characters that truly resemble handwritten art.

Best Display Fonts for Restaurants

Perfect for menu titles and headings, a display font is a typography designed specifically for viewing at larger sizes. Because of their expanded appearance, display fonts can often be designed with more creative elements than other fonts. What are some of the best display fonts for restaurant menu design?

Armadira

The Armadira display font offers exceptional clarity, ensuring your message is effectively communicated. You can find the Armadira font on Envato Elements and other well-known font websites, making it a likely timeless classic for showcasing the content of any restaurant menu design.

Decohead

Decohead is an elegant display font characterized by its graceful strokes of varying widths. The art-deco-inspired typeface is available from Envato Elements and other popular font sites, and it promises to add a sophisticated tone to any menu design.

Morthern

Want to select a menu font that reflects the charm and quirkiness of your restaurant? The Morthern font is a lively display font featuring Old Style characters, and it can be found at Envato Elements as well as other popular sources.

Best Sans Serif Fonts for Resturaunt Menus

Sans serif typefaces make some of the best restaurant menu fonts because of their classic style and clear readability. Basic sans serifs are some of the most popular menu fonts because their simplicity allows them to mesh with practically any design, and their clarity makes the characters easy for any restaurant patron to read.

Cuciniere

A brand new typeface is available from Envato Elements and other online sources, and the Cuciniere font was designed specifically for food lovers. The unique font is teeming with character, nearly resembling a handwritten typeface while retaining the structure of sans serif characters.

Cafe Francoise

A simple yet charming typeface is sure to be the highlight of any restaurant menu, the Cafe Francoise font was inspired by outdoor chalk menu board signage showcasing a cafe’s specials of the day. While the font is available from multiple sources, it can be found at Envato Elements.

Coffee Morning

A handmade sans serif font, Coffee Morning welcomes customers with cheerful typography while retaining its clarity and readability. The font, available at Envato Elements, features imperfect shapes and rough strokes, giving it the character for which so many restaurants hope to be known.

More Amazing Fonts for Menu Items

Are you looking to design a restaurant menu that feels inviting, impactful, and unforgettable? Don’t restrict yourself to the font options listed above. There are numerous other fantastic fonts available for your menu font selection.

Baskerville PT

The purpose of any menu is to be read, so it’s important that typography detailing menu items is clear and readable. The Baskerville PT font, available from Adobe Fonts among other sources, is a popular serif typeface, the perfect choice of font for restaurant menu items.

Original Burger

Perfect for hip burger joints, the Original Burger font is available from Envato Elements and other popular font sites. The handmade font consisting of uppercase letters, punctuation, and numbers sets the proper tone for exciting and relaxing restaurant atmospheres.

Giaza

A timeless enhancement to any fine dining experience, the Giaza font features elegant curves that form a stunning serif typeface. You can find this font on several well-known font websites, such as Envato Elements.

Theodore Handwritten

A handwritten typeface, the Theodore Handwritten font is a modern script that is suitable for both menu highlights and menu item details. The font is available from Envato Elements as well as a variety of the other best font sites.

Keneisha

Are you looking to enhance your menu with a calligraphic script font? The Keneisha font showcases a varying baseline, crafted to exude elegance and style. It can be found on various online platforms, including Envato Elements, and it is sure to elevate the creative design of any menu.

Brioche

Brioche is a modern yet classic serif font that combines sharp edges with smooth lines, making it the perfect menu font for both elegant eateries and casual diners. Available through Envato Elements, this font includes alternates for many characters, enhancing its versatility for menu design.

Linotype Didot

A popular serif font that is known for its clarity and readability, the Linotype Didot font, which is available from Adobe Fonts, makes a great alternative for printing menu items.

What is the best font for menus?

What is the best font for menu items? The font you choose for your restaurant menu can greatly impact how customers perceive your small business. The best menu font is Baskerville PT. The serif typeface is the perfect font for restaurant menu design because it conveys a sense of class and elegance while remaining legible in a variety of sizes.

What is the best font size for a menu?

Menu fonts should be easy to read, even for diners with less-than-perfect vision. The best font size for a restaurant menu is no smaller than 20-30 points, although headings and titles should be in larger fonts. For display menus, your text should be 1 inch larger for every 10 feet of distance between your customers and the menu.

What is an easy-to-read font for a menu?

Sometimes, it’s best to choose a simple font in order to design an easy-to-read menu. If you’re looking for an easy-to-read font for your restaurant menu, try basic sans serif fonts such as Helvetica, Arial, or Georgia. Coffee Morning is also an easy-to-read sans serif typeface with a modern twist that offers a unique character to restaurant menus.

Read More: Best Font Sites