In a takeaway, chip shop or fast food outlet, customers make up their minds in the few seconds they spend in the queue. A digital menu board above the counter shows your whole menu clearly, with photos where they matter, and lets you change the price of a battered sausage or a portion of chips without having new boards made. With Narrow.TV you do it yourself, from your browser.
Why takeaways are switching to digital menu boards
A takeaway has different problems from a restaurant. Your menu is long, your margins are thin and your purchase prices fluctuate. If you work with printed light boxes, you run into this:
- Price changes cost money and time. Every change means new stickers, new film or a new print proof. So changes are often put off, or prices end up crossed out.
- A long menu is hard to read. Forty lines in the same font, and the customer still asks "what have you got?". That costs time at the counter.
- Promotions go unnoticed. A weekly deal on an A4 sheet by the till is barely seen by anyone standing in the queue looking at the big board.
With a digital menu board you change a price in the dashboard and it appears on screen within about a minute. If something sells out, you simply remove the line. For a detailed comparison with light boxes and chalkboards, see digital menu board or chalkboard.
How to build a takeaway menu that speeds up the queue
You build a menu board in the Narrow.TV editor using a price table: headings for each category, with lines for product and price underneath. Around it you add text, photos and, if you like, a video. For a takeaway, this layout works well:
- Split your menu into recognisable blocks. Chips, snacks from the hot counter, rolls and wraps, platters, meal deals, drinks. Each block gets its own heading in the price table.
- Put your bestsellers at the top and make them big. Chips with curry sauce, your signature snack and your most popular meal deal deserve the best spot, top left, where the eye lands first.
- Use photos for the products with the best margin. A photo of your loaded fries or your homemade burger does more than the name alone. For the standard snacks, a line of text is enough.
- Make meal deals clear. "Meal deal = burger + chips + drink" on one line with one price saves questions at the counter.
- Keep sauces and extras separate. A small "extras" block with mayo, curry sauce and gravy keeps the main menu calm.
More rules of thumb for font size, contrast and the number of lines per screen can be found in tips for your digital menu board.
Example: three menu boards above the counter
A fast food outlet with a counter of about four metres could work like this, for example:
- Menu board 1 (left): chips in every size, sauces and snacks from the hot counter.
- Menu board 2 (centre): burgers, rolls and platters, with photos of two or three top sellers.
- Menu board 3 (right): meal deals, kids' meals and drinks, plus a block with the deal of the week.
That is three digital menu boards, with one subscription per screen. The three screens and Android players are not included in the subscription. See the current prices on our site.
Optional: a video moment across all three screens
With the paid Combined view add-on you turn two or more screens into one video wall. You can then place a single image or video across all three boards and schedule how often that happens, for example a fifteen-second clip of your new product every ten minutes. The players run in sync, so the video plays across all screens at the same time at the scheduled moment. After that, the menu returns. Read how it works in video wall with Combined view.
Portrait or landscape above the counter?
Landscape screens side by side are the most common choice in takeaways: they fit the width above the counter and leave room for several columns. Portrait screens work well if you are short on width but have height to spare, or if you want to show one product group per screen, such as just the burgers.
In Narrow.TV you choose the orientation and resolution per screen, for example Full HD 1920x1080 or 4K. The content scales to fit. Do decide how the screen will hang before you design the menu, though; a landscape design on a portrait screen ends up as a narrow strip.
Practical points for takeaways
- Reading distance. Your customers are often two to four metres from the board. Test your menu by standing at the back of the queue and checking whether you can read the prices.
- Grease and heat. Above a fryer it is hot and greasy. Do not hang screens directly above the fryers, and clean them regularly according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Long opening hours. A takeaway is often open twelve hours a day. A professional display is built for long operating hours; a consumer TV is cheaper but not always intended for that. More on this in which screen for digital signage.
- Start-up. Set the Narrow.TV Player as the device's home screen so the app opens as the main app. Check in the morning that the menu is on screen.
- Collection and delivery. If you have a separate collection counter, an extra menu board there can show the same menu. Each board has its own design, so a tailored collection menu is possible too.
Start with one board
Still unsure? Start with the board that changes most often. With the free 30-day trial you set up one digital menu board, without the option to add extra screens. Once you have paid, you can expand to the rest of the counter. Would you like us to help plan the set-up first? Get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the prices on my menu board myself?
Yes. You edit products and prices in the Narrow.TV dashboard, from your computer or phone. The menu board picks up the change within about a minute.
Is the digital menu board linked to my till?
No, there is no integration with a till or POS system. You update the prices on the menu board yourself in the dashboard, separately from your till.
How many menu boards do I need for a takeaway?
That depends on your range and the width of your counter. Many shops use two or three boards side by side, for example one for chips and snacks, one for burgers and platters, and one for meal deals and drinks. Each menu board is a separate screen with its own menu design.
Which TV can I use as a digital menu board?
A TV or display with Android TV or Google TV works straight away with the Narrow.TV Player. Any other screen works too, with an Android TV box or stick connected via HDMI.