A bakery or café lives on what is fresh today. The range changes with the seasons, the coffee menu keeps growing and lunch changes every week. With a digital menu board behind the counter and a digital signage screen for atmosphere and promotions, you keep all of that up to date, without chalk, markers or new price tags.
What a screen solves in a bakery or café
The problems will be familiar to anyone who works behind a bread counter:
- The chalkboard is never finished. At six in the morning nobody has time for neat handwriting, and a half-wiped price does not inspire much confidence.
- The coffee menu is too long for an A4 sheet. Oat milk, extra shot, syrup, three sizes: customers want to take it all in at a glance.
- Seasonal products get too little attention. Hot cross buns, mince pies, strawberry tarts: they are on the counter for a few weeks and need to sell in those weeks.
- Lunch customers do not know what is available. People who come in for bread often do not know you also sell toasties and soup.
On a screen you change all this from the dashboard, even in the evening from the sofa. The player checks for new content every minute, so your change is in the shop within about a minute.
Content ideas that work in a bakery and coffee shop
On the menu board behind the counter
- A coffee menu as a price table, with headings such as "Coffee", "Tea and chai", "Extras" and the product with its price on each line.
- The lunch menu: sandwiches, toasties, soup of the day and salads, with a photo of the sandwich you most want to sell.
- A "combo" block: coffee with a slice of cake for a fixed price is quicker to choose than two separate lines.
On a digital signage screen in the shop or window
- One photo per seasonal product, large and close up, with one line of text and the price.
- A short video from your own bakery: dough being folded, bread coming out of the oven. Video plays without sound by default; for a shop that is usually fine.
- A slide about ordering for the holidays or birthday cakes, with the order deadline and how customers can arrange it with you.
- The weather template with the six-day forecast, handy if you have outdoor seating.
- A scrolling ticker with short announcements, such as changed opening hours over the holidays.
Keep it small: four to six slides in a playlist is enough for a shop. Each slide is on screen for between 5 and 60 seconds. More slide ideas can be found in content tips for digital signage.
Example: a bakery with a café
Take a bakery with a bread counter, a coffee bar and six tables. A realistic set-up:
- 1 digital menu board above the coffee bar, landscape, with the coffee menu and the lunch menu side by side.
- 1 digital signage screen in the window, portrait, facing the pavement, with seasonal products and an oven video.
That is two subscriptions: one for the menu board and one for the digital signage screen. You buy the screen and Android player yourself. See the current prices for both subscriptions.
A smaller coffee shop can start with just the menu board. A bakery without seating often gets more out of the window screen than a menu board, because the bread itself is on display in the counter.
Breakfast, lunch and afternoon: how do you handle changing menus?
Be aware that menus and slides in Narrow.TV do not switch automatically by time of day. For a café there are two workable approaches:
- One board with everything. Put breakfast and lunch in two columns side by side, with the times ("breakfast until 11am"). The most common approach; nobody has to do anything.
- Switch it yourself. You change the menu around eleven o'clock in the dashboard. That works if the menus are genuinely different, but someone does have to do it.
For the weekly change of soup or sandwich of the week, you simply edit the line in the price table. How to set up a board so that this is quick is explained in digital menu boards.
Tips for screens in a bakery
- Portrait in the window, landscape behind the counter. In a window, a portrait screen stands out more among the products; above a counter, a landscape board usually fits better.
- Sun on the glass. A south-facing window calls for a high-brightness screen. An ordinary TV is soon too dark there. Read which screen you need beforehand.
- Your own photos. Photograph your products in daylight against a calm background. You upload JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF, and video as MP4, WebM or MOV up to 200 MB per file.
- Readable for customers in the shop. Better eight coffee lines in large letters than twenty in small ones. Options such as "extra shot" can be summarised in one line.
- Several branches. If you have more shops, give each screen a location in the dashboard. You can find screens by name and location and manage everything from one account.
Getting started
You need a TV or display with Android TV or Google TV, or an ordinary screen with an Android TV box or stick. Install the Narrow.TV Player from Google Play, create a screen in the dashboard and enter the pairing code. Then build your coffee menu with the price table or start with a template. Try it free for 30 days with one screen. If you also run a takeaway or fast food concept, take a look at digital menu boards for takeaways.
Frequently asked questions
Can a digital menu board switch automatically between the breakfast and lunch menu?
No, with Narrow.TV menus and slides do not switch automatically by time of day. You change the menu yourself in the dashboard, or you show breakfast and lunch together on one board. A change is on screen within about a minute.
Can I hang a screen in my bakery window?
Yes, with a portrait or landscape digital signage screen. Behind glass and in the sun you do need a high-brightness screen; an ordinary TV is often not bright enough for that.
Can I upload a weekly menu as a PDF?
No, PDF and PowerPoint are not supported. You build the menu in the editor with the price table, or upload it as an image (JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF).
Can I try Narrow.TV in my business first?
Yes, you can try it free for 30 days with one screen, as a digital menu board or as a digital signage screen. You start the trial online at dashboard.narrow.tv/register.