How Digital Menu Boards Work

A digital menu board is a menu being displayed on a TV screen using content management software and Wi-Fi.

Here is an explanation on how this process works;

First you need a graphic designer to design your menu, or menus. If you are tech savvy and can handle Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, then you don’t need to hire a graphic designer, but make sure you are not just entering a bunch of items, sticking an image and calling it a day. Make sure you understand the dynamics of what makes a digital menu board allow clients to not be turned off by your design. Be strategic when creating your menu. Many restaurant owners who attempt it themselves tend to clutter the screen by adding too many items, not knowing that a cluttered screen contributes to making the client feel fuller. Hence ordering less, which accounts for less revenue.  If you are not a designer, have someone design it for you.

Then you need a content management software (CMS) to point your menu or menus onto the right screens using a media player. Make sure you choose the right software. Some are free, and some come with costs, such as recurring monthly fees. Make sure you choose the right one based on how easy it is for you to use and its price. If you are doing it yourself, it is better to go with the free software option. If you are hiring someone to do it for you, for a few extra dollars, you can have them manage it for you as well. How often will you be changing prices will help you on making that decision.

Simply connect the media player to the HDMI of your TV. The media player then deploys your menu using an app which is connected to the content management software, through the internet or Wi-Fi.

If you choose to have someone do it for you, you then send your menu information on a word document to your design team, then the designing of your menu or menus commences. The process may take up to a week, as custom designed menus are usually created from scratch and need time for layout planning. You can also send a link to a menu design you find online to better guide your graphic designer. Upon menu completion, you should have unlimited revisions and modifications until you are satisfied with the complete design of your menu or menus.

Then your lifetime content management account with cloud hosting is created, so you can manage and host all your menus. The content management software also runs the app that deploys your menus.

The app is installed onto a media player and shipped it to you, or your client if you are a reseller. Each TV needs its own media player, playing its own app, running its own menu. Else with just 1 media player, all your TVs will run the same content. So for 3 TVs, you would need 3 media players, if you are deploying 5 screens, then you need 5 media players. If you need to service only 1 TV, then you only need 1 media player and so forth. This is a complete turnkey solution, and thus reflecting a one-time fee with nothing more to pay.

Instructions are then provided, in the form of narrated video tutorials, on how to use the Content Management System (CMS) so you can make changes yourself. Simply connect the media player to the HDMI of your TV, enter your Wi-Fi password and click on the app to deploy your menus.