A Review of Catering Menu for Sarpino's Pizzeria by Sue Spaight

You did a great job of getting right to what you have identified as the key benefits of your catering product: Real fast. Real fresh. Really good. Those seem to be some of the key things I would be seeking as a business buyer of meeting catering services. You might consider adding something about "Great value." as that tends to be a key rationalization for any business (or personal) purchase these days. "Free delivery and set up" is great and well-featured as a supporting message.

However, I completely agree with the previous reviewer, the design/execution of your menu does not live up to the promise. The food does not look real, fresh, and good. And the brand personality created by the design is a little old school, not "fresh".

From a marketing standpoint, that is the most important thing here: that the food looks GREAT and that you create some serious appetite appeal.

Here is an example of a restaurant that does bring this promise to life extremely well, Cafe Manna. I wish I could show their offline menu and their catering menu, but you can also see here on their website http://www.cafemanna.com/index.html that the communication IS "fresh and yummy", which is what they promise. The food looks incredibly fresh, appetizing, and special. Interestingly, their catering menu doesn't even USE food images, but the design of it is so fresh that their promise still comes through.

You did not ask us to review your website, but I just wanted to add that the color scheme there - with the yellow - does a better job of communicating freshness than does this menu, which looks more dated and old. It seems like you are conflicted between "freshness" and "authentic Italian." Pick one or the other as the primary focus and go all in. Personally, I think "freshness" is a better direction and differentiator here.

I hope it's OK for me to comment on things that are outside the scope of this review; your logo could use an update, too, if you are trying to get to "gourmet fresh".

The bottom line:

At the risk of sounding overly harsh, which is not at all my intention, overall my opinion is that this design makes your food look and feel quite ordinary, rather than like the "Gourmet Experience" you promise.

I know that space is at a premium here and you have very little if any extra space for other suggestions for how to prove your promise. If most of your catering business comes from customers that are already quite familiar with your food, you could actually consider using a bit less photography and reduce the clutter/create some "air", though you still want some food images in there to create/reinforce appetite appeal.

If you could find a few square inches, I would suggest perhaps including a rating and comment or two from businesses that have used your catering and had a great experience. It doesn't have to be a lengthy review, it can just be a "five stars!" rating, from X prominent business customer, which creates and added reason to believe your promise. Keep it simple, as you've already got a lot going on here. I see you have a "customer feedback" form on your website. I suggest revising that to make sure you are collecting the open-ended positive comments specifically about catering services, and a summary rating (e.g. number of stars), as well as the name (at least first name) of the customer, to make it more humanized.

In addition to the visual design, the copy likewise feels very traditional, like nothing special. Consider giving it a little more "attitude"; nothing unprofessional, obviously, but just have some FUN with it. Lighten it up a little to be more engaging.

Finally, but of critical importance, the call to action in this menu feels relatively weak. (Forgive me if I just can't see it - it is difficult to make out every word of your copy in this small online format.) As your user/customer/prospect, it would be ideal if I had the phone number of my local Sarpino's franchise(s) prominently featured on the front of the menu. If I have to go to your website to find the local store contact information, I may very well decide to not deal with that and just grab a different menu from my drawer or binder. If you can't localize the printing down to the local store level, then I would suggest you go low tech and have the local stores write in the phone number and the name of the contact person. That, too, makes it more humanized and could be a nice touch. Or, leave a space where the local store manager can attach his or her business card.