"Here is a PDF file of our menu. I know it uses up more of your mobile data to view it. And you'll have to stop walking and use both hands to pinch and scroll around to try and read it. Yes I know that is really annoying for you — but it is easier for me! Please come to my restaurant and spend your money. You will see that our printed menu has the same script heading font, isn't that great?" - Restaurateur.
It is 2024 and it still amazes me how often I find restaurants and cafes displaying their food and drink menus online as PDF files. Of course I know why they do it — it's quicker and easier for them. Rather than taking the time to log-in to their website CMS and update their menu items properly, they just upload their print file. The problem is, trying to read a PDF file of text on a mobile device is terrible for the customer. They have to use both hands to pinch and scroll the PDF file around on their screen trying to read everything — it really is a crap user experience!
In the past it was a bit more understandable. Websites were complicated and time-consuming to update so a PDF download was fair enough. But most modern websites are quick and easy to edit. Here at Activate, we build hospitality websites with a smart menu function which is simple to use and provides a good experience for the end user - the customers!
What blows my mind is when hospitality owners still choose to use PDF's even when they've got a website with a specifically developed menu function. On occasion, we have developed a professional hospitality website, with a menu database, only to be told by the owner that they just want to upload the menu as a PDF! So they are effectively choosing to do what is easiest for them despite the poor experience for their customers.
If I visit your restaurant online and I click on your menu and you make me download a PDF — It's telling me that you value what is easiest for yourself over what is a nice experience for me.
The thing is, any time-saving difference between keeping a menu database up-to-date or uploading/replacing PDF files is negligible once you actually break down the steps. With PDF's you have to retrieve the file from your printer or whomever made it, make the file size smaller, login to your site and upload/replace the old file. And you have to do this again each time even for small changes like prices. Alternatively, using a dynamic menu function like ours, you can login and update any menu items individually. If you're entering in a whole new menu you can copy/paste the details from your PDF. But otherwise you can just update any details as you need, save and it's done!
Finally, if providing a good customer experience online isn't enough. A final consideration against using PDF menus on your website is the impact on SEO. PDF files will not benefit your search engine results. Let's say you have a Mexican style restaurant and your speciality is soft-shell tacos. If you've entered your menu properly using a menu database and somebody searches for 'soft shelled Tacos near me' you are more likely to turn up in their results than if the only reference to 'soft shelled tacos' is buried within a PDF file.
Providing search engines with detailed information about your restaurant's offerings can boost your search rankings. Higher visibility leads to more potential customers discovering your business. This cannot be done through PDF files.
So while uploading a PDF might seem like the quick and easy option. But here's the truth: it priorities your convenience over your customer's experience and works against your website SEO ranks. In today's competitive market, both of these are a recipe for lost business.
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