MustHaveMenus Forecasts How Restaurants Will Rethink Menus During New Era of Restaurant Safety

As restaurants rush to determine best practices for reopening dining rooms, laminated menus emerge as a popular safety solution to help stop the spread of germs

News provided by

MustHaveMenus

Apr 27, 2020, 09:00 ET

ASHLAND, Ore., April 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With governments eager to safely reopen small businesses, restaurants are rethinking the dining experience for a new era. Stricter health and cleaning policies need to be put in place, especially when it comes to communal objects like menus. Laminated menus are becoming the go-to solution for restaurants because they can withstand repeated cleaning to reduce the spread of germs.

Menus can cause germs and pathogens to spread between customers and staff as a result of being handed around to tables, gathered up, then passed around again. Flu and cold pathogens have been shown to live for up to 72 hours on menu surfaces, so a single contaminated menu can potentially expose hundreds of people.

Before COVID-19, restaurants typically cleaned menus only once a day, or when visibly dirty, and the standard paper menu was not designed to get wet. Now it's imperative for restaurants to wash and disinfect their menus between every customer. Many restaurants are turning to laminated menus because they can be easily sanitized.

"Laminated menus are good for business because they last longer, they're easier to sanitize and clean, and you have one upfront cost," says Brian Cotelesse, owner at C's Waffles Family Restaurant in Titusville, Florida. "The plan is to leave two menus per table and have our servers clean them between each customer."

Lamination has been a niche product at design companies like MustHaveMenus for many years, serving mostly family-style restaurants where kids or messy foods wear down menus fast. But MustHaveMenus now finds lamination a central choice for all restaurant customers because of its enhanced durability and ease of cleaning.

"We're cleaning our laminated menus with sanitizing spray, and we're only handing out menus as people ask for them," says Jack Brady, owner of Jack's Hometown Pizza in Sanford, Michigan.

"Menus are a shared item that can't be ignored as we find the safest and quickest path to reopening restaurants," said Jim Williams, President of MustHaveMenus. "Laminated menus are the perfect easy-to-clean product, whether with soap and water, or with disinfectant wipes. Plus they look and feel fantastic, with trim cut edges and a sheen that helps color and photos pop."

About MustHaveMenus

MustHaveMenus provides restaurants with a single source for their design, marketing and printing needs. For over a decade, we've provided everything customers need to market their restaurant - menu sets, flyers, takeouts, table tents, business cards and more - right at their fingertips. Website sharing tools and free social media content make it easy for restaurants to manage and build their online presence. A team of restaurant specialists is available to offer help and support at any stage of a customer's design project.

SOURCE MustHaveMenus