Digital menu boards for restaurants
The plain guide: what to buy and what to ask.
Guide
Digital signage vs digital menu board: which do you need?
Signage is any message on a screen. A menu board is a screen built to sell your menu. Here is how to tell which one fits a small shop.
Signage is any screen; a menu board shows your menu
Digital signage means any screen that shows content: a lobby welcome, a bus schedule, an ad, a menu. A digital menu board is one kind of digital signage, built for one job: showing what you sell and what it costs.
That difference sounds small and matters a lot. We run Sweet Aloha Ice Cream in Davie, Florida, and all 5 of our TVs play a Wow Menu Boards menu every day. This page compares two types of tools, general signage tools and menu-board-first tools, so you can use it with any company you talk to.
What signage tools do well
General signage tools are built to show anything, anywhere. That freedom is useful. A company with a lobby, a waiting room, a lunch menu and a safety notice can run them all from one place. They often offer many layouts, widgets and screen types.
If you run a big building with many kinds of messages, a general tool can make sense. Ask who builds each layout and how long it takes. Wide choice also means more to learn, and many buttons you may never press. Think of it as a toolbox: great when you build many things, heavy when you need one.
Where a menu-board-first tool is simpler
A menu-board-first tool starts from your menu. The layouts are about items and prices, the schedule is about your open hours, and the help comes from people who know a counter. You do not need to learn a layout editor first.
Here is how the two types differ for a shop with a counter.
| Question | General signage tool | Menu-board-first tool (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Any message on any screen | Menu items, prices and photos |
| First board | You often design it yourself | Our team builds it from your menu and photos |
| Hours | Set up in a schedule tool | Exact on and off times, screen goes black after hours |
| Internet drops | Depends on the tool | Menu keeps playing from saved files |
These are LIVE on Wow Menu Boards today. Menu sync from your register is Coming soon.
What small shops need
A small shop needs four things: a clear board, correct prices, a screen that turns on and off by itself, and a person to call. It does not need a wall of widgets. Picture a Saturday at 4 pm. A line of ten people looks up. The board must be right and readable, and nobody should be running to find a remote.
That is what we built for our own shop. Smooth full-HD motion, exact schedules, offline play and self-updates are live. Our Basic plan is $12 per screen, per month, with setup and changes by our team. Standard ($19) and Pro ($29) open when Clover sync ships, and a video wall is $25 per wall, per month.
Want a menu board that is ready to run? We set up your first screen with you. Try it free for 14 days, no card.
A Saturday with each type
Picture the same Saturday in two shops. In the first, the owner uses a general signage tool. At 3 pm a flavor sells out, so she opens the tool, finds the right layout, edits the text, and publishes. It works well, and she has full control.
In the second shop, a menu-board-first tool is running. The owner sends one short message: “Take Coconut Sorbet off.” The team updates the board. Today that is how Wow Menu Boards works, and a dashboard to do it yourself is Coming soon. Both paths get the job done. Ours is made for a counter shop where the owner has no spare minutes.
Questions to ask any company
- Is this tool built for menus, or for any message? Show me a menu board made in it.
- Who builds my first board, and what does it cost?
- How do I change a price, and how long does it take?
- Does the screen turn on and off at my hours by itself?
- What does the screen show if the internet goes out?
- What is the price per screen, per month, with the features I need?
Write the answers side by side. For help on cost, read digital menu board cost. For what a player is, see the media player guide. For a side-by-side view, see our compare page.
Keep reading
What is a digital menu?
Phone menus, table tablets and wall screens, explained.
Digital menu board media player
What the player does and what to buy.
Compare menu board tools
What to look at before you pick.
Run your shop's menu like we run ours.
We open free trials a few shops at a time, and we set up your first screen with you.
14 days free, no cardNo contract. Cancel anytime.