Menu video ideas for cafés and takeaways

What a menu video should do

A menu video is not your full menu. It is a short, tempting look at a few items, with prices, that makes someone want to visit or order. The full menu can live on your website, your ordering page or your Google Business Profile. Think of the video as a window display for the phone: quick, clear and easy to act on.

Keep each video to a small group of items. Three dishes is a good number: enough to show range, few enough to remember. Opening hours suit the caption better than the screen, so the video can focus on the food.

Menu video ideas for cafés

Cafés often have a morning crowd, a lunch crowd and an afternoon crowd. Make a video for each:

• The breakfast menu: three morning favourites with their prices.
• Lunch in one video: a sandwich, a soup and a salad.
• Cakes of the week, each with its price.
• A seasonal drinks menu, shown one cup at a time.
• A meal deal: what is included and the total price.

Menu video ideas for takeaways

Takeaway customers want to know what they will get and how much it costs. Try these:

• Your three most ordered dishes, with prices.
• A family bundle, showing what comes in the bag.
• Sides and extras people may not know you do.
• A new addition to the menu in its first week.
• Late-night or weekend items, with the times they are available.

Group items so they make sense together

A video works best when the items share a theme. Three breakfast items, three spicy dishes or three things under £8 are easier to understand than a random mix.

Use photos taken in the same light and from similar angles, so the video feels consistent. It does not need to be fancy, just tidy and clear.

Order matters too. Start with the item most people come for, and finish on something tempting, such as a dessert or a drink.

Get the prices and details right

Menu videos are often saved and watched again later, so prices must be current. Check every price against your menu before you post. If prices change, make a new video rather than leaving an old one pinned to your profile.

If you show dietary labels, such as vegan or gluten free, make sure they are accurate for the dish as you make it today. Tell people how to ask about allergens when they order, and make sure your team knows the answers.

Post menu videos where people decide

Takeaway customers often decide in the evening, on their phone. Café customers often decide on the way to work or just before lunch. Post menu videos shortly before those moments, and share them to your Stories.

Pin your current menu video to the top of your profile so new visitors see it first. A video that answers what you sell and what it costs is one of the most useful things a new customer can find.

Keep your menu videos fresh

A menu video does not need remaking every week, but it should never be out of date. Make a new one when your prices change, when the season changes or when you add or drop a dish.

Between new versions, reuse your current video in Stories as a reminder, especially before busy times such as Friday evenings or the school holidays. Regulars may know your menu well, but new customers are seeing it for the first time.

Where BiteReel fits

BiteReel’s Three-Dish Menu style turns your own photos of three dishes, with the names and prices you type and confirm, into a 15-second vertical reel, a story cover and a caption. It never adds ingredients or dietary labels you did not enter. You check a free storyboard first, then review, approve and download the reel to post yourself.