This list will give you the best digital menu boards for restaurants. We have included boards that will suit you regardless of your brand size or budget.
We will start with hardware digital boards that have their own CMS and screens. But, in case you’re low on the budget, we also have a list of software solutions. These will let you turn any monitor/screen into a digital menu board.
Basically, we’ve options starting as low as $20.00 to a few hundred dollars. Yes, you’re truly free to choose!
First time trying digital menu boards? Some of these brands also offer free trials! You’ll get first-hand experience and trial before you’re asked to pay.
If these features fit your list of requirements, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Which features should the Best Digital Menu Boards for Restaurants offer?
Digital menu boards for restaurants are an investment. We need to ensure you’re getting the maximum ROI on your investment then, don’t we?
- Easy control and content management system: You’re a restaurateur, doesn’t mean you also will be a techie. The top digital display system should be extremely easy to control and manage. Hence, the best digital menu board software should be easy to learn.
- WiFi & remote access: We’re talking about the “best” menu boards eh? They must have Wi-Fi and remote control features. The Wi-Fi would let you avoid wires and keep it sleek, while letting you remotely control the menu items and updates from your system.
- LED life: Some of these boards offer 24/7 lighting. You can keep these boards on 24/7, even when the store is closed to help with marketing. While it’s not a mandatory feature, I believe it’s best to go with boards having either 24/7 certification or a high LED lifespan.
- Indoor vs. outdoor options: Not all boards are fit for all locations. Your digital menu board should have enough brightness to offer the best visuals both indoors as well as outdoors.
- Display quality: The digital menu board’s resolution and size matter as well.
- PoS integrations: If your board supports Point-of-sale integration, you can update prices and other details instantly and pricing.
- Pricing: Of course, how expensive/cost-effective the digital menu board is matters as well.
- No printing costs: The digital menu doesn’t need to be printed. That’s saved capital right there.
- Frequent and easy changes: You can change your menu at any time, effortlessly. There’s no cost involved for any change or errors.
- More exposure: Digital menus have been found to get 10x more eyeballs than static menus.
- Multi-restaurant support: Digital menus can be updated for multiple restaurants at once. This ensures the pricing and items are in sync throughout your entire chain.
- Advanced content triggers: The menu and promos get automatically triggered based on weather, location, day, time, and sometimes even individual customers!
The 6 Best Digital Menu Boards for Restaurants
- Coates
- MoodMedia
- WandDigital
- Delphi
- NoviSign
- Dot Signage
Let’s dig deeper.
1. Coates
Coates was made Mcdonald’s official single Digital Menu Board partner. If a billion-dollar restaurant chain says they trust Coates, I believe they’ve earned their seat on this list, don’t you?
They provide these digital menu boards not just for your restaurant counters, but also drive-thrus!
The displays fit any orientation, be it landscape or portrait. Similarly, they also have aced their wire management (we get why MacD trusts them!).
Their “SwitchBoards” CMS lets you trigger content based on location and time. But hey, that’s basic. You can even use weather, individual customer identification, live transactions etc.
They of course have templates, scheduling and dayparting.
On top of the menu boards, they also make some of the best digital menu board software. Yes, the CMS matters too.
Best features:
- Extremely advanced CMS.
- Content triggers include weather, day, time, location, and even individual customer identification.
- Pre-designed templates.
- Scheduling and dayparting available
- Official and single Madonald’s digital menu board partner.
2. MoodMedia
MoodMedia makes some of the best digital menu boards out there. For starters, it has extremely easy software and pre-designed templates. You simply have to change the item names, pricing and images.
Then, you can schedule content so it changes automatically at the pre-specified time.
It also can be integrated with PoS terminals ensuring any changes can be made easily.
It also allows dayparting so different menus can be displayed for different purposes.
Of course zoning screens are possible so you can offer promotions and add-ons or anything else in other sections.
Pricing for MoodMedia isn’t public and you need to contact the team.
Best features:
- Pre-designed templates
- PoS integration
- Scheduled content
- Zoned sections.
Flaws:
- Pricing isn’t displayed publicly.
3. WandDigital
WandDigital offers digital menu boards for both Indoor and Outdoor settings. They have screens that can outlast any weather or brightness requirement you may have.
You can schedule content or integrate day parts to automate things. It also has a “next day repair/replace” warranty for 5 years on the hardware.
It of course has a long list of pre-designed menu templates that you can customise right off the bat. Design changes are instantly pushed to the hardware without requiring complex setups.
A/B tests, live order status monitoring, POS integrations, detailed analytic reports are some of its other features.
It’s also perfect for managing multiple locations as screens can be controlled remotely. It has two packages, the “Express” package is a DIY package requiring that guides you via in-built self help guides.
The “Pro” plan is a managed plan and the team takes care of the installation. Lastly, the “Elite” plan takes everything off your hand and does everything for you.
Best features:
- Schedule content.
- Dayparting available
- Next-day replace/repair warranty
- A/B tests & live order monitoring
- PoS integration
4. Delphi
Delphi is one of the top digital signage companies and offers both indoor and outdoor digital displays for restaurants. You have already seen at least one of their products at your local KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks etc. Yes, these are some of the biggest brands that use Delphi digital menus for their restaurants.
Its CMS allows managing content over the cloud and can be integrated with most PoS. You can also customise content for specific locations, times, and many other factors. It offers upto 8K displays. Of course you can go for lower resolutions depending on your requirements and budgets.
The pricing isn’t available publicly. It’s shared with you once you get in touch with the company with your requirements.
Best features:
- Established customer base such as Starbucks, Mcdonald’s, KFC etc.
- Up to 8K displays
- Cloud content management
- Schedule content
- Time, date, location based content triggers.
5. NoviSign
NoviSign is another top digital display system that should help you multiply your walk-ins and orders.
For starters, pre-designed templates are available. 0 previous experience or skills required to create your digital menu.
You can create different zones for different menus/offers, employ day parting to menu changes according to the time of day. Also, It supports full remote access so you can change your menu at any time.
It does let you schedule content so it changes automatically. Additionally, It can be integrated with your PoS for over the cloud and synced changes.
There’s a 30-day trial that doesn’t even need your credit card.
Best features:
- Pre-designed templates
- Remote access
- Different screen zones
- Scheduling
- PoS integration
- 30-day free trial.
6. Dot Signage
Dot Signage is one of the best digital menu screens and offers 750+ pre-designed templates to work with. It works with any screen/monitor that you have, saving you hardware costs.
It’s all drag & drop and anyone can easily customise their screens to their liking.
Of course you can create your own templates from scratch if none of the pre-designed templates catch your fancy.
It lets you divide your screens into multiple parts (up to 5). Each part (zone) can have a different content. You can also assign roles so only specific people have access to specific parts of the screen.
It also lets you create your templates and then push them to multiple devices at the same time. Scheduling templates and content is possible as well.
It even lets you upload PPT, PDF, PPTX files. These are auto-converted to images to be displayed. There’s no free trial, plans start at $20.00/month.
Best features:
- Works with any screen as it’s a digital signage software.
- Pre-designed templates
- Multi-zone screens
- Assign roles and zone access to teammates.
- Multiple file types supported.
- Plans start at $20.00/month.
In my opinion, Coates is the best option if budget isn’t your priority. Budget shouldn’t be a priority if you’re in the restaurant business.
If not Coates, MoodMedia or WandDigital offer almost the same features and are cheaper. Of course, the exact price would depend on the screen you go with.
If you’re very low on the budget, I’ll recommend you go with one of the software options. These do not need you to buy a screen. You can use these software to turn any monitor/screen into a digital board. In fact, they offer pretty decent features too at a fraction of their hardware counterparts.
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