Menu Tips

Use these strategies to adjust where you put beans on the menu, what you call them, and how you describe them so diners can't resist

Write for Appetite

Tasty Titles
and Descriptions

Rename and describe your plant-forward dishes to emphasize their essential ingredients, their flavor profiles, and their culinary origins. Consider your audience and use words that matter to them.

What to Highlight

Flavor & Texture: creamy, smoky, saucy
Cooking Method: grilled, roasted, or glazed with
Satisfaction: hearty grains, rich sauces, bold spices
Culinary Roots: Moroccan spices, Southern style, Thai coconut curry
Ingredient Origin: local potatoes, handcrafted
Uniqueness: an unexpected twist, chef’s signature, seasonal
Familiarity: classic flavors, diner-style, BBQ
Protein: filling, protein-packed

What to Avoid

What’s missing: vegan, meatless
Health/sustainability claims: healthy, eco-friendly, low-impact
Ingredient lists: Instead of listing, tell a flavor story.
Overly fancy words: Swap brunoise for chopped, Pâte à Choux for pastry.
Empty adjectives: delicious, tasty

Example Titles

Vegan Chick’n Sandwich

Lacks flavor and appeal

Nashville Hot Fried Chick’n
Sandwich (V)

Highlight Origin

Vegetarian Chili

Too generic and vague

Fiery Jalapeno & Roasted
Black Bean Chilli (V)

Make Cooking Techniques & Plant-Forward Symbols Stand Out

Veggie Burger

Doesn’t spark flavor appeal

Smoky BBQ Jackfruit Burger (V)

Highlight Flavors

Vegan Pasta

Lacks any flavor/texture/regional context

Creamy Cashew Pesto Pasta (V)

Highlight Texture

Example Description

Sweet and Spicy Chipotle
Taco

Taco filled with al pastor lentil grain blend, topped with red onion, guacatillo and pineapple

Sweet and Spicy Chipotle
Taco (V)

Stuffed with chorizo-style chipotle grains and lentils, topped with pickled onion, creamy handmade guacamole, and a zesty salsa of grilled pineapple and farm-flesh tomatillos.

Place for Prominence

Prime Placement
on the Menu

Place bean dishes in prominent menu spots and integrate them into the main menu—not a separate “vegetarian” section. List plant-forward dishes first and last, and use a small label instead of boxing them off.