Standard restaurant menu sizes, in inches and cm

Standard menu sizes chart

Letter is the everyday menu size in the US and Canada. A4 is the everyday size almost everywhere else. The rest are the usual sizes for long menus, drink lists and small cards.

In millimeters: letter is 216 × 279, legal 216 × 356, tabloid 279 × 432, half letter 140 × 216 and the tall 4.25 × 11 in size 108 × 279. A3 is 297 × 420, A4 210 × 297, A5 148 × 210 and DL 99 × 210 mm, a third of an A4 sheet.

Which size for which menu

No rule sets a menu size. These are the sizes most restaurants and print shops use for each job.

Using menu covers? They’re sold by the insert size they hold, like 8.5 × 11 or 4.25 × 11 in, so order by that, not the outside size.

Folded menus: bi-fold and tri-fold sizes

A fold gives you more pages without a bigger menu on the table. Here’s the flat sheet you print and the size it folds to.

The tabloid bi-fold is the classic dinner menu. One 11 × 17 in sheet folds into four letter-size pages: a cover, two inside pages and a back.

A tri-fold isn’t three equal panels. The panel that folds inside is a little narrower, so it tucks in flat. Ask your print shop for its fold template, and keep text away from the folds.

How many items fit on each size

These are rough planning numbers at 11 pt type, with a few category headings and comfortable spacing. Photos, long descriptions and big headings cut them down.

Out of room? Don’t shrink the type below 10 pt. Go up a size, add a fold, or move drinks and desserts to their own card. For comparison, one wide TV menu board fits roughly 20 to 30 items at a size guests can read from the line.

Font sizes for a printed menu

A printed menu is read at arm’s length, often in low light. These are typical sizes:

Dim dining room? Go up a point or two. Fonts vary, too: a condensed or script font at 11 pt reads smaller than a plain one. Before a big print run, print one page at 100% and read it at your darkest table.

Margins, bleed and photos for the printer

Print shops print on a bigger sheet and trim it down, and the cut can drift a little. Bleed and a safe margin keep that from showing.

Paper weight, in plain terms

Heavier paper feels better and lasts longer. US weights are confusing: 80 lb cover is much thicker than 80 lb text. Grams per square meter (gsm) is simpler: the bigger the number, the thicker the paper.

Menus guests handle all day last longer laminated or in a menu cover. Printing in-house on card stock? Check the heaviest paper your printer can feed first.

TV menu sizes

A menu board on a TV isn’t sized like paper. It’s designed in pixels: 1920 × 1080 per screen, or 1080 × 1920 when the TV hangs tall. Most counters, where guests read from 6 to 10 feet, use a 50–55″ TV for each screen.

These are the picture area of a 16:9 TV. The TV itself is a little bigger, so check its spec sheet before you measure the wall.

Text works differently, too. A printed menu reads well at 10–12 pt, but a board read from 10 feet away needs capital letters about 1 inch tall. For TV size by distance and text size in pixels, see the menu board size guide. Planning a board on paper first? Our free menu board templates are 1920 × 1080 per screen, as PNG and PDF.

Print every size from one menu

With Just a Menu, your print menus come from the same menu that runs your TV menu boards and your QR menu. Your items, prices and descriptions are already in the design, so there’s nothing to retype.

1. Choose Paper Size. Letter (8.5 × 11 in), legal (8.5 × 14 in), tabloid (11 × 17 in), A4 (8.27 × 11.69 in), a letter-size trifold with fold guides, or a custom width and height.
2. Pick a design. Or start from a blank page. Your menu fills in either way.
3. Download PDF. A print-ready file, yours to keep. Print it in-house or at any print shop.

• ✓Make it yours. Every print design opens in JAM Canvas, our full editor, to change colors, photos, fonts and layout. Your items stay connected.
• ✓Change a price once. Your TV boards and QR menu update by themselves, and the next PDF has the new price. Menus you’ve already printed need a reprint, when it suits you.
• ✓Add your QR code. Put it on the printed menu so guests can check today’s prices and specials between print runs.
• ✓No typed menu yet? Snap a photo of your paper menu. Just a Menu reads every category, item and price, and you check it all before anything goes live. Menu from a photo

See the sizes and designs: Print menus and social posts

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