How to Write Dish Descriptions That Sell – in Every Language Your Guests Speak

What a Good Dish Description Does (and the 3-Part Formula)

A dish description has one job: help a guest pick a dish they will enjoy, quickly. The wording alone can change what people order, even when nothing on the plate changes.

In a 2017 Stanford study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Turnwald, Boles and Crum tracked 27,933 cafeteria diners over 46 days and changed only the vegetable labels. Indulgent, taste-focused names such as “twisted citrus-glazed carrots” won 35% more diners than “healthy positive” labels. Health-focused wording like “reduced-sodium” or “low-carb” did no better than a plain name.

Menu engineering turns this into a repeatable structure. Descriptive menu labels work best when every menu description follows the same three parts:

Illustrative example: Charcoal-grilled octopus – potatoes, capers, lemon oil; caught off the Cretan coast the same morning.

On a long menu, occasionally reverse the order and lead with the sell copy, so the page doesn’t read like an ingredient list.

Sensory Words That Sell – and Filler Words to Cut

Filler words like “delicious”, “tasty”, “amazing” and “mouthwatering” tell guests how to feel instead of what to picture. Swap them for sensory words that describe texture, flavour or cooking method: charred, slow-braised, crisp, smoky, tangy. Guests can taste a word like “crackling”; they can only take your word for “delicious”.

Illustrative examples

Three patterns to cut on sight:

• Negative associations. “Greasy”, “heavy” or “fried” as the only descriptor make a dish sound like a compromise. Pair the method with a texture: “crisp fried”, “golden”.
• Adjective stacking. Four or more adjectives read as padding and hide the key ingredient. Keep the one that matters.
• Overused buzzwords. “Artisanal” or “homemade” on every line stops meaning anything.

Unfamiliar ingredients need the most help. Write the name, how it tastes and what kind of food it is – “creamy stracciatella cheese”, “nutty farro grain”. Without that anchor, guests skip the dish. Health-restrictive words such as “low-fat” or “reduced” put the sacrifice first; lead with flavour and move nutrition details to a label.

How Long Should a Dish Description Be on a QR Menu?

No study sets an ideal description length; the working rule across the industry is one or two short sentences. Length should follow importance: give the most words to your most popular and high-margin dishes, and let staples like fries or espresso stand on their name alone.

Brevity matters more on screen. In a US Foods survey of more than 1,000 American diners, 86% said a physical menu is easier to read for descriptions and ingredients than a QR menu. To compete on a mobile screen, text must be short, scannable and cleanly formatted.

Photos draw attention, but the text still has to sell the dish. On a phone, the first line is what shows in the list view, so front-load the main ingredient (illustrative example): “Charred octopus, smoked paprika potatoes” beats “Our chef’s take on a Galician classic”. Keep the full ingredient list, allergens and portion size for the dish card, which in Platoo can also carry the photo.

Writing Descriptions Tourists Understand (and That Translate Well)

International guests order with more confidence when they can read the menu in their own language. CSA Research’s 2020 “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy – B2C” survey of 8,709 consumers in 29 countries covers online shopping, not restaurants, but the pattern carries over to menus: 76% prefer to buy products with information in their own language, 65% prefer content in their own language even if it is of poor quality, and 40% will not buy from websites in other languages.

Keep the Local Name, Explain It in One Line

Local dish names are part of what tourists came for, so keep “pastitsada” or “bacalhau à Brás” as the title. Then add one plain-language line: main ingredient, cooking method and, if the flavour is unfamiliar, how it tastes. Illustrative example: “Bacalhau à Brás – salt cod scrambled with eggs, thin fried potatoes and onion; soft, savoury, lightly salty.”

Avoid Puns, Idioms and Slang

The same CSA study found that 66% of consumers use online machine translation, so guests will translate your menu anyway. “To die for”, “melt-in-your-mouth” or a pun name like “Holy Guacamole” often come out literal and confusing. Name ingredient, texture and cooking method instead.

Illustrative example

Why it translates cleanly: every word names a real ingredient, texture or spice level, so there is nothing to take literally.

Write Once, Translate Everywhere

Use short sentences, standard food terms and explicit spice levels. Treat the source text as the master copy: fix it once and every version of your multilingual menu improves. Platoo, for example, translates the menu automatically into the languages the venue enables, so the clarity of your original wording is what reaches guests after translation.

Allergens, Dietary Labels and Honest Claims (EU Rules)

Since 13 December 2014, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers has required allergen information for non-prepacked food too, including dishes served in restaurants and cafés. Staff may give it verbally, but guests need a clear indication of how to get it, and a European Commission factsheet on allergen labelling notes it must be available in writing on request. National rules can add requirements, so check your country’s. These are the 14 allergens that must be declared, and where they tend to hide:

Keep allergens out of the prose where you can: icons or labels on the dish card do that job (Platoo dish cards can display them). Name an allergen in the text only when the dish name hides it, as in “basil pesto with cashews”.

Dietary labels such as vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free are promises. Use them, along with “homemade”, “local” or “light”, only when literally true, and skip nutrition and health claims you cannot back up. Icons must match the recipe; when a supplier or recipe changes, update the description the same day.

Before-and-After Dish Description Examples

The rewrites below are illustrative examples of the name + key ingredients/method + one selling detail formula.

Rewrite your ten best-selling dishes first – they carry the most orders, so changes show up fastest. Add a serving size wherever portions are counted or shared, and keep every local dish name in the original with a one-line explanation.

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