The House Special: Serving Up Tasteful Menus : Longtime friends turn designing men at fledgling Menus 2000, which has built a base of satisfied customers.
A recession is not the ideal time to make an entree into the menu-designing business. In its nine-month existence, Menus 2000 has already seen one precious client skip out on the bill after going belly-up.
“We phoned to say we would have a sample menu ready in a couple of days and the owner said, ‘Great!’ ” recalled Michael Taggart, the company’s president. “Then when we phoned back we got a recording saying that the number was no longer in service.”
Though Taggart’s timing might seem a bit off, considering the economy, he said it was just right for him: “Everything came together. I could take money out of my computer company to start this company; it was a great time to find good rental rates for office space; and Jim was looking for a career change.”
Jim Mahoney, the other half of this partnership, and Taggart have been best friends since kindergarten and on through college at UCLA.
Mahoney had spent the past eight years managing a Seafood Broiler restaurant in Norwalk while practicing his real love, painting, on the side. Taggart figured his own high-tech background blended with his buddy’s mixture of restaurant expertise and artistic ability could be a recipe for success.
Then the vice president of MicroSim Corp., Taggart sold most of his shares in the Irvine software company and forked out $30,000 for his new enterprise--housed in a small Newport Beach office. He still sits on the board of directors for MicroSim, but running Menus 2000 is now his full-time job.
Creative director Mahoney uses a Macintosh to design the menus, which are produced on a computerized desktop publishing system.
The old friends and new business partners, both 35 and married, spread the word about their business by mailing advertisements to 1,200 restaurants in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
“We got a good response,” Taggart said. “About 15% of the restaurants sent back the reply cards saying they were interested in our service, but most of them asked if they could contact us later. During a recession, restaurants view menus as an expense they can cut back on.”
Gail Lynch was one restaurateur who expressed immediate interest. She had decided to redo the menu for her Newport Beach pizza and sandwich eatery, Mutt Lynch’s, so she arranged a meeting with Taggart and Mahoney. “Our menu was awfully cluttered, and we wanted a fresh start,” Lynch said.
The end result is a brightly colored menu featuring the mascot mutt on its cover and Aztec-style lettering throughout. “Our customers think the menus are so great that we can’t leave them on the table or they’ll disappear,” Lynch said.
She has already drafted Menus 2000 for another project--the menus and business cards for her second restaurant, Mutt’s Balboa Club. “Menus say a lot about a restaurant,” Lynch said. “They are the customer’s second impression--after decor--about your establishment.”
Mahoney eagerly agrees: “A menu is like a restaurant’s sales brochure.”
And while most people don’t consider a menu a subliminal probe into the human mind, Mahoney said his creations employ a generous dose of psychology.
“Menus can direct a customer to the items that the restaurant wants to serve in the largest quantities,” he said. For instance, his design for Mutt’s Balboa highlights the fajitas in a separate box. “They’re a good profit item,” he noted.
Another trick of the trade: Mahoney avoids lining up prices in an even row. Otherwise, “customers will base their selections on cost rather than what they’re really hungry for,” he said.
Menus 2000 charges a $250 to $1,000 art fee, depending on the complexity of the design, and about $9 per menu for production--the going rate at print shops, Taggart said.
The company is still a long way away from seeing black ink, Taggart said: “I expect it to take at least two years before becoming profitable.” He said he has about 10 clients now, but needs 40 a year to make a return on his investment.
The partners’ friendship sometimes gets in the way of work. Taggart sheepishly admitted: “We play a lot.”
Mahoney demonstrated how they occasionally fritter time away, calling to his Macintosh screen a picture of a mutual friend with a picture of President Clinton superimposed by his side.
But work will never get in the way of their friendship, the two men vowed. “Not after 30 years,” Taggart said. “We never even worried about that. If it ever interfered with our friendship, the business would have to give way. The friendship comes first.”
If your Orange County company has annual sales of less than $10 million, we would like to consider it for a future column. Call O.C. Enterprise at (714) 966-7871.
