If your business depends on having a significant amount of printed material, you may have looked at using an online printing service. However, online printing has its downsides. How do you decide if printing your materials online is really the best choice for your company?
Print Shops “in the Cloud” Vs. Long Island Printers
Online printing sites are usually based in a location where taxes are low and do not maintain a brick and mortar storefront. Their services are usually cheap on the surface, making them seem like an attractive option from a pure cost perspective – at least at first.
These print shops often support a full range of printing services, supplying fliers, catalogs, posters, business cards, and brochures in various sizes, paper stocks, and finishes. Some Internet-based printers will provide design assistance, whether it be a session with a graphic designer or pre-made templates you can tweak and customize yourself from a range of options. Quality of the finished design may vary.
In contrast, a Long Island printer like Viking will often have someone on staff or partner with a designer who can create a custom logo for you and help layout your business printed paper products so everything looks professional.
For a cloud based printer, generally, you’ll be asked to upload your files, then choose the products you want and the type of stock you want them printed on. Add-ons are frequently pushed at you, and you can expect to pay an extreme surcharge for quick shipping or wait up to 3-5 weeks for your order to be processed and delivered.
A local printer will walk you through the process, show you and let you actually touch and feel the different types of cardstock and paper, and clue you in as to what you can expect as far as color printing goes.
Since most online shops only let you proof your design online, you can’t be sure what kind of finished product you will get. A local printer can give you a proof to approve before your order is completed, to ensure that your products are exactly how you envisioned them.
Overall, online printing services tend to be pretty generic. Most business cards purchased from such shops will be blatantly cheap and flimsy unless large surcharges are paid for higher quality cardstock, and inks are not always fast and may bleed in humidity, making you look unprofessional and cheap.
In addition, a local print shop can usually provide faster service with the option for you to pick up your order when it is finished, saving money on shipping charges. When you need a flyer quick for a spur of the moment sale or event, a local paper printer can also provide a faster turn-around than an online print shop.
While online printing offers a cheap option for many small business owners, a local printing shop is almost always the better choice for quality and personal customer service!
Why Your Restaurant Should Switch to Paper Printed Menus
What do most people look at the most in a restaurant? That‘s right – it‘s the printed menu. A typical diner will spend anywhere from 2-10 minutes gazing at wine lists, reading the full list of entrees and appetizers or poring over the dessert menu.
This means that a fair bit of attention to detail should be paid to what your menus look like. Their design, creation and maintenance will all reflect on your establishment, and what your customers will think of you.
There are many different varieties of printed menus. Diners often settle for the simple front and back printed plastic menu that can be kept on the table and even double as a placemat. Of course, any time prices or menu options change, a completely new set must be ordered.
Another option, used by many higher end restaurants, is the leather edged binder with plastic pockets into which professionally printed paper menus can be inserted. These menus can be quickly wiped down and reused many, many times, and changed with much less expense than plastic printing when it’s time for an update.
These types of menus are durable and long lasting, familiar to customers and easy for staff to maintain and keep track of. They also allow a wide range of color and font options to be used, and images of finished dishes can be included as part of the menu to add a level of attractiveness and promote higher cost items with delicious pictures!
Still another option is printed paper menus that are designed to be disposable. These menus can consist of a lightweight paper either standard size or larger, laid flat on the table or folded, and printed on one or more sides. The menu can double as a placemat and drink coaster, and children’s menus can include simple word jumbles, tic-tac-toe diagrams or a picture to be colored in on the reverse side for added value.
Still another form of printed paper menu is a style that allows customers to mark their orders right on the menu. Simple check boxes by each item and a little extra space for notes for special orders can be incorporated into the menus, allowing orders to be placed easily by each member of the dining party.
The menus can be handed out by the host(ess) seating the table, and the wait staff can collect the menus when they take the drink orders. This cuts down on wait time for the table, and gets orders to the kitchen for fulfillment more quickly.
Consider switching to a form of paper printed menu for your restaurant. Your local Long Island paper printer can provide you with professional menus and help keep your business thriving!