Menu Board ROI Calculator
Menu Board ROI Calculator is a free tool that lets you compare the true annual cost of printed menus against digital menu boards. Enter your numbers and it instantly shows you annual costs for each approach, your payback period, 5-year net savings, and a cumulative cost chart. Numbers save automatically in your browser.
No login or registration required.
What It Calculates
The calculator works in three sections: your printed menu costs, your digital menu board costs, and the results.
Printed Menus
Enter the costs associated with your current printed menu operation:
Field | Description |
Locations | Number of locations you're calculating for |
Menus per location | Number of printed menu boards per location |
Cost per menu | Design and print cost per menu copy |
Reprints per year | How many times per year you reprint (seasonal updates, LTO changes, price changes) |
Shipping per order | Shipping cost per print order |
Design labor / yr / location | Annual design and content labor cost per location |
The calculator shows a live cost breakdown as you type.
Digital Menu Boards
Enter the costs for a digital signage deployment:
Field | Description |
Hardware per location | Total cost of screens, players, and installation per location |
Hardware life (years) | How many years you expect the hardware to last (used to amortize the cost) |
Software / mo / location | Monthly software subscription cost per location (e.g. Menuboard Manager) |
Content labor / yr / location | Annual labor for managing digital content per location |
Two optional sections are available for more complete calculations:
Energy costs — Enter screens per location, watts per screen, hours on per day, and your kWh rate to include electricity in the comparison.
Revenue uplift — Enter average daily sales per location, gross margin %, estimated digital sales uplift % (industry average is 3–15%), and days open per year. The calculator adds the projected revenue gain to the annual net benefit.
Results
The calculator produces five key metrics:
Metric | What it shows |
Annual Print Cost | Total annual cost of printed menus across all locations |
Annual Digital Cost | Total annual cost of digital boards, including amortized hardware |
Annual Net Benefit | Annual savings from going digital, plus any revenue uplift |
Payback Period | How many years until the hardware investment is recovered |
5-Year Net Savings | Total net savings over five years after accounting for hardware cost |
Below the metrics, the Cumulative Cost Over Time chart plots both lines so you can see visually when digital becomes less expensive than print and how the gap widens over time.
An insight banner summarizes the comparison in plain language once you've entered enough numbers.
How to Use It
Go to Menu Board ROI Calculator.
Fill in the Printed Menus section with your current costs.
Fill in the Digital Menu Boards section. Use your actual Menuboard Manager subscription cost for the software field.
Optionally expand Energy costs and Revenue uplift for a more complete picture.
Review the results — the payback period and 5-year savings are the most useful numbers for a buying decision.
Use ↺ Reset to defaults to clear your numbers and start over.
Your numbers are saved automatically in your browser, so you can close the tab and return without re-entering anything.
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