Holiday Menu Health Workshop Recap: How to Optimize Your DoorDash Menu
Learn simple ways to level up your menu's photos, descriptions, and accuracy this holiday season.
As holiday demand ramps up, we unpacked quick, high-impact ways to improve DoorDash store pages in our Menu Health Workshop.
We walked through what affects menu health and shared real examples and easy updates you can make ahead of the busy season.
Catch up on the key takeaways from the session below, or watch the full recording here.
Key takeaways
Refresh your top items: Update photos and descriptions so your best sellers stand out before holiday demand spikes.
Keep your menu accurate: Correct hours, pricing, and stock information help reduce cancellations and build customer trust.
Make small, meaningful updates: Even small adjustments — like revamping item descriptions — can improve how customers browse and order.
Use tools already in the Merchant Portal: From photo editing to real-time menu updates, the Merchant Portal gives you everything you need to optimize quickly.
What menu health is — and why it matters
Menu health reflects how complete, accurate, and helpful your store page is for customers. According to DoorDash's Associate Manager of Merchant Strategy & Operations, Ben Ringel, the core question here is: how easy is it for customers to understand your menu?
"You want customers to instantly understand what the item is, what they'll experience when they order it, and what makes it compelling enough to buy."
Menu health focuses on three areas or pillars:
1. Content quality
How does your menu look and read? Clear photos, accurate descriptions, and organized categories help customers feel confident ordering and make it easier for them to discover new items.
2. Menu accuracy
Does the information on your menu match your in-store experience and what customers expect to receive? Keeping hours, prices, availability, and modifiers up to date helps prevent order issues and cancellations, especially during busy holiday changes.
3. Performance insights
How do customers interact with your menu? Small updates like refreshed photos or reorganized categories can help customers navigate more easily and engage with your menu.
Quick menu updates you can make today
Here are a few impactful tips we covered during the session that you can use to improve your menu health:
Refresh or add item photos
"Strong photos and videos improve trust, reduce hesitation, and help customers understand what makes your food special. And don't worry — you don't need to be a professional photographer."
Use the built-in photo editor in the Merchant Portal to optimize your photos
Add photos for seasonal or limited-time items
Keep lighting and framing consistent across your menu
Elevate your menu with photos (and videos!) from your restaurant’s Instagram account.
Learn more about how to add photos to your menu and how to get your photos approved.
Improve item descriptions
Item descriptions are paramount, especially if you have a cuisine some customers may not be familiar with.
Highlight key ingredients or flavors
Set expectations around portion size
Improve searchability in the DoorDash app
Clarify add-ons or substitutions
Ben's top tip? Go beyond the basics.
To make updates faster, you can also use the AI-powered item description generator in Merchant Portal and Business Manager app. This tool helps create clear, accurate descriptions based on your inputs. Once generated, you can review and edit the text to match your brand's voice.
Learn more about how to add menu items and descriptions.
Check hours, pricing, and item availability
The holidays often bring adjusted hours or special menus. Our hosts reminded merchants to consider the following updates to help reduce cancellations and improve the customer experience:
Confirm holiday hours in the Merchant Portal
Review modifiers for accuracy
Mark items out-of-stock promptly
Keep a pulse on built-in insights
For the holiday season (and beyond), Ben encouraged merchants to access the Insights Hub in the Merchant Portal to see what items are performing well and what could use more attention.
Dive deeper into Insights.
Want to learn more?
Visit the DoorDash Learning Center for more menu best practices, or revisit the top holiday menu health tips with the full webinar on-demand here.
