Build your own English breakfast menu.

Summary/Overview

Sizzling sausages. Crispy bacon. Piles of hash browns. Traditional English breakfast menus have stolen our hearts (and stomachs) dating all the way back to the 14^th century – and it’s not hard to see why. Indeed, it’s virtually impossible to resist an indulgent ‘Full English’, with tempting juicy tomatoes, golden fried bread, and gorgeous runny egg yolks to savour.

Whether you’re an established café looking to draw in the breakfast crowd, or just setting up shop as the perfect brunch spot, this article spills the beans on how to craft an enticing English breakfast menu. Traditional, or something more alternative, the choice is yours. Our top tips can help your online offering, outdoor board or tabletop handout look the business.

What’s included in a traditional English breakfast menu?

The typical English breakfast menu we know and love today owes its origins to the Landed Gentry. It all started as a grand hunt breakfast, before being adopted by upper and middle-class Victorians. By the Edwardian era, the ingredients became standardised, and it had become adopted by more middle-class families. In the 1950s, it became a staple breakfast for the working class as well – covering pretty much the entire UK population!

Luckily for us, the Full English breakfast menu is so popular now that you can indulge in bacon and eggs at any time of the day – with many cafes offering it as an “all-day-breakfast”.

Here are the golden essentials that your customers will know and love. The English breakfast menu list usually includes:

• Bacon
• Eggs – fried, poached or scrambled
• Tomatoes – fried or grilled
• Mushrooms
• Fried bread or toast
• Baked beans
• Black pudding
• Sausages
• Bubble and squeak
• Hash browns
• Tea or coffee
• Orange juice

Of course, there’s now a variety of plant-based alternatives joining the fun for vegetarian and vegan diners, with seitan sausages, tofu scramble and tempeh bacon all modern additions. These alternatives can be used to add a meat-free twist to a traditional English breakfast menu.

6 English breakfast menu ideas.

Encourage your customers to indulge in a proper brekkie, by coming up with an eye-catching menu for your full English breakfast. We have a range of Adobe Express templates to help you create the most mouthwatering advert for your food offerings, pulling in customers from far and wide.

The following sample English breakfast menu templates offer an egg-cellent place to start:

Tips to make your English breakfast menu stand out.

Make sure your creation does a great job of getting the taste buds tingling before a diner’s even sampled what you have to offer.

Keeping your fonts bold and easy to read, using eye-catching colours, and adding good quality photographs of your delicious dishes will all go a long way.

Your English breakfast menu will look as good as it tastes with our top tips:

Add some egg-citing imagery.

If your customers haven’t ordered from you before, they’ll have to take your word, or images, for just how good it is. Make their choice an easy one with mouthwatering photos of crispy bacon, rich red tomatoes and bright golden eggs. A photo collage for the front is a great option. The better it looks, the more they’ll want to try it.

Keep branding consistent.

Getting your menu colours and fonts aligned with your café branding helps build consistency. Make sure you choose an easy-to-read font and space out the text, so it’s clear and simple to spot your best brunch-y offerings. Don’t be afraid to use infographics and splashes of colour to really make things stand out.

Go beyond breakfast with an all-day menu.

A traditional English breakfast menu is so popular – why limit it to a time frame? After all, cravings for eggs and beans defy space and time. Plus, not everyone is an early bird. Open up your selection to a later brunch or even an all-day offering – perfect for those late risers – and make this a central feature of your final menu.

Include vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free alternatives.

Expand your English breakfast menu for customers with special dietary requirements. Simple swaps like offering gluten-free bread and plant-based meat substitutes can go a long way in opening up your selection for everyone to enjoy. Doing weekly specials? Make that USP sing from the get-go when making your menu.

Share a preview of your English breakfast menu on social media.

Show off your new full English breakfast menu across social channels to bring home the bacon. Posting a preview to Facebook or Instagram might encourage new customers to come on down. You don’t need to show everything if you don’t want to, of course. Posting a sneak preview of a new menu item to build excitement for your brand can also work.

Make a reel show of mouthwatering menu items.

Practice your video editing skills and create an Instagram reel to show off the best your breakfasts have to offer. Pair some engaging imagery to a catchy tune and you’re off to a winner. You could even get your staff involved – show a ‘day in the life’ of your kitchen, or create a ‘meet the chef’ reel.

Get people talking about your menu.

Engage with your audience, whether that be online or offline. Head to social media and ask people to choose their favourite items in a typical English breakfast menu – or cause a stir by asking which item they would always leave out! You could hand out posters or flyers advertising your new full menu too – especially if you’re able to make any special offers with it.

Personalise your menu offering.

The beauty of a full English breakfast is that it has SO MANY elements that can be altered or swapped out to suit everyone’s tastes. Beyond vegan and gluten-free alternatives, be open to making little changes for your customers. Whether they like their eggs sunny-side up or over-easy, go above and beyond to make their experience perfect – and shout about it on the menu itself.

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Useful things to know.