Digital download listings and sales continue to grow on Etsy day by day. People just like you can create digital products and make thousands in passive income every month from this new and relatively simple side hustle. One relatively untapped market on Etsy is the coffee shop and restaurant menu niche.

How to sell coffee/restaurant menus on Etsy as digital downloads. Using a design software, tool, or app like Canva you can create visually appealing coffee shop and restaurant menus that customers can easily buy, download, and customize – making a tutorial video and having an optimized Etsy listing will only help accelerate sales and your Etsy growth potential.

It really is that simple. Once you figure out how to research, design, and list your first food menu digital download on Etsy, it just gets simpler and simpler the next time around. Read below to find out how you can make these digital downloads and best practices for listing them on Etsy to ensure you beat your competition!

What Are Digital Downloads?

The fact that you are here means you know a little bit about digital downloads already.

Maybe you saw a blog post like this one or a video of an entrepreneur explaining how they made “X” amount in passive income on Etsy with this growing side hustle.

Well, you are in the right place because we have probably helped more people research, create, and optimize digital download Etsy listings than any other organization!

Digital downloads are simply digital files that people can create, buy, and sell. Once a transaction is made, customers can then download said files and use them for various purposes.

The best part about digital downloads as a product class is that they require no inventory to be stored, they can be created fairly quickly and for free, and you can sell them as many times as you would like since you own the intellectual property!

And Etsy is the best place to list and sell digital downloads because of its growing customer base, relatively low competition, and niche audience.

Some examples of products as digital files being sold on Etsy include journals, logos, banners, notebooks, diaries, planners, calendars, and printable files like bookmarks, posters, and restaurant or coffee shop menus!

Now that we have the basics covered, let’s actually go into detail on how you can create editable menus and list them on Etsy.

How To Create Editable Coffee Shop/Restaurant Menus?

In general, creating digital downloads is fairly simple. Where people run into snags sometimes is when creating customizable digital downloads or editable files.

Customizable and editable digital downloads on Etsy oftentimes perform better than generic ones because they give customers the opportunity to edit the design files to match their brand aesthetic and vision.

If listed properly editable digital downloads is the way to go on Etsy!

Here’s how you create editable coffee shop and restaurant menus and some best practices when doing so.

1. You will need access to some kind of design software or tool. Now if you are well versed with things like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator then just skip to the end to see how you can best list and optimize your Etsy digital products. For beginners, we recommend using Canva.com because it’s free and easy to use.
2. Once you’ve created your Canva account you can hit “Create Design” at the top right. You can search for “Menu Templates” and some options will come up to help get you started. Otherwise, insert “Custom Size” dimensions for your coffee shop/restaurant menu design.
3. Once you’ve created the blank or template design now you can start inserting various design elements including text, shapes, and images. Use the sidebar on the left to access a wide array of design tools.
4. For menus specifically use a combination of large and small texts as well as two or three fonts that work well together. Try segmenting food and drink choices with shapes like dotted lines.
5. Include images in your design where necessary.
6. Once you are done click “Share” at the top right and select “Template Link”.
7. Generating this link will allow you to offer the product as a customizable design so your customers can access the design copy it for themselves and work on it as they see fit.
8. While you can’t list links on Etsy you can put the link on a PDF and include customization instructions.

PRO TIP: Create a screen recording showing how various elements of your finished design can be edited including the text and images. Speed up this video and include it as part of your Etsy listing content.

Selling Coffeshop and Restaurant Menus as Digital Downloads on Etsy

Making your first digital design may seem hard at first but it’s actually quite simple once you get a hang of it.

The part where people struggle the most is when it comes to actually selling digital downloads on Etsy.

Too many sellers go on Etsy with really great ideas that are truly captivating, unique, and beautiful but if no one sees the designs then they aren’t going to sell.

This is why the most important part of the selling process is research and optimization.

The first thing you do before you even create a design should be research. You need to understand what niches are not being targeted properly. Just because you like Italian food, doesn’t mean an Italian menu as a digital download will sell well on Etsy.

In fact, the Italian menu space may be oversaturated. Instead, you might find that Indian restaurants don’t have digital menus being sold on Etsy.

So how do you figure out which niches have the most interest but the least amount of competition? Well, you could do weeks of research in an attempt to make some correlative conclusions but you will more than likely be wrong and by that time the niche may expire.

Instead, you can focus on designing the digital downloads and let us help you identify the niches you can target.

Our all-in-one Etsy optimization tool will show you in real-time the highest search volume and lowest competition keywords that will not only allow you to identify your niche but will guide you on how to create a hyper-optimized Etsy listing for exponential growth on Etsy!

Get in touch today to find out how you can get started.