Should your online menu be in Spanish?

The Census Bureau reported that about 42 million people in the United States spoke Spanish at home in 2019. That was 62% of everyone who spoke a language other than English at home.

The same report found that 39% of Spanish speakers spoke English less than “very well.” For those guests, an English-only ordering page is harder to use than it needs to be.

Why it matters more online than at the counter

At the counter a guest can point, ask, and be understood. On a phone there is nobody to ask. The guest has to read the options, the add-ons and the allergy notes alone, and then pay. That is where a misunderstanding turns into a wrong order or an abandoned cart.

Decide from your own guests

National figures do not tell you about your street. Look at who comes in. If your staff already take orders in Spanish at the counter or on the phone, the online menu should offer it too.

What to translate first

• Options and add-ons: sizes, spice levels, sides, and anything the guest must choose
• Allergy and dietary notes
• Item descriptions
• Category names such as starters, mains and drinks

Dish names usually stay as they are. A guest looking for your lomo saltado or your chapli kabob is looking for that name.

Check the translation

Machine translation is a good first draft and a poor final one for food. It gets ingredients mostly right and regional dish names often wrong. Ask a Spanish speaker on your team to read every line before it goes live, and again when you add new items.

How it works on Kitchn

Kitchn storefronts support English and Spanish, and a guest switches between them with one tap. You translate menu content in the dashboard. Machine translation fills in a first version, and you edit it before it is shown to guests.