Plenty of clients won't ask for a coffee or a blanket unless someone tells them they can. A printed card at each station fixes that for the cost of a few sheets of cardstock.
A chairside menu is a small card at each station that lists the extras a client can ask for while she's in your chair. Water, coffee, a warm blanket, a charger. It works in a big salon, a single suite or a room in your house, because all it needs is a card and someone who answers when she picks something.
Why a list beats a kind offer
Asking "can I get you anything?" sounds generous. But a lot of people say no on reflex, because they don't want to be a bother and they don't know what "anything" covers. Put the same offer in writing and it stops being a favor. It's just part of the visit, and she can point at the line she wants.
It also gives your assistant or front desk a reason to stop by during a long color appointment. That matters more than the coffee does. In a Square survey of 2,009 US adults in May 2024, 87% of committed salon clients said they look forward to catching up with their stylist. The menu is one more small reason to talk to her.
What to put on it
Keep it to three or four things you can deliver within two minutes on a packed Saturday. Each one should solve something she'd actually feel in the chair:
- Still or sparkling water. She's sitting for two hours or more, and nobody brings a bottle to a haircut.
- Coffee or tea. Name the drinks you really make. "Oat milk latte" reads like a treat. "Beverages" reads like a vending machine.
- A blanket. Air vents and a wet cape make a cold client fast, and she won't mention it until she's miserable.
- A phone charger. A phone at 5% turns a relaxed client into one watching the clock.
Leave off anything you can't keep stocked. A client who orders the one thing you're out of remembers that, not the three things that went fine.
Three ways to take the order
Start with the cheapest version and only move up if it isn't working.
- A printed card. Set a card at every mirror. She tells whoever walks by. No tech, nothing to break.
- A QR code to a free form. Print a code on the card that opens a short online form with checkboxes and her station number. Set the form to send you a notification on each new answer. Now she can order without flagging anyone down, and nobody has to leave a foil mid-section to take it.
- Ask when she books. If your booking software lets you add a question to the booking form, ask what she'd like waiting for her. Her drink is ready when she sits down, which looks like you remembered her.
Whichever you pick, test it once from a client's phone before you print a hundred cards. If you can't order a water in under thirty seconds, neither can she.
Before you add wine or champagne
A glass of bubbly sounds like an easy upgrade. The rules for serving alcohol at a business that doesn't hold a liquor license vary by state, and sometimes by city. Some places allow a complimentary drink with a service. Others don't, even when nothing is sold. Call your state's alcohol control agency before it goes on the card, and get the answer in writing.
Let people see it before they book
The menu does a second job online. A photo of the card next to a latte on your station shows a stranger what an appointment with you feels like, which a before and after can't. Put that photo in your Instagram highlights and on your Google Business Profile, where people look while they're deciding where to book.
If you want more on that, here's what actually books clients on social media.
How to know it's working
Give it a month, then count two things. First, how many new reviews mention the drink, the blanket or "the little menu." Second, whether first-time clients rebook at a higher rate than the month before. If neither moved, change one item on the card and try another month.
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