A Trip Down A Menu's Memory

Dive into the fascinating evolution of paper and its profound impact on the world of dining through our company's history. From Ts’ai Lung's revolutionary creation in 105CE to the artisan improvements in Fabriano and the rise of the restaurant menu, we explore the journey of how paper shaped dining culture. Now, in the beginning of 2025, join us at Cleveland Menu where we continue to innovate and adapt, ensuring that the legacy of menus not only survives but thrives in the modern age.

History of Paper

The year was 105CE. Ts’ai Lung, a court official under the Chinese Han Dynasty was about to create something that would change the world. Lung was tired of having to carry around bamboo or bones in order to transcribe court proceedings. Instead, he figured that he could use fibers from cloth that was beaten to a pulp, mixed with water, and hung to dry. Thus, the world was introduced to the first edition of paper.

The Han Dynasty successfully kept this process secret for another 300 years before it found its way to what is today the Middle East. The papermaking secret traveled along the Silk Road. It was not until the 11th century that paper made its way into Europe, with the Arab conquest of Sicily and Spain. At this time, Europe actually viewed paper as inferior to papyrus so much so that the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, banned its use for public documents.

This all changed when the people of Fabriano, a small town in Italy, made significant improvements to papermaking by using hydraulic mills and adding gelatin to keep insects from eating it. With the new improvements to the paper, invention of the printing press, and discovery of the Americas, paper took off. The demand quickly outgrew the supply of rags and cloths that were being used to create the paper. This led to people looking for other sources. Trees were in such abundance in both Europe and the Americas that wood pulp soon became the primary ingredient in paper making, which stands today.

History of Menus

Restaurant menus originated the same place paper did: Ancient China. However, these came about roughly 1,000 years later under the Song Dynasty in the 12th century. There was a lot of travel among merchants to and from the two cities of Hangzhou and Kaifeng and the regional dishes of the local eateries were unknown to the foreign visitors. Welcome to the birth of the menu.

The modern day menu became popularized in 18th century France. Fancy dining was mainly confined to the private dining of in-house French aristocrats. The chefs used menus to list different types of proteins and different meals their patrons could choose from. This use led to the association of menus with fine dining, as well as French food being solely upper class. For a considerable time, fine dining menus were in French, no matter what country they were in because of said association. We actually get the word “menu” from the French. They took it from the Latin word “minutus,” which meant small. Originally, in French, “menu” just meant something small and detailed. Today, of course, “menu” is defined as a list of available food to be served.

The late 18th to the early 19th century saw the mass popularization of menus. They spread outside of France and outside of the aristocratic dining. When more middle class people learned to read, more moderate restaurants used menus to list their entrees and/or specials. In 1837, Delmonico’s Steakhouse opened in New York City and famously became the first American restaurant to traditionally use a menu (still in French) to give diners the option to order specific items directly from the list.

History of Cleveland Menu

Fast forward to 1912, where our founder, Julius Ramella was born and raised in a small orphanage in West Virginia. When he was 16, he moved to Cleveland and began working as a printer for a small Cleveland printing company. Two years later, in 1930, he bought the printing division of the company and officially founded Cleveland Menu, originally Cleveland Menu Printing.

We originally printed daily menus for restaurants in the Cleveland area, but we grew rapidly. By the time Julius Ramella’s son, Gerry, took over the company in 1978 we had expanded to all things menu. We still printed menus, but we added a woodshop and a bindery department. Now, we could not only print menus, but also make menu boards, covers, check presenters, etc. We were able to do anything the modern restaurant needed.

Under Gerry, we began to grow our clientele too. In the 1980’s we expanded to doing work for restaurants all over the midwest. Thanks to faxes and express delivery, we were able to offer similar delivery and production times for restaurants in Chicago as if they were in Cleveland. We didn’t stop there. With the internet boom in the mid 1990's, we suddenly had instant communication across the world wide web. We jumped on that train and utilized it to grow Cleveland Menu across the country, gaining a large presence in Las Vegas, Florida, and Texas. Learn more about our history.

Modern Day

Now the year is 2025. Paper has been around for almost 2,000 years. Menus for 1,000 years. And Cleveland Menu for 96. Ts’ai Lung was at the forefront of innovation when he mashed wet rags to invent paper. The city of Fabriano was at the forefront when they used hydraulic mills and gelatin.

Today, Cleveland Menu, led by Gerry’s sons Pat and Jim, is at the forefront of innovation in menu making. We are continually changing and improving our services to stay at the top of our game. Whether that was printing QR codes when the Covid Pandemic hit, or creating a service that allows corporations to build menu templates to give guidelines for their franchisees. The most recent addition to our arsenal is the creation of a DIY ecommerce site that enables restaurants to upload their own pdf menu to print it on our proprietary durapoly stock.

The world has changed multiple times over in the past 2,000 years. Paper and menus survived by constantly adapting to fit people’s needs. Cleveland Menu is no different. We're committed to evolving and thriving for the next 96 years and beyond.

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