Identify a medium for your restaurant cookbook based on the number of recipes it will contain, your production budget and whether it will display photographs. Some of your options include hardcover, softcover, booklet, spiral-bound and CD-ROM. Hardcover is the most expensive to produce and generally the most impractical unless it's very large and can lay flat. If you have only a few recipes, a booklet is the cheapest and can be done on a home computer. Spiral-bound cookbooks are easy for cooks to use and fairly inexpensive to have done at Kinko's. CD-ROMs have the advantage of huge capacity, the incorporation of color photographs and the ability of home chefs to print out only the pages they need for meal preparation.
Create a list of recipes. If you're producing a small booklet, you may just want to focus on your house specialties or a specific course such as your appetizers or desserts. Another option is to include recipes pertinent to the season or special holidays. If your plan is to produce a large book or a CD-ROM, you may want to create sections for appetizers, salads, soups, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. Draft a table of contents to ensure you don't leave anything out as you start writing recipes.
Design a simple template so that each page of your cookbook has a uniform look. At a minimum, each page needs a complete list of ingredients, their measurements and step-by-step instructions on how to prepare, cook and serve the meal. Extra elements may include sketches, photographs, recommended substitutions, wine pairings and anecdotes about where the various recipes come from.
Write down each recipe, keeping in mind your book's target readership. Most home kitchens, for example, aren't going to be outfitted with the high-tech culinary tools and equipment. Nor is the ordinary person going to understand all of the cooking terminology that you and your chef take for granted. The objective of your cookbook is to make its content approachable and fun for customers who want to replicate your restaurant's food at home. Test the thoroughness of each recipe's directions by having novice cooks prepare them and provide you with feedback on the ease of use.
Assemble all of the recipes in the order dictated by your table of contents. Write a short introduction as well as a glossary and index for quick reference. Add a cover and your cookbook is ready for production.