Sans serif fonts are cleaner looking, to be sure, but can decrease readability, especially around the upper case i, lower case L, and the numeral 1.
Somewhat ironically, the Comic Sans font is often recommended because not only is it readable on average, but it is specifically easier for those with dyslexia to read.
But, y’know… it could always be worse.
The whole thing could be in Papyrus or Chopsticks.
Or green!
My rationale for Arial is that it seldom trips up OCR tech. I supervised a project to get several hundreds of thousands of old legal documents scanned in, into text readable format.
Plainer fonts like Arial gave the OCR programs little problems, while more stylized fonts were nightmares. As just one example, the OCR programs of that time saw the frequent “r-n” combo as an “m” in many somewhat more stylized fonts, including even mildly stylized like TNR, but never made that mistake with Arial.
Plus, it’s just easier for me to read, too!
When I make labels for DVDs or CDs, I try to choose appropriate fonts (e.g. “Hebrew” font for Jewish films). But sometimes I have to sacrifice that for readability. 
There’s a whole school of thought on designing fonts for Roman letters to go along with non-Roman languages (Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, most Asian languages).
So many of the current ones, particularly “Chopsticks” (that ubiquitous Chinese Restaurant font) are the product of white designers taking a lot of misunderstood and simplified stylistic cues from other writing systems and scattering them about to convey a sense of exoticism.
A lot of modern designers are rethinking these things and designing fonts to mesh smoothly with other writing systems.
“corn chips / mkt”
What’s the market price on corn chips these days? Cause I have a whole pantry full and am ready to sell if prices are up.
I worked in the IT department briefly, and hadn’t realized how much those folks hated Comic Sans, which to me is one of the most easily readable fonts out there.
OT but hey, it’s my day job, sometimes.
Oh my. I’m a font/typography geek. Love this!
I just wish they’d all switch the the fonts that help folks with dyslexia. San serif, ariel, tahoma, open sans, century gothic or calibri.
My Kindle has a font called OpenDyslexic that my one nephew said was easier to read. It looks like this- hope it pastes
AAAAACK!!! IBM Selectric Orator font- get thee behind me, Satan!! 
That’s the new one I was trying to find. It was created by a dyslexic. Being an educator, I’m a little embarrassed I couldn’t remember that.
Yes, kernelling absolutely makes a font or typeface more legible and easier on the eyes! As I age and now need progressive lenses, it’s so helpful to have more spacing between letters and characters in general.
I think you meant “kerning” (I’m guessing autocorrect?)
There’s even a whole subreddit (of course there is!) devoted to badly kerned fonts or places where a designer has hosed it regarding letter spacing.
Naturally, it’s r/keming
Haha, yes. I love when my fingers type faster than my brain.
Fonts, typefaces, kerning, … Let’s start with the basics. A menu (or just about anything else) needs contrast. Black type (and not skinny little lines) on a white background is best. Dark gray on a light gray background (seen recently on some food packaging) is somewhere near the worst. And keeping in mind that some folks are colorblind, fight the urge to go for a green on red Christmas menu. 
