Ménez has earned caps with all of France's youth teams. He is a member of the group, commonly known as the "Génération 1987", that produced current internationals Hatem Ben Arfa, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, alongside himself. Ménez made his youth international debut with the under-16 team on 11 December 2002 in a friendly match against Greece, playing alongside Nasri and Ben Arfa. In the match, Ménez scored the fifth goal of a 6–1 victory. At the 2003 Aegean Cup in Turkey, he scored goals in three consecutive matches. Ménez scored goals against the Ukraine and Israel and netted his final goal in the third-place match against Belgium.