How to make a QR menu for your restaurant

Step 1: Decide what the QR should do

There are two kinds of QR menu. A read-only menu is usually a PDF or image behind a QR code: cheap, but the guest still calls a waiter to order and you reprint whenever a price changes. An ordering menu lets the guest order and send it to the kitchen, tagged with the table.

If the goal is only to save printing, a read-only menu is enough. If the goal is fewer missed orders, faster table turns or freeing a waiter at rush hour, you want ordering.

Step 2: Get your menu ready

Start from your printed menu. Check every price, group dishes into the sections guests expect, and write down the variants (half/full, regular/large) and add-ons with their prices. Mark veg and non-veg clearly: many guests filter on it first.

Photos help the dishes that sell on looks. Ten good photos of your best sellers beat a blurry photo of everything.

Step 3: Choose the software

Whatever you pick, check these before you pay:

• Guests should not need to download an app or create an account
• One QR per table, so the kitchen knows where each order goes
• Sold-out and price changes from a phone, reflected instantly
• Orders reach a kitchen screen or printer, not just a staff phone
• Bills with GST and service charge, so you are not re-entering orders
• No commission on orders; a flat, published monthly price
• Your data back if you leave

Step 4: Print and place the QR codes

Use one QR code per table, printed at least 3 cm across on a tent card or table sticker, with the table number printed beside it. Put it where a seated guest can scan without leaning. Avoid glossy lamination under direct lights: the glare stops phones reading the code.

Add a single line of instruction such as 'Scan to see the menu and order'. Test every table with an ordinary Android phone before opening.

Step 5: Train staff and go live

Staff need three habits: watch the kitchen screen, mark dishes sold out the moment they run out, and help the first few guests scan. Ten minutes of practice is enough. Keep a few printed menus for guests who prefer them.

After the first week, look at what sold, when the rush came and which dishes nobody ordered. That is the first menu edit, and with a QR menu it costs nothing to make.