Guide · Cost
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QR menu vs paper menu: the real cost
A paper menu costs you every time a price changes: new prints for every table, often several times a year. A read-only QR menu removes that cost. An ordering QR menu does more, because guests order themselves and staff stop walking back and forth taking orders. The calculator below puts numbers on both for your restaurant.
Your numbers
Printing
Taking orders
Printing paper menus
₹4,800
a year
Staff time taking orders
60 hrs
a month that guests can take over by ordering from the table
Starting values: ₹100 for a bound, laminated menu (Indian print quotes run ₹50–150 a copy) and two reprints a year (casual restaurants typically update every six months). Three minutes per order is our estimate, not a measured figure. Put in your own printer's quote and order count. A month is 30 days.
What paper menus really cost
The print bill is the visible part: menus per table, times the price per printed menu, times how many times a year you reprint. In India a bound, laminated multi-page menu costs about ₹50–150 a copy, and a single laminated page ₹15–40. Prices change with vegetable and gas costs, dishes come and go, and a stained or torn menu gets replaced. Many restaurants live with crossed-out prices and stickers instead, which guests notice.
The hidden part is time. On a paper menu every order needs a person: to bring the menu, come back when the table is ready, write it down and carry it to the kitchen. At rush hour that is the job that falls behind first.
Where a QR menu saves, and where it doesn't
A read-only QR menu, such as a PDF behind a QR code, saves the reprints and not much else. Guests still wait for someone to take the order.
An ordering QR menu saves the order-taking. Guests order when they are ready, rounds go on the same bill, and the kitchen reads a screen instead of a slip. Staff still bring food, clear tables and look after guests, which is the part of service people remember.
Being honest about it: if you change prices once a year and have staff to spare, printing may be cheaper than any software. The case for QR ordering is time at rush hour, not paper.
Keep a few paper menus anyway
Some guests prefer paper, and a phone battery can die. Keep a small stack of printed menus at the counter. With a QR menu they no longer need to be on every table, so reprinting a handful is cheap.
Questions owners ask
Is a QR menu cheaper than a paper menu?
For printing, usually, if you change prices more than once a year. The bigger difference is staff time: an ordering QR menu removes most of the time spent taking orders, which a printed menu cannot.
Do restaurants still need printed menus with a QR menu?
Keep a few at the counter for guests who ask. They no longer need to be on every table, so you reprint far fewer.
How much does a QR ordering menu cost?
Thaalo is ₹999 a month on the Counter plan and ₹1,499 on the Table plan, with no commission, no setup fee and printed QR tents included on Table.
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