How to make a QR code menu guests can actually use

Step 1: decide what the code opens

A QR code is just a link. Scanning it opens whatever page the link points to, so the first decision is what that page is.

The quickest route is to upload the PDF of your printed menu and link to that. It works, but guests end up pinching and dragging across a page designed for paper. A menu built as a web page fits the phone screen, respects the guest's text size, and lets you change a price without making a new file.

• PDF menu or web menu: what works better on a phone

Step 2: write the menu for a phone screen

• Short categories, so guests can jump straight to drinks or dessert
• A price beside every dish, with the currency clear for visitors
• Allergens and dietary options on the dish itself, not on a separate sheet
• A short explanation wherever the name alone will not tell a visitor what the dish is

Step 3: make the code

Any QR code generator can turn a link into a code. Two things are worth checking first.

Know where the code points. Some generators put their own short link inside the code, and the printed code stops working if that account lapses. A code that points to your menu's own address keeps working for as long as the menu does.

Keep it plain. Dark modules on a light background, with a clear margin around the code, scan most reliably. Coloured or inverted codes look good on screen and fail in a dim room.

Step 4: print it at a size phones can read

A common rule of thumb is that a code can be scanned from about ten times its own width. A seated guest holds a phone 20 to 30 cm from the table, so a code of around 3 cm is a sensible minimum, and bigger is easier. A code in a window, read from the footpath, needs to be much larger.

Step 5: put it where guests look

• On every table, as a table tent or card, not only at the counter
• In the window, so passers by can read the menu before they come in
• On the printed menu, for guests who would rather read their own language
• Beside the till, for takeaway customers deciding what to order

Step 6: test it on real phones

• Scan with an iPhone and an Android phone, from where a seated guest would hold it
• Try it on mobile data, not only on your own wifi
• Change a price and check the change appears
• Ask someone who reads another language to try it

Keep a paper menu too

Some guests do not want to use their phone, and some phones are flat. A QR menu works best as an option beside the paper menu rather than a replacement for it.

• QR code menu or paper menu: the honest pros and cons

Where MenuPal fits

MenuPal builds the web menu and the QR codes for you, ready to print as table tents or cards. Each guest's menu opens in the language their phone is set to, allergens included, and a change you make shows up in every language.

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