MenuPalWhy some guests dislike QR menus
- Being made to use a phone when they wanted to put it away
- A PDF that needs pinching and zooming to read
- A slow page on a weak mobile signal
- Being asked to download an app or sign up before seeing any food
- A flat battery
Most of these can be fixed
Most of these are problems with how a QR menu was set up rather than with the idea. The first and the last are fair whatever you do, which is why the paper menu should stay.
What paper does better
A paper menu is there the moment a guest sits down. Everyone at the table can look at it together, it never needs a signal, and a regular who knows the menu can order in seconds.
What a QR menu does better
- It can open in the guest's own language
- A new price or dish shows straight away, with nothing to reprint
- Sold out dishes can come off the menu in the middle of service
- Allergen information sits on each dish
- Guests can make the text larger, and screen readers can read it aloud
The case for both
Put a QR code on the table and on the paper menu. Guests who are happy with paper keep reading paper. Visitors who would struggle with your language, guests checking allergens, and anyone who wants larger text scan the code. Nobody is forced either way.
If you do use a QR menu
- Open a web page, not a PDF
- No app, no sign up and no cookie banner between the guest and the menu
- Make sure it loads quickly on a weak connection
- Show the menu in the guest's own language
- How to make a QR code menu guests can actually use
- PDF menu or web menu: what works better on a phone
How MenuPal approaches it
MenuPal is built to sit beside your paper menu. Guests scan, and the menu opens in the browser in their phone's language, with no app, no sign up and no cookies.
Questions
Do QR code menus save money?
They save reprinting when prices or dishes change. If you keep paper menus for guests who prefer them, you will still print some, just less often.