MakeQR

QR Code for a Restaurant Menu

Guests read the menu on their own phone

  • Free as a link to a page you already have
  • Hosted pages on Pro, editable any time
  • Checked to scan before you print it

Change where it points after printing, and see how often it is scanned. First two free and permanent.

Menu needs a dynamic code This one cannot be static. A menu or a PDF is a page, not a string — it has to live on a server, so the code points at a short link you own. That is also why you can change it later.

What a dynamic code gives you

  • Change where it points any time, without reprinting anything
  • See how often it has been scanned, and when the last scan was
  • Unlimited scans on every plan, including the free one
  • If you ever stop paying, codes keep working for 30 days with three warnings first
Start buildingMenu is part of Pro, $19/month.

Scan to test

Cafe Nord

Shown in your language
LunchDinnerDrinks

Tomato soup, sourdough

Roasted tomatoes, basil oil

145

Cured salmon

Dill, pickled cucumber, rye

195

Braised short rib

Celeriac, red wine jus

285

Brown butter tart

Crème fraîche, sea salt

110
Start building

Menu is part of Pro, $19/month. Nothing is charged until you choose a plan.

Put your menu online, paste its address here and print the code on table tents or by the door. Guests scan and read the menu on their own phone. A static code to a menu you already host is free with no scan limit. A hosted menu page you edit in your account is part of Pro.

Restaurants reach for a QR code on the table for the main menu, for specials that change too often to reprint, for a wine list, and for the allergen details staff otherwise repeat all night. Guests read it on their own phone instead of passing around one sticky laminated copy.

If the menu already lives on your website or in a PDF online, a static code pointing at it is free and never expires: put it on table tents or by the door. If you would rather edit the menu from your phone without reprinting anything, MakeQR Pro hosts a page behind the code instead. Either way, keep a few printed menus on hand for guests who ask for one.

Setting up menu codes for your tables

  1. Decide what the code opens

    A menu page on your website, a PDF you already host, or a MakeQR menu page on Pro. A web page reads better on a phone than a PDF that needs pinching.

  2. Time it on mobile data

    Step off the restaurant WiFi and time how long the menu takes to appear. Much over three seconds and guests start waving for a paper copy.

  3. Make the code and the table card

    Paste the address in the Link tab for a free static code, or build the menu page in dynamic mode on Pro. Add a line such as Scan for menu and allergens.

  4. Scan every printed card

    Test each card in the dining room before service. A code that reads at a bright desk can fail in candlelight.

Menu page, PDF or hosted menu

Three things a table code can open, each with its own trade-off.

  • A page on your own website

    Free with a static code, fast if your site is, and edited in the tool you already use.

  • A PDF

    Quick if you have a designed menu. Export a phone version: one column, large type, a few megabytes at most.

  • A MakeQR menu page (Pro)

    Sections, dishes, descriptions and prices laid out for a phone and edited in your account. The code on the table stays the same when the menu changes.

Designing a restaurant menu QR code for the table

The code competes with candles, glasses and bread baskets. Print it where it will not be covered: a standing table tent, a sticker at the table edge, or the top of a placemat. Matte lamination survives wiping without glare.

Put your name or logo next to the code, and check the tables at opening. Fake stickers placed over real menu codes, sending guests to a payment page that is not yours, are a known scam. If you offer guest WiFi, the network code can share the same card.

What guests' phones read from the code

A web address and nothing more. For a menu on your own site, it is that page's address. For a hosted menu page, it is a short MakeQR link that forwards to the page, so the menu behind it can change while the printed pattern stays the same.

Inside the code
https://trattorialume.com/menu

Table card placement and code size

Seated guests scan from about 30–40 cm away, so 3 cm (1.2 inch) is the minimum on a table card and 4 cm is kinder in low light. A code in the window or on a sidewalk board, read from two meters, needs about 20 cm. Keep it away from spill zones and out of the glare of spotlights on glossy menus.

Print it at least 30 mm (3.0 cm) wide

Menu QR code mistakes restaurants make

  • A 20 MB PDF

    A menu exported at print resolution takes ages on a weak signal. Export a compressed version for screens.

  • New cards for every price change

    If each update means a new file name, the static code on the table goes stale. Keep the address fixed, or use a dynamic code.

  • No paper fallback

    Some guests have a flat battery, no data or no wish to look at a phone at dinner. Keep printed menus at the host stand.

Static or dynamic for a menu?

If your menu lives on your website at a fixed address that you update in place, a static code is enough and costs nothing. A dynamic code pays off when the address itself changes, for example a new PDF each season or separate lunch and dinner menus you switch between, or when you want to see scans by time of day. The hosted menu page, which you edit yourself, is part of Pro.

How dynamic QR codes work

How restaurants use menu codes

  • A café prints one code on every table tent that opens the menu page on its website.
  • A wine bar links a PDF wine list and overwrites the file under the same address when bottles change.
  • A food truck puts a 15 cm code on the serving hatch so the line can read the menu before ordering.
  • A hotel restaurant runs a hosted menu page and edits the daily specials each morning.

Related QR codes

A QR code that still works next year

Most of what goes wrong with a QR code happens after it is printed. These six things are why ours does not.

  • Checked before you print

    We decode every code you make and read it back. If a logo covers too much or a colour is too faint for paper, you find out here — not after the print run.

  • Unlimited scans, every plan

    Including the free one. A scan cap kills a printed code at the moment it starts working, which is why we do not have one.

  • We do not switch off your codes

    Two dynamic codes stay yours permanently, whatever you pay us. Cancel a paid plan and you keep them — the rest pause after 30 days, with three warnings first, and a paused code shows a neutral page, never a sales page.

  • Made on your device

    Static codes never reach our servers. Your WiFi password, your contact details and your logo stay in the browser — which is also why there is no limit.

  • Ready for the printer

    SVG for anything that gets scaled, and PNG at 1024px so the edges stay hard. Both free, no account.

  • Available in English, Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, Swedish, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Portuguese, and Polish

    The generator and every page speak English, Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, Swedish, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Portuguese, and Polish. More languages follow as each one is reviewed by a native speaker.

See what happens after you print

A dynamic code points at a short link you own. Change where it goes without reprinting anything, and see how often each code has been scanned and when the last scan was.

  • Change the destination any time, as often as you like
  • A scan count and the last scan for every code
  • No scan limit, on any plan
  • Cancel and you keep two codes permanently — the rest pause after 30 days
Start free

2 codes free. Paid from $7/month. Compare plans

MakeQRCNCafe Nord

Analytics

Aug 14 – Sep 12

7D30D90D1Y

Total scans

11,875

18%

Unique scanners

8,431

14%

Active codes

24

3

Scans per day

396

18%

Scans over time

0
200
400
600
800
Aug 14Aug 21Aug 28Sep 4Sep 11

Devices

62%

of scans came from an iPhone

  • iPhone62%
  • Android34%
  • Other4%

QR Code for a Restaurant Menu: questions and answers

Short answers to what people ask before they print. Anything else, write to us.

Ask us something else

What should the code point at?

A page or PDF that loads quickly on a phone and does not need pinching to read. A menu that takes six seconds to appear loses the table before it arrives, and guests end up asking for paper anyway.

What if my menu changes weekly?

If your website's menu page is updated in place, nothing changes: the static code still opens the same address. If each week brings a new file or address, use a dynamic code or a hosted menu page and change what it opens instead of reprinting.

Is a restaurant menu QR code free?

A static code to a menu you already host is free, with no account and no scan limit. A dynamic code to your own link is free for two codes. The hosted menu page that MakeQR builds and serves is part of Pro.

Do guests need an app to scan it?

No. The camera app on iPhone and on current Android phones reads QR codes directly and opens the menu in the browser. Nothing has to be installed, and there is no limit on how many guests scan the same code.

Make a code that still works next year

Free static codes with no account, two permanent dynamic codes, unlimited scans on every plan, and a check that tells you it scans before you print it.

Make a QR code

No account for static codes. Nothing to cancel.