QR codes for restaurant menus
A menu is the most-reprinted thing in a restaurant, and the least likely to be right for long. Prices move, suppliers change, a dish comes off. A QR code that points at a redirect lets the printed piece outlive all of it.
What changes behind the code
- Seasonal menus, swapped four times a year without touching the print.
- Price changes, which are the most common reason a menu is reprinted early.
- A dish that sells out or comes off the list mid-service.
- Service-specific menus — brunch on the weekend, a set list on a holiday.
What a reprint costs here
Menus are printed in the thousands and often laminated, which makes a mid-season correction expensive enough that most kitchens just live with the error. Table tents and window decals are worse: they are installed one at a time by hand.
What to point it at
- A menu page on your own site, so the code survives you changing anything else.
- A PDF, if that is genuinely how your menu is maintained — though a web page reads better on a phone.
- An ordering or reservation page during the hours you want to push it.
Printing it
Print it larger than feels necessary
Menus are read in low light, often at arm's length. A code around 2 cm square is the practical floor for a table tent, and larger is better on a window where people scan from further away.
Keep the contrast high
A code printed in a brand colour on a dark background is the most common reason a menu code fails to scan. Dark on light, with a clear margin around it, is the reliable choice.
Make one for restaurant menus.
100 codes free, no card. Change where any of them points whenever the thing behind it changes. Style one first — the builder needs no account.
Make a QR code