How to create a QR menu for your restaurant: from dish list to first order

A guest scans the square on the table and opens the menu. From here the scenarios diverge. In one venue a PDF opens and has to be pinched and zoomed. In another the guest sees a page with photos, ingredients and an “Add” button. In a third the guest also pays from the phone without waiting for the bill. The scan looks the same in all three cases. The difference is where the link leads and what you have put there.

This guide is for the owner or manager who wants to launch a QR menu without drowning in detail. Six steps: choose the format, prepare the dishes, publish the menu, place the QR code, test from a phone and set up updates. A separate section covers the conditions under which you need a POS system and a payment provider. The configuration examples come from Eatery Club, but the sequence of steps works for any service.

Step 1. Choose the format

Here are four common QR menu formats, with different setup requirements.

PDF behind a QR code

What the guest sees: A file with the menu, opened in the browser

What the venue needs: An up-to-date PDF and a permanent link to it

When it is enough: A short menu that rarely changes; the waiter takes the order

Mobile menu

What the guest sees: A page with categories, photos, descriptions and prices; opens without an app

What the venue needs: A catalogue of dishes with photos and descriptions. In Eatery Club the catalogue is synchronised with the POS system

When it is enough: A menu with photos and frequent changes; the waiter still takes the order

Ordering at the table

What the guest sees: The same menu plus a cart: the guest adds dishes and the order reaches the till with the table number

What the venue needs: POS integration, tables taken from the venue map, the table-ordering service type

When it is enough: When waiters cannot keep up with orders at peak hours

Payment from the phone

What the guest sees: The guest pays the order online; if the restaurant has enabled the tip step, the guest can add a tip

What the venue needs: Everything above plus a payment provider and configured payment types

When it is enough: When you want guests to pay without waiting for a waiter

The levels follow one another, and you do not have to start with the last one. You can begin with a PDF or a mobile menu and add ordering later, once the team is used to the new flow. Ordering requires a supported POS integration; online payment also requires a payment provider. More on this in the last section.

Step 2. Prepare the dishes, prices and photos

How convenient the menu will be depends on this stage, so plan it first.

Dish list and prices. If you have a POS system, it is the main record for menu data. In Eatery Club, products are created in the till and pulled into the admin panel with the menu synchronisation button. The name, price, weight and composition come from the till; correct them there too, because the next synchronisation overwrites changes made in the panel. New items arrive inactive and are switched on manually. If you prepare a PDF menu manually, appoint one person to keep its prices consistent with the till.

Structure. Categories should follow the way a guest thinks: “Breakfast”, “Pizza”, “Drinks”, not the kitchen’s internal codes. Every category needs at least one active dish. In Eatery Club a category is shown to guests only when several conditions are met at once: it is active, available for ordering, linked to the restaurant, within the schedule and the permitted service types, contains at least one active product and, if you use supercategories, is linked to one of them. An empty category simply disappears from the menu.

Descriptions. Two or three lines: what the dish is made of, what it is served with, whether it is spicy. Keep it short: the guest reads from a phone screen at the table.

Photos. One rule matters more than the rest: a single style. The same light, angle and background for every card. Ten good photos of the most popular items are worth more than forty random ones. Shoot the real portions the kitchen sends out and check sharpness on a phone screen, not on a monitor.

Allergens and labels. Labels such as “spicy”, “vegan” and “new”, alongside allergen information, help guests scan the menu. In Eatery Club, allergens and labels are maintained in the admin panel separately from the till and linked to products. Each interface language needs a translation, otherwise the marker displays incorrectly.

Admin panel instructions: Menu categories, Allergens, Getting started with Eatery Club.

Step 3. Publish the menu

PDF. Build one file whose text is readable without zooming on a phone-wide screen: a single column, large type, no spreads. Host the file at a permanent link. If the address changes, every QR code has to be reprinted. In Eatery Club the restaurant card has a switch that decides what the guest sees: when it is on, the product catalogue from the POS system; when it is off, the PDF menu.

Mobile menu. This is the venue’s web page, which opens in the browser without an app and without registration. In Eatery Club the mobile menu is the catalogue synchronised with the till: after synchronisation and product activation it is ready. Check that the required categories are on, that dishes have photos and descriptions, and that the restaurant is marked as active.

Ordering at the table. This needs tables. In Eatery Club tables are not created manually: they arrive from the venue map in the POS system during synchronisation. In the admin panel you can change a table’s number or name (“Terrace”, “VIP”) and switch off the ones not in use. Then, in the restaurant card, enable ordering at the table and add this service type to the available ones. Waiters likewise come from the POS system and are assigned to tables in the panel.

Instructions: Restaurant settings.

Step 4. Print the QR code and place it on the tables

One link or one per table. For a PDF and a mobile menu, one QR code for the whole venue is enough. For ordering at the table, each table gets its own link so that the order reaches the till with the correct number. A mix-up here is costly: the dish goes to the neighbouring table.

Create the code. For a PDF or menu, paste the permanent link into a QR code generator, select a website link as the content type and save the code as SVG or PNG. For table ordering, first obtain the table-specific link from your service; do not construct the address by hand. Before printing, check that scanning opens the correct venue and table.

Printing. A high-contrast code on a light background, without gradients or decorative distortion. Next to it, a short explanation of what the guest gets after scanning: “Menu and ordering. Point your camera.” Matte material does not glare under the lights. Before the print run, print one copy and scan it from arm’s length on two different phones.

Where exactly. A table tent, a sticker on the table or an insert in the napkin holder. The code must be visible from every seat at the table. A sticker suits a quick lunch; for a long dinner service a holder that does not interfere with the table setting works better.

Step 5. Test from a phone

Do not rely on the preview in the admin panel. Walk the guest’s path on an iPhone and on an Android phone. If you plan a test order, warn the kitchen and the cashier first so that it is not cooked.

1. Scan the QR code with the camera. The link must open without installing an app.
2. Categories and dishes are in place, photos load, prices match the till.
3. An item you have put on the stop list in the till cannot be ordered.
4. If ordering is enabled, place a small test order. In Eatery Club, once the order has been passed to the till, it receives an identifier from the POS system. If the field is empty, check the transfer and the order status. In order sources this channel is labelled “QR Site”.
5. If payment is enabled, make a test payment and cancel it according to your provider’s rules. Tips, if you have enabled them, appear as a separate step.
6. Check Wi-Fi and mobile signal at the farthest tables. Where the signal is weak, a QR menu will not help.

Step 6. Keep the menu current

A PDF has to be rebuilt after every price change. A mobile menu with integration updates from the till: change a price in the POS system and, after synchronisation, it changes on the guest’s screen; put a dish on the stop list and it can no longer be ordered. Split responsibility by field. Names, prices, weight and composition come from the till. Photos, descriptions, allergens, labels and translations are maintained in the admin panel, and new items are switched on manually. Set a rule: no new dish enters the menu without a photo and a translation, and once a month someone on the team walks through the menu from a phone as a guest.

Reviews tell you what to fix. In Eatery Club guest reviews are collected in the admin panel: the analytics show separately the number of reviews via QR and the average rating for the period, and if the restaurant has configured it, ratings also arrive in a Telegram chat.

When you need a POS system and a payment provider

A PDF behind a QR code needs no till integration. The waiter takes the order and payment goes through the till as before. The mobile menu in Eatery Club is a catalogue synchronised with the POS system; other services have their own conditions.

Ordering at the table needs a POS system with a supported integration and order transfer enabled: tables come from the venue map, and the order reaches the till with the table number. In Eatery Club, ordering at the table works with Poster and Syrve (iiko); whether another till is suitable is clarified at a demo. The general list of integrations on the website does not mean that each of them supports ordering at the table.

Payment from the phone needs a payment provider. The configuration chain in Eatery Club is: a payment system, whose keys are issued by the provider, not by Eatery Club; a payment type based on it; linking the payment type to the restaurant; adding it to the table-ordering service type. The payment methods available to the guest depend on the provider. Tips and bill payment are enabled with separate switches and only together with ordering at the table. If group ordering is enabled, several guests add dishes to one order, each pays their share, and one order goes to the till.

Guest sign-in. The menu opens without signing in. Whether sign-in is required to order is the restaurant’s decision in the settings. A guest who signs in with a phone number earns and spends bonuses under the rules of the venue’s loyalty programme.

Instructions: Payment systems, Payment types, Service type.

What next

If you are only starting, launch a mobile menu or a PDF and watch how guests use it. Add ordering and payment once you see the peak-hour load and have made sure the till accepts orders without errors.

Eatery Club’s QR menu formats, connection conditions and a demo are on the QR menu for restaurants page. Step-by-step admin panel settings, from first launch to payment types, are in the Help Center.