How to create a QR code menu for your restaurant in 3 easy steps
QR Code Menus are now used extensively by restaurants as a replacement for paper menus. Instead of printing the menus, people simply scan a QR code placed on the tables in order to open the restaurant menu on their smartphone.
Let’s see how to create a QR code menu for your restaurant in 3 easy steps.
1. Publish your restaurant menu online
The first thing to do is to publish your restaurant menu online.
You can build a website, a simple page or upload a PDF.
Although is very simple to upload a PDF online (e.g. on Google Drive or on your website), I do not recommend it, since a PDF is hard to read and it’s difficult to jump to the different sections on smartphone.
A better alternative is to use a website builder, like WordPress, Wix, Weebly, etc. Choose your favorite website builter, there are many. For a few dishes this solution is perfect. However if you have many items, like most restaurants, it can become difficult to keep a consistent style for the menu and organize it in different sections.
There are also specific solutions made specifically for restaurant menus. For example you can use BuonMenu, a simple digital menu with QR code that has a very nice design made in Italy. In this case you don’t have to worry about the technical part of the design and you can simply add your content (dishes, information, optional photos, etc.) to the menu.
2. Create the QR code and print it
The first thing to do is to find out the URL of your online menu. The URL is simply the link to your online menu.
Open your online menu and then copy the URL from the browser address bar.
Now you have to convert that link into a QR code. You can search “QR code” or “QR code generator” on Google and you will find many tools that allow to convert a URL into a QR code. Note that many of these tools offer some paid features, but you usually don’t need them: you can simply use a free, static QR code.
Now that you have converted the link into a QR code, you need to print the QR code. The QR code is like a normal image and you can add it to your printed material. For example you can open a text editor (Microsoft Word, OpenOffice Writer, etc.), add some text, images and the QR code and then print. You can even use a design tool for a better design: we recommend Canva, which is simple to use and is perfect for creating flyers or similar.
Finally you can print your design on paper: you can use a flyers (maybe with a tabletop display stand) or a simple business card. You can even print on normal paper if you want to use your printer. Otherwise you can use a printing service (e.g. Vistaprint).
3. People scan the QR code to read the menu
The last step is to place the QR code on the tables in your restaurant.
People scan the QR code with their smartphone and your online menu is immediately opened.
On modern smartphones (Android, iOS, etc.) you can simply open the Camera app (like you do for taking a photo) and when you point it to the QR code the menu is opened. Otherwise, you can install a QR code reader: there are many free apps on the app store.
That’s it! And now you can update the menu at any time without having to print everything again. It has also many advantages: it’s clean, it’s eco-friendly, it takes less space on the tables, it can be read from any location and shared easily, and much more.
