Create QR code for menu: from dish list to table card

Making the square takes about a minute. Deciding what it opens takes longer, and that decision is the one you live with, because the address is baked into every card you print. Here is the order to do it in, written for a small kitchen in Doha or anywhere else, with the choice inside each step spelled out.

Step one: decide what the code opens

There are three honest options.

A file. A photograph or PDF of your printed menu. Fast, free, and fixed. Guests pinch and zoom, and you cannot change a price without replacing the file.

A page somebody rents you. Better looking, and usually editable, but the address inside your printed cards belongs to the tool. If you stop paying, the cards stop working.

Your own ordering page. The code opens a real menu that takes the order, not just shows it. This is the only one of the three that turns a scan into money on the same visit.

Pick before you print. Everything below assumes the third, because the first two are simple enough not to need a guide.

Step two: put the menu somewhere it can change

Type your categories and items, or upload the whole thing from a spreadsheet instead of typing it, which is faster if you already keep prices in a file. Give items their options and add-ons with their own prices, and mark a choice required where the kitchen genuinely needs an answer, like the spice level.

Then set the look. There are 12 layouts, so a drinks-heavy cafe and a grill house do not have to read the same way, and a photo style toggle for square pictures, tall ones, or none. Photos are compressed automatically so the page opens quickly on a phone with two bars of signal.

Turn on stock counts if you sell things that run out. Counts fall as orders arrive and an item goes sold out at zero on its own, which saves the phone call where somebody apologises for the fish.

Step three: make the menu qr code

Now the easy part. Your ordering page has an address on getmenu.ae, included from day one, and the code is simply that address in square form.

Keep the link short. A QR code stores more data by adding rows and columns of small squares: Denso Wave's own explanation of QR code versions runs from 21 by 21 modules at version 1 up to 177 by 177 at version 40, and more characters means more modules. A short address prints as a bigger, cleaner pattern that scans from further away.

For tables, do not print one code for the room. A code is generated for every table, so the table becomes the address and the kitchen ticket says which one, without anybody asking who ordered the lamb.

Step four: test it on a real phone

Not the design file. A printed card, in the light you actually have.

Modern phones need no extra app. Google's instructions for its own phones are simply to open the Camera app, point it at the code, and "wait for a moment" until the link bubble appears, then tap it. Try it standing up, at arm's length, with a glass of water beside the card. If a guest has to shuffle their chair to make it work, the card is too small or the print is too grey.

Step five: put it where hands already are

Tables, the counter, the back of the receipt, the delivery bag, your social profiles. The same code works everywhere, and every place it appears is one more chance for the second order.

Step six: keep it alive

This is the step people forget. A code that opens your own page never needs reprinting: change a price, add a special, hide a dish, and every card in the building follows the same minute.

The rest happens on its own. When somebody orders, 3 messages go out over WhatsApp: a confirmation to the customer the moment they order, a ticket to the managers' group, and a rider dispatch with the GPS pin dropped at checkout. Every line is priced again at checkout from your live menu, so the printed card can never promise last season's prices. Regulars grow into tiers and collect stamps, with the card living in Google Wallet and updating itself. Old order details are cleared automatically after 120 days.

"The mistake is printing first. Once the address is in a hundred laminated cards, you are stuck with whatever sits at the other end of it, and that is when people call us." — Agha Shah Zaman, co-founder of Get Menu

What it costs to try

You get 15 days to try it, with no card asked for at signup, and a flat monthly price afterwards with 0% commission on your sales. If you want the longer read, our QR code menu guide covers the printing side, scan to order covers what happens after the scan, and the takeaway ordering explainer covers taking delivery orders without the phone ringing.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to create a QR code for menu use?

The code itself takes a minute. Getting the menu ready is the real work, and a small kitchen with prices already in a spreadsheet can usually be taking orders the same day.

Do I need a paid tool to make the code?

No. The QR format is free for anyone to use. What you may end up paying for is the ability to change where an already printed code points, which is why it is safer for the code to point at a page you control.

What size should the printed code be?

Big enough to scan comfortably from a seated arm's length, with plain white space around it and strong contrast. Test the printed card rather than the screen version, because ink spread and matte lamination both cost you a little sharpness.

Can the same code work for dine-in and delivery?

Yes, though a code per table is better indoors, because the table number then travels with the order. For bags and posters, one code for the whole menu is right.