Digital menu UK: what it must show and what it can do

In Britain the words digital menu get used for two different products. One is a screen behind the counter, replacing a printed board. The other is your menu on the customer's own phone, opened from a code on the table or a link in a message. They cost different money and they solve different problems, so it is worth being clear about which one you are shopping for.

This page covers both briefly, then goes into detail on the phone version, because that is the one that can also take the order.

Screens on the wall

A screen shows what is on today without a reprint. That is genuinely useful for a coffee shop with a changing list, a bakery, or anywhere the prices move.

What it does not do is remove any work. Somebody still edits the screen, somebody still takes the order, and a customer waiting outside your door cannot see it at all. If your problem is the cost of reprinting menu boards, a screen answers it. If your problem is orders, it does not.

Menus on the customer's phone

The phone version starts as the same list of dishes and then keeps going. The customer reads it, taps what they want, and the order arrives with your team. There is no application for anybody to install; it is a web page.

That difference matters most for the thing British restaurants are asked about more than any other: allergens.

What the law expects you to tell people

The Food Standards Agency guidance published on GOV.UK states that only the 14 allergens are required to be declared by food law, and that for non-prepacked food, which includes meals served in a restaurant and food from a takeaway, you may provide the information as full written allergen information on a menu, a chalkboard or an information pack, or verbally with a clearly visible written notice explaining how a customer can get it. The same guidance says written information supported by a conversation works best.

A printed menu makes that hard to keep current. The moment a supplier changes, the paper is wrong until it is reprinted. A page you edit is correct the same minute.

Get Menu carries an allergen declaration on each item, using the same list of fourteen that a British kitchen already works to. The design is deliberately careful about one point: an item nobody has reviewed is stored as unstated, which is not the same as saying it is free of anything. The declaration is your restaurant's statement about your own food. Software can keep that statement in front of customers; it cannot know what is in your kitchen.

What else the page does

Once the menu is a live page, the rest follows from it.

Each restaurant is given a web address of its own on getmenu.ae from day one, included in every plan. If you already own a domain, moving the storefront onto it is a paid add-on that opens shortly. The look is yours to set with 12 page layouts, a set of colour themes and a font picker, so a wine bar and a chip shop need not resemble each other.

Menus that already exist in a spreadsheet upload in one go rather than being typed in. Items hold options and add-ons with prices of their own, and any choice can be made compulsory, so nobody sends an order through without saying which sauce. Photographs are compressed as they are uploaded, which keeps the page quick on a phone with a weak signal.

Stock counts sit underneath. Counts drop as orders come in, an item greys itself out at zero, and options carry their own counts, so running out of one cheese does not take the whole board off the page. Cancel an order and everything it held returns.

"I run a software company based in the United Kingdom, and the pattern I see in small restaurants is always the same. There is a correct menu somewhere, and three out-of-date copies of it in the world. One page that everything points at is worth more than any clever feature." — Tanzeel ur Rehman, co-founder of Get Menu

When somebody orders

At checkout every line is priced again from your live menu, so what the customer read is what they are asked to pay. A repeated tap on a slow connection cannot create two orders.

Three messages go out inside roughly 2 seconds. One reaches the customer with a link to an order status page that opens without any login. One puts the ticket in your managers' group, every option written out. On a delivery, a third hands the riders a link holding the map pin dropped during checkout, and a driver opens that with no account and nothing installed. Each message is recorded, along with whether it landed.

For tables, a QR code is generated for each one, with a designer for your colours and a print pack sent to you ready for a printer. Because the table is the address, the ticket knows where it came from. A group sitting together can order from separate phones and still settle one bill.

The limits, stated plainly

There are no online payments. Customers pay cash or use your card machine when the food reaches them. In Britain, where card and phone payments are the normal way to settle a bill, this is the biggest question to ask yourself before starting. It suits a takeaway or a delivery kitchen that already collects at the door; it does not suit a business that needs the money taken before the food is made.

The invoice the system produces is a PDF order record. It shows your registration number, takes its number from a single continuous series, and its total always equals the lines printed above it. It is not a British VAT document. GOV.UK lists the standard rate of VAT at 20%, with a reduced rate of 5% and a zero rate covering most food, and those rules belong in your own accounting software. Treat what we produce as the record of the order, and let your accountant handle the return.

There is also no scheduled ordering and no pre-order, no hardware from us, no ingredient counting, no payroll and no table bookings.

What comes after the first order

Repeat trade is where a small kitchen makes its margin, so the tools for it are included rather than sold separately.

Stamps can be earned on each order, on every pound spent, or only on one dish you are trying to sell more of. Your regulars climb into tiers, and each tier can hold a discount nobody has to remember to apply. The loyalty card sits in Google Wallet and refreshes itself, with nothing for the customer to install. The Apple version is finished and needs a certificate before it goes anywhere, which we would rather say than imply. A coupon can carry a cap, an exclusions list and an expiry date. A bundle puts one price on a group of dishes, and where two automatic discounts could both apply, only the better one does.

If you are comparing options, digital menus covers the category in general, digital menu boards for restaurants covers the screens, and EPOS systems for restaurants covers the counter side.

The price is a flat amount each month, and we take 0 percent of your sales. The customer list belongs to you and you can export it any day you like, including your last. Order details are wiped once they pass 120 days, with nobody having to remember. Trying the system costs nothing for 15 days and asks for no card to begin.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a screen to have a digital menu?

No. The version most customers meet is your menu as a web page on their own phone, reached from a code on the table or a link you send. Screens are a separate purchase and solve a different problem.

Can I show allergen information on it?

Yes. Each item carries a declaration against the standard list of fourteen. An item nobody has reviewed shows as unstated rather than as safe, which is the honest position for software to take.

Can customers pay online?

No. You collect cash or use your own card machine when the food arrives. It is a real limit in the British market, and worth settling in your mind before you begin.

Do customers need to install an app?

No. It is an ordinary web page. Only the loyalty card touches an app, and that is the wallet already on the phone.

Will the invoice satisfy HMRC?

Treat it as an order record rather than a tax document. It carries your registration number and unbroken numbering, and your accounting software should produce the VAT paperwork itself.