Restaurant menu QR code how to
SmartQRCode editorial · Updated October 2026
Restaurant menu QR code how to is the dining-room job: a tent in the pause before ordering, a condiment-proof symbol, and table tent wipe-down. Prices change after service on a hosted Menu page. Type fields live in the sibling. If the paper card never changes, Canva is enough.
Restaurant menu QR code how to
You still use the Menu type. The print encodes a SmartQRCode URL. Dishes stay editable. Scans can be counted. That is not this article's how-to of category1 and line items. That is how to make a menu QR code. Here the constraints are the table: sauce, wet cloths, a phone at about 30 cm, two codes in one frame if you also print Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi as separate static is the pairing that gets mixed up. Guests want the network and the menu. Menu is landing-page, editable, countable. Wi-Fi is the only static type: not editable after printing, not trackable. Put both on the tent if you must. Do not expect the Wi-Fi square to report scans. Do not expect to rotate the passphrase without a new Wi-Fi sticker.
Skip hosted Menu when the card is the experience and the prices are carved. Photograph it, encode a static file in Canva, and reprint when the soup changes. Paid options are $1.99, $29, $97, or $197. There is no unpaid tier. Industry copy: restaurant menus.
Place the tent where the pause is
- Build the Menu type first so the landing has dishes. Empty Category 1 is a type mistake, not a placement mistake.
- Sit in the cover you actually sell. Note where the phone comes out. That sightline is the tent's job, not the window vinyl's.
- Print the menu symbol at least 2 cm across for that 30 cm reach. Quiet zone of four modules, not bled into a decorative border.
- Laminate or use a stock that survives table tent wipe-down. Uncoated card drinks sauce. Gloss under a downlighter can fail even when the desk scan worked. Matte on the symbol area is the usual fix.
- Keep ketchup, oil, and candle wax off the finders. A condiment-proof symbol is placement plus wipe protocol, not a setting in the form.
- If you add Wi-Fi, print a second code. Separate the two so one camera frame does not return the wrong reading.
- Scan the paid menu code on a guest phone, not the unpaid /qr-preview. Confirm today's dishes.
- Export SVG or 300 dpi PDF of the symbol for reprints of the tent artwork. The dishes still edit in the dashboard.
Menu generator. Hours and phone without dishes belong on Business.
Where the tent should sit at the table
where the tent should sit at the table is in the pause before ordering, after coats, before the first drink order. A code on the door is a different pause. A code on the receipt is a review job, not a menu job. Centre-table tents fight condiments. Edge placement toward the seat scans more often than a tent in the sauce cluster.
Two tents on a four-top mean two symbols in one frame when someone photographs the table. The reader typically returns one. If they get Wi-Fi instead of the menu, that is D68, not a broken Menu type.
Should Wi-Fi share the tent with the menu
should Wi-Fi share the tent with the menu is a yes only as two encodings. Label them. Menu. Network. The Wi-Fi payload follows the WIFI convention and is case-sensitive on the SSID. A phone already on that network will look like success even when the payload is wrong. Confirm Wi-Fi with a device that is not joined. Confirm the menu with a scan that opens dishes.
Do not encode the passphrase as a Text type and call it Wi-Fi. Do not expect analytics on the Wi-Fi square.
Tonight's prices without a reprint
That is the Menu type's point. After service, edit the line. The tent still points at us. A photographed card in the modules cannot do this. A provider pause or an unpaid invoice can stop a perfect tent. That is the hosted trade. Paper menus have no such dependency and no such edit.
Text is the wrong type for a dish list. Business is hours and a phone. Keep dishes on Menu.
Windows, takeaway bags, and a receipt that is not a menu
A window code is a pavement distance problem. Several times 2 cm, not a tent size. Takeaway bags flex and scuff. Use H correction and a size for the real hand-off. A receipt is a different pause: paying. Google-review codes belong there more often than a menu. Do not put tonight's dishes on the thermal slip if the pause you want is ordering.
Gloss coated stock reflects a downlighter. A tent that scans on a desk can fail under a lamp. Matte the symbol. Thermal paper fades. If you must print a menu code on a receipt, go larger than 2 cm and use the darkest setting.
Two codes in one frame typically return one reading. Label Menu and Network. Export SVG or 300 dpi PDF. Keep /qr-preview off the plate.
Sold-out items should leave the landing before the next sitting, not at closing. A guest who scans at 8pm and still sees the lunch fish will not scan again. That is an edit on the Menu type, not a new tent. Pair a Google review code on the receipt if you want the visit counted after they have paid, not on the window.
When a paper menu is still the product
when a paper menu is still the product is when the object in the hand is the brand and you will not reprice it from a dashboard. Print the card. If you also want a QR, a static Canva file of a URL that never moves is enough, and you will not get a scan total.
Use hosted Menu when prices move, when the tent must survive a season, or when you want to know whether the square was used. Keep the symbol off the wettest part of the table. Keep /qr-preview off the plate. Keep Wi-Fi honest as static.
Questions this raises
The pause is after sitting, before ordering. Put the symbol in that sightline, about 30 cm from the phone, not under the ketchup.
Only as a second code. Menu is hosted and editable. Wi-Fi is static: not editable, not trackable. Two jobs, two encodings.
When the physical card is the experience and will not be edited. A static photo in Canva is then enough if you also skip counts.
At least 2 cm across the symbol, quiet zone included in the design, for a phone at about 30 cm. Larger if the tent sits farther.
Yes for the Menu type. The tent encodes a SmartQRCode URL. Edit dishes after service.
Keep going
The tools and playbooks this post refers to, one click away.
Make the code this post is about
$1.99 for 7 days, then a paid plan. Pick a type, brand it, and edit the destination whenever you like, even after it is printed.