Digital menus
A digital menu for restaurants — the kind guests read on their phone
A digital menu here means one thing: a fast web page your guests open by scanning a code on the table, that you edit from your phone, and that is correct the moment you save it. No app for them to install, no account, no PDF to pinch-zoom.
If you are shopping for a screen on the wall, this is not that — and the next section says so plainly, so you can stop reading and save your afternoon. If you want the menu itself to be current, printed once and never reprinted, keep going.
First, the disambiguation: this is not a digital menu board
Search for 'digital menu' and half the results are digital menu boards — the TV screens above a counter, with media players, mounting hardware and a monthly signage licence. We do not sell those and we are not a cheaper version of them. Boards are the right product when a queue reads one screen from four metres away before they reach the till. A digital menu of the kind on this page is the right product when a guest is already sitting down with a phone in their hand. If you run a counter, buy a board. If you run tables, read on.
What a guest actually experiences
They point a camera at the code on the table and a page opens in the browser they already have. It loads in about a second on café wifi, it is built for one-handed reading while the other hand holds a glass, and it never asks them to install anything, sign in, or accept cookies. They can switch language with one tap, see allergen and dietary badges on each dish, and see the fish greyed out because it sold out at eight. That is the whole interaction, and the best compliment it gets is that nobody mentions it.
What changes for you in the first week
- A price change takes about fifteen seconds and is live before the next scan — no reprint, no marker, no sticker.
- Sold out becomes a toggle instead of a conversation at every second table.
- The seasonal dish goes on at five in the afternoon, because putting it on costs nothing.
- Allergen questions get answered by the menu rather than from memory by whoever is closest.
- You stop paying to reprint a card because one line was wrong.
The permanent code is the part that matters most
Most tools encode your menu's web address directly into the QR square. That makes the printed code exactly as durable as that address: rename the menu, rebuild your site, move to your own domain, and every code on every table points at nothing. Ours encodes a permanent short link instead. The link is the constant; where it resolves to is a setting you control. Rename the menu at eleven at night, move to your own domain next spring — the laminated code on table nine keeps working. That is one print run instead of a print run every time something changes, and it is the single question worth asking any vendor before you print 300 table tents.
Allergens, languages and currencies without a second document
All 14 EU allergens plus vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free badges sit on the dish, included free — EU Regulation 1169/2011 requires the information for non-prepacked food, and restaurant dishes are non-prepacked food. Translations are AI-drafted and hand-correctable, so a regional dish reads the way you would explain it at the table rather than the way a machine guessed. Prices can show in your guests' currency, converted automatically or set per currency. None of it lives in a separate file that goes stale.
What it costs, and where the free line actually is
One complete menu is free forever: the menu page, the permanent QR code, allergen and dietary tags, and instant updates from any device. No credit card, no trial clock. Premium is $19 a month and adds multiple menus, AI translations, a custom domain, scan analytics and removal of our branding. Most single-site restaurants never need it — and we would rather say that than sell you a plan you will not open.
Getting your existing menu in without retyping it
Upload a photo or a PDF of the card you use now — the printed one from the counter is fine — and AI extraction drafts the sections, dishes, prices and descriptions for you to check and correct. You fix what the kitchen would phrase differently instead of typing from scratch, and the menu is live in minutes at your-name.yourmenu.app. If you would rather start from a layout, the free menu templates do that too.
Honest limits
We do not do ordering, payments, POS integration or reservations. If guests need to order and pay from the table, a platform built for that is the better buy and we will say so. We also cannot promise compliance: the allergen structure is here and it is free, but the data comes from your kitchen and this is not legal advice. And a digital menu does not replace a board for counter service — see the first section.
Frequently asked questions
What is a digital menu for a restaurant?
A menu that lives as a web page rather than a printed card or a PDF, which guests open by scanning a QR code at the table. Because it is a page and not a document, you can change a price or mark a dish sold out and every guest sees it immediately.
Is a digital menu the same as a digital menu board?
No, and the confusion costs people money. A digital menu board is a screen on a wall, usually for counter service, sold with hardware and a signage subscription. A digital menu of this kind is a page on the guest's own phone, for table service. Different product, different price, different job.
Do guests need an app?
No. Every current iPhone and Android reads QR codes from the camera, and the menu opens in the browser they already have — no install, no account, and no cookies on the menu page.
Is it really free?
One complete menu is free forever, including the permanent QR code, allergen tags and instant updates, with no credit card. Premium at $19 a month adds multiple menus, AI translations, a custom domain and scan analytics.
What happens to my printed codes when I change the menu?
Nothing. The code encodes a permanent short link rather than the menu's address, so renaming the menu, redesigning it or moving to your own domain later does not break a single printed code.
How do I move my current menu across?
Upload a photo or PDF of it and AI extraction drafts the sections, dishes, prices and descriptions; you review and correct rather than retype. Typing it in works too, and there are free templates if you would rather start from a layout.
Does it handle allergens?
Yes — all 14 EU allergens plus dietary tags, per dish, on the free plan. If you also need the written allergen table and dining-room notice the rules expect, the free allergen table tool generates both.
Can guests read it in their own language?
With Premium, yes: add languages, let AI draft the translations, then correct any line by hand. Guests switch language with one tap on the same menu.