To make a QR code menu for a restaurant you need two things: a menu page on the web (a PDF, a web page or a menu built in a digital-menu tool) and a QR code that points to it, printed where guests sit. The whole job takes an afternoon: build the menu, get its link, generate the code, print it on cards or stickers, test it with two or three phones, and put it on the tables. The part most guides skip is the code itself: how big to print it, which kind of code to use so it never dies, and why ordering restaurants need one code per table. This guide covers all of it, step by step.
What do you need before you start?
Three things, and none of them is a designer or a developer: your menu typed as a clean list (sections, dishes, descriptions, prices, allergens), a link where that menu will live online, and a phone plus a printer or print shop. If your menu is still a Word file or a paper menu, typing it into a list is also the moment to fix inconsistent names, missing allergens and prices that have drifted.
Step 1: Choose how your menu will live online
A QR code can only point at a link, so the first decision is what the link opens. There are three realistic options, and the right one depends on how often your menu changes and whether you want guests to order from it.
| Option | How it works | Good for | Downsides |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF upload | Export your menu as a PDF and host it (Google Drive, Dropbox, your website) | Menus that change once or twice a year | Guests pinch and zoom; every change means a new file and, with some hosts, a new link |
| Page on your website | A menu page on your site, kept up to date by whoever edits the site | Restaurants with a maintained website | Edits depend on the person who manages the site; no table ordering |
| Digital menu tool | You add sections and dishes in an editor; the tool gives you a mobile menu page and QR codes | Menus that change often, several branches, table ordering | A monthly fee, typically $0 to $29 for one restaurant |
The PDF route is the one many first-time guides recommend because it is free. It works, but a page designed for A4 or Letter paper is a small rectangle on a 6-inch screen until the guest zooms and scrolls sideways; a menu built for mobile is a list the thumb can scroll, with a photo and a price per dish. The difference matters: in Toast's September 2024 blind survey of 850 US adults, 66% of diners said they want photos on a menu, and a PDF rarely has room for them. Our digital menu for restaurants guide compares the types in more detail, and QR code menu vs paper menu covers whether to keep a few paper copies too.
Step 2: Build the menu page
Whatever option you chose, build the page in this order so nothing is missing when you print.
- Sections first. Starters, mains, drinks, desserts, or whatever matches how you serve. Keep it to 6 to 10; more and guests stop scrolling.
- Every dish with a price. A dish without a price on a QR menu feels like a trick. If a price varies (market fish, by weight), say how it is set.
- Short descriptions. One or two lines: main ingredients, how it is cooked, what it comes with.
- Allergens and dietary labels. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, contains nuts, spicy. Labels do more work on a phone screen than in print.
- Photos for the dishes you want to sell. Not everything needs one, but best sellers and high-margin dishes do. Our phone photography guide shows how to shoot a whole menu in one afternoon.
- Opening hours, address and phone. Guests share menu links with friends who are not in the restaurant yet.
Then open the page on your own phone and read it as a guest would.
Step 3: Get the link and decide: static or dynamic QR code?
Now you have a link. Before you generate a code, understand the one technical choice that decides whether your QR menu is still working a year from now.
A static QR code encodes your link directly. Scan it, and the phone opens exactly that address. It never expires, because there is no middleman: as The QR Code Generator puts it, static codes "work as long as the linked content is available". The catch is that the link is baked in. Change the address and the printed code is dead.
A dynamic QR code encodes a short redirect link owned by the QR provider, which then forwards the guest to your menu. You can change the destination later without reprinting, and you get scan counts. The catch is the middleman. If you stop paying, the redirect stops. QR Code Generator's own help page says it plainly: when a free trial expires, "Dynamic QR Codes are deactivated and point to a service page rather than the original destination", while static codes keep working. Restaurants find this out the hard way, usually on a busy night, when every table card suddenly opens an upgrade page.
| Static QR code | Dynamic QR code (QR provider) | QR code from your menu tool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expires? | Never | When the subscription or trial ends | As long as you use the tool |
| Change destination without reprinting | No | Yes | Usually yes (the tool updates the menu behind the same link) |
| Scan tracking | No | Yes | Often yes |
| Cost | Free | Free trial, then typically $5 to $15 a month per account | Included in the menu plan |
| Risk | Dead code if your link changes | Dead code if you stop paying | Dead code if you cancel the tool |
The practical rule: if your menu lives on a link you control (your own website, a menu tool that keeps the same link when you edit the menu), use a static code. You get the "change without reprinting" benefit anyway, because you change the menu behind the link, not the link itself. Use a dynamic code only if you really need to move the destination between unrelated places; if you do, pay for it, set a renewal reminder, and keep the login where the manager can find it.
With Kartee: every table gets its own QR code from the menu editor, downloadable as PNG or SVG, with printable table cards from the web. The code points at your menu link, and you edit sections, prices, photos, sold-out dishes and discounts behind that link as often as you like. If you ever change the menu link itself, the old codes keep working, so cards you printed on day one are still good a year later. Set the menu to view-only or let guests order from the table, no download needed.
Step 4: One code for the restaurant, or one per table?
This is the question the generic QR guides never ask, and the answer changes what you print.
If your menu is view-only, one code is enough. Every card and sticker carries the same code, and you can print as many as you like from one file.
If guests will order from the table, you need one code per table. The code is what tells the kitchen where the order came from: table 7 scans the table 7 code, the order arrives tagged "Table 7", and the food goes to the right place without a waiter asking. A shared code cannot do that; at best it makes the guest type a table number, which they get wrong just often enough to matter. Our QR code ordering system guide walks through how the order flow works step by step and what changes for staff.
Even if you start view-only, print per-table codes anyway: it costs nothing extra and saves a reprint if you switch on ordering later.
Step 5: Print codes that actually scan
A code that is too small, too low-contrast or too close to the card's edge fails when the restaurant is busiest. Four rules cover almost every failure.
Size and distance. Bitly's size guide gives the rule of thumb: a code should be at least 2 cm × 2 cm (about 0.8 in), and the comfortable scanning distance is about ten times the code's width. A guest scanning from their seat holds the phone 20 to 40 cm from the card, so a 3 cm to 4 cm code is the sweet spot for table cards. For a window poster that people scan from the pavement, go to 10 cm or more.
Quiet zone. Leave a plain margin around the code, at least the width of four of the code's small squares (modules). Do not run the code to the edge of the card and do not place text or a logo inside that margin.
Contrast. Dark code on a light background. Dark brand colours (navy, deep green, charcoal) on white or cream are fine. Avoid light codes on dark backgrounds, metallic inks and glossy laminates that reflect the lights into the camera.
Error correction. QR codes carry built-in redundancy so they still scan when partly scratched or stained. There are four levels: L recovers up to 7% damage, M 15%, Q 25% and H 30%. Higher levels make a denser code, so for table cards that get wiped, splashed and bent, choose M or Q and print a little larger. Only go to H if you place a logo in the middle of the code, which eats into the redundancy.
What to print on, with typical US prices as a guide (prices vary by country, so check locally):
| Format | Typical cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Printable tent cards you run through your own printer (e.g. Avery 100-pack at Staples) | About $53 for 100 | Testing, small cafés, menus that change before the cards wear out |
| Professionally printed table tents (e.g. 4over4, 14pt gloss, 4 × 6 in) | $554 for 250, about $2.22 each; falls to $1.19 each at 500 | Full-service restaurants, a finished look |
| Vinyl or laminated stickers on the table | Roughly $1 to $3 each in small runs | Bars, food trucks, counters; nothing to knock over |
| Acrylic stand with a printed insert | Roughly $3 to $8 per stand | Reusable; swap the insert when the design changes |
Print "Scan for the menu" or "Scan to order" above the code and the table number below it.
Step 6: Test on real phones before you print 50
Print one card and test it with at least three phones: a recent iPhone, a recent Android, and the oldest phone anyone on the team owns. Test seated, with the card on the table, under the real dining-room lighting at the time you are open. Check that the code opens the menu directly, that the page loads on mobile data (not only on your Wi-Fi), that it is readable within about five seconds, and that the right table number appears if you use table ordering. A slow open is usually a heavy PDF or uncompressed photos, not the code. Only when every phone passes do you print the full run.
Step 7: Launch and keep it alive
Launching a QR menu is not only placing the cards.
- Tell guests in one sentence. "The menu is on the card, scan it and I'll be right back with water." Offer a paper menu unprompted when a guest looks unsure.
- Keep a few paper menus. In Toast's 2024 survey, 81% of diners said they prefer a physical menu when offered the choice. A QR menu should not be the only option for a guest with a dead battery or poor eyesight.
- Put the same link everywhere. Google Business Profile, Instagram bio, WhatsApp auto-reply. Guests who read the menu before they come arrive already decided.
- Update weekly. Mark dishes sold out the moment they are, change prices the day costs change, remove specials when they end. Being right today is the one thing paper cannot do.
- Walk the floor monthly. Replace scratched or faded cards and scan a random one yourself. A card that no longer scans is a table that orders less, and no guest will tell you.
If raising spend per table is your goal, the menu layout itself matters once guests are reading it on a phone: see how to raise your average order value with your menu.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to make a QR code menu?
The code itself is free with a static generator. The menu page is $0 if you host a PDF yourself, or typically $10 to $30 a month for a digital-menu tool with an editor, per-table codes and ordering. Printing runs from about $53 for 100 do-it-yourself tent cards to about $2.22 per professionally printed tent at a 250 run.
Do customers need an app to use a QR code menu?
No. Every current iPhone and Android phone scans QR codes with the built-in camera and opens the link in the browser. Nothing is installed. If a tool asks guests to download an app before they can see the menu, choose another tool.
Can I change the menu after printing the QR codes?
Yes, as long as the link behind the code stays the same. With a menu page or a digital-menu tool you edit the content behind the link and the printed codes keep working. With a PDF, make sure the new file replaces the old one at the same address; some file hosts generate a new link for every upload, which kills your codes.
Should I use a free QR code generator?
For a static code, yes: paste your menu link, download the PNG or SVG, and it works as long as the link does. Be careful with "free" dynamic codes: many are trials, and when the trial ends the code stops forwarding to your menu.
How big should a QR code be on a restaurant table?
At least 2 cm × 2 cm, and 3 cm to 4 cm is more comfortable for a guest scanning from their seat. Keep a plain margin around it, use a dark code on a light background, and avoid glossy finishes that reflect the lights.
Next steps
Type up your menu, decide whether guests will order from it, and print one test card before you print fifty. If you want the menu page, per-table codes and printable cards from one place, create your menu free for 14 days with Kartee, or see a live menu to check how it reads on your own phone first. Plans start from $12 a month after the trial; the digital menu section of the site lists what is included.
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