QR code menus arrived in almost every bar at once, in 2020, and many stayed as they were: a PDF you have to pinch and zoom. Today a digital menu can do a lot more, from displaying properly on a phone to letting customers order and pay without waiting.
This guide explains the kinds there are, what they must include and how to decide which one suits you.
The three kinds of digital menu
1. A PDF behind a QR code
It’s the paper menu, scanned. Cheap and quick to set up, but hard to read on a phone, heavy on a slow connection, and changing a price means redoing the file. It gets you by; it doesn’t help you sell more.
2. A web menu
A page designed for phones: sections, photos, prices, allergens and several languages. You update it from a dashboard, instantly, and you can mark a dish as sold out. Customers browse it and order from the waiter as usual.
3. A menu with ordering and payment
The web menu, plus an order button. The order reaches the kitchen or the bar with the table number, and the customer can order another round or pay from their phone whenever they like. Waiters stop taking orders and spend their time serving and looking after people.
What it must include
- Allergens. EU rules require information on the 14 allergens for food served unpackaged. On a digital menu, the easiest way is to show them on each dish with an icon and let people filter by them.
- Final prices, taxes included.
- An alternative for anyone who doesn’t want to use their phone. A paper menu or a waiter close at hand. Some customers have no battery, struggle with QR codes or simply prefer to order from a person.
What it should do
- Open in the browser, with no app to download and no sign-up. Every extra step is a customer who gives up.
- Load fast, even on a terrace’s patchy signal.
- Speak the customer’s language. If you get tourists, a menu in their language sells more and avoids misunderstandings.
- Know which table the order comes from. A different QR code per table, or an NFC tag customers tap with their phone.
- Suggest without pushing: the drink that goes with it, dessert or the dish of the day.
- Change in a minute, from the manager’s phone, without calling anyone.
Ordering and paying at the table: benefits and caveats
When customers order from the table:
- The waiting stops: for the menu, to order and to pay.
- Tables turn faster, because the dead time between courses shrinks.
- Staff keep up at peak times.
- The kitchen gets the order in writing, with no misheard or misread items.
But it has to be done right:
- The receipt must come from a compliant system. If the customer pays by phone, that payment needs its receipt, and in Spain the software that issues it must comply with VERI*FACTU.
- Staff stay present. The menu doesn’t replace the waiter: it takes the repetitive part off their hands so they have time to look after people.
- It doesn’t ask for more data than it needs. Nobody should have to sign up to order a beer. If you keep customer data, they need to know what for.
How to choose
- If you only want a menu that reads well and is easy to change, a web menu is enough.
- If you have a terrace or a lot of volume at peak times, a menu with ordering saves trips and waiting.
- If you also want customers to pay whenever they like and staff to see the whole floor on one screen, you need a tool connected to the way you work: tables, kitchen, bar and till.
With La Familia Gastro-Bar we’re testing the third: customers scan the table, order and pay from their phone, and staff see the terrace on a floor plan with every order live. If you’d like something similar for your venue, see what we do for bars and restaurants.