Menu QR code generator
Put your menu on the table without reprinting it every time a price changes. This makes the code; what it points at stays entirely yours.
The code points at the menu page; changing the page changes what people see, without reprinting.
Showing an example. Start typing to make it yours.
Best for screens and social.
This QR code is static.
Once it is printed you cannot change where it points, and you cannot see how many times it was scanned. For most uses that is perfectly fine.
If you want a code you can repoint later and measure, dynamic QR is free in the MEO app.
How to make one
- Paste the address of your menu. A page on your own site works best; a PDF in cloud storage works too.
- Open the link on a phone first. A menu that needs pinching and zooming loses people faster than a missing menu.
- Download SVG for the printer, or PDF if you want a ready-to-print page at a real size.
- Print at 3 cm or more for a table, 10 cm for a window or a board by the door.
- Put it behind plexi or laminate it. Table codes get wiped down dozens of times a day.
Static or dynamic: the one decision that matters for a menu
The code made here is static, which means the address is baked into the pattern. That is the right choice when the menu lives at a stable address, for example yoursite.com/menu, and you change the page behind that address rather than the address itself.
It is the wrong choice if you point the code at a file whose name changes, like menu-autumn-v3.pdf in a cloud folder. Every new file means a new link, which means every table card is wrong. If you are going to publish a new PDF each season, either keep one permanent short link in front of it or use a dynamic code so you can repoint it without reprinting.
What to point it at
A web page beats a PDF for anything read on a phone. A PDF opens as a document, usually zoomed out, often in a separate viewer, and it does not reflow to the screen. A plain page with headings and prices reads at a glance and loads faster on a weak connection, which is what you have in a busy room.
If a PDF is all you have, link it anyway, but keep it to one page and set it up portrait. A landscape A4 menu on a phone is close to unusable.
Placing it so people actually scan
The code needs to be where hands and eyes already are: on the table, on the edge of a stand, on the wall at eye level in a queue. A code on a poster two metres up, or flat on a table under glare, gets ignored.
Add a line of text saying what happens when they scan. "Scan for the menu" outperforms a bare code, because a bare code is a question and people in a restaurant do not want a question.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I change the menu without printing new codes?
- Yes, as long as the address stays the same. Point the code at a fixed page such as yoursite.com/menu and change what is on that page. If you change the address, every printed code has to be replaced.
- Should I link a PDF or a web page?
- A web page, if you have one. PDFs do not reflow to a phone screen, load slower and usually open in a separate viewer. Link a PDF only when there is no page, and keep it to one portrait page.
- How big should a table menu code be?
- About 3 cm is enough at arm’s length. Go to 10 cm for a code on a window or a board people read from a metre or two away.
- Do the codes stop working or expire?
- No. They are static, so nothing on our side can switch them off. They stop being useful only if the address they point at stops working.