QR code for restaurant menus: print once, change the menu
Print one QR code for your tables. Make it a dynamic code if the menu behind it will ever move to a new link, so you can change the menu without reprinting a single table tent.
Pick a look. Each one is drawn with your own link.
Look: Rounded
More shapes and colours
Optional. Your logo stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Scan it with your phone before you print.
A static code can never be changed. Need to edit the link later or track scans? Create a dynamic QR
The menu changes. The table tents do not.
A typical case: you print forty table tents with a QR code that opens summer-menu.pdf. In September the autumn menu goes up as a new file, and every table keeps opening the summer one. Guests order dishes you no longer make, at last season's prices, and the staff spend the evening explaining.
It is rarely the seasonal change alone. Prices go up, a supplier lets you down, you add a lunch menu, or you move from a PDF to an ordering page. Each change can mean a new link, and a static code cannot follow it.
Reprinting forty tents is the obvious fix and the expensive one. It also means a week of the old tents on the tables while the new ones are made.
Do you need a dynamic code for this?
Not always. If your menu lives at one address that never changes, a static code is all you need. That might be a page on your own website that you edit, or a file you always replace under the same name. Make it with the generator above, for free, and print it today.
If the link itself is going to change, a dynamic code saves the reprint. The tents keep the same code; you paste the new link in your account and the next guest to scan gets the new menu. You also see how many people scan it, which tells you whether the tents are earning their place on the table.
One thing to plan for: a code on a table has to work every night. If you stop paying, the code stops opening the menu 7 days after your paid period ends. Guests see a plain notice, not a bill.
| Static QR code | Dynamic QR code | |
|---|---|---|
| Change the link after printing | No. The link is part of the pattern. | Yes, as often as you like. |
| Scan tracking | None. Scans never reach us. | Count, country, device and browser. |
| Cost | Free, for good. | $49 a year or $5.90 a month, after a 7-day free trial. |
| Needs an account | No. | Yes. The trial needs no card. |
How it works
- Create. Make a dynamic code in your account and point it at the menu you serve today.
- Print. Put the same code on every table tent, the window and the takeaway bag.
- Update anytime. When the menu changes, change the link. Nothing on the tables changes.
What it costs
Static codes are free, with no account. Dynamic codes cost $49 a year, which saves 30% against paying monthly, or $5.90 a month. We recommend yearly. Tax is included. Every account starts with a 7-day free trial that needs no payment details, and a subscription covers 5 dynamic codes. Cancel anytime and keep access to the end of the period you paid for.
If you stop paying, your dynamic codes stop resolving once the paid period and a further 7 days of grace have passed. Nothing is deleted: the codes, their links and their scan history stay in your account, and every code starts working the moment you subscribe again. Static codes never depend on us. They keep working as long as the page they point to does. We never switch one off, but we cannot bring back a page that has gone.
Questions
Do I need a different QR code for every table?
No. One code can be printed as many times as you like, and every copy opens the same menu. Use separate codes only when you want to count scans separately, say for the terrace and the dining room, or for two sites. A subscription covers 5 dynamic codes.
Can the code open a PDF of my menu?
Yes. A code opens any link, and a PDF with its own link works like any other page. We do not host the file, so put it on your website or a file-sharing service first and copy the link from there. A plain web page reads better on a phone than a PDF does, but a PDF is a fine place to start.
Can I change where a code points after it is printed?
With a dynamic code, yes — as often as you like, and the printed image never changes. The short link inside the pattern is fixed for the life of the code; only the destination behind it moves.
With a static code, no. The link is part of the pattern, so changing it means generating a different code and reprinting everything the old one is on.
What should I check before printing?
Use the SVG if your printer accepts one. It is vector, so it stays sharp at any size, from a business card to a billboard. The PNG is there for everything that wants a picture instead.
Size it for the distance. A rough rule that holds up well: the code wants to be about a tenth as wide as the distance it is scanned from — two centimetres for a leaflet in someone's hand, a good deal more for a poster read across a room.
Leave the margin alone. The clear border around the pattern is part of the code, and cropping it to fit a layout is the most common reason a printed code will not scan.
Test the proof, not the screen. Scan the actual printed piece with more than one phone before the run goes ahead.
Need to change the link later?
7 days free, no card needed. Make a dynamic code and edit it whenever you like.