QR Code Menus: A Café Owner's Guide to Setting One Up

A QR code menu is a code on a table or counter that opens your menu on the guest's phone. It is one of the simplest upgrades a café can make: no reprinting when prices change, no sticky laminated pages, and a menu that's always the current one.

This is a practical setup guide, with the free tools you need to make a print-ready code today.

Three kinds of QR menu

Before printing anything, choose which of these you want:

1. A link to a PDF. The cheapest. The code opens a file of your menu. It's hard to read on a phone and hard to keep up to date, because you have to replace the file every time.
2. A digital menu page. A web page of your menu that is easy to read on a phone, with prices, options and allergens. You edit it once and every code shows the change.
3. A menu guests can order and pay from. Each table has its own code, and the order goes straight to your kitchen screen. This is QR table ordering.

If your guests currently order at the counter and you simply want to cut down on printed menus, type 1 or 2 is enough. If a queue costs you sales, think about type 3. Our guide QR menu or order-and-pay: which do you need? goes through the choice.

Step 1: Get your menu ready

A QR menu is only as good as what's on it. Before you make a code:

• Check every price. Update anything you changed since the last print run.
• Group items sensibly. Hot drinks, cold drinks, breakfast, lunch, cakes. Guests scroll on a small screen.
• Write options clearly. Milk choices, sizes, extras, with prices on each.
• Add allergens. In the UK you must be able to give allergen information for the food you serve. Put it where guests will see it, and keep it correct. See online allergen information for café orders.
• Keep names short. "Flat white" beats "Our signature double-shot flat white".

Step 2: Make the code

You can make a free QR code for any menu link with our free QR code menu generator. It works for a link to any page, whether you built it with Café QR or not.

If your menu lives on a page of your own, paste that link in. If you want guests to order and pay, each table needs its own ordering code, which Café QR generates for every table in every plan, from £9.99 a month.

Step 3: Print a table talker

Use our free QR poster maker to make a print-ready A6 table talker or A4 counter poster. Add your café name, logo and colours, then print it or save it as a PDF. Nothing is uploaded: your logo stays on your device.

Then print well:

• Size: 4–6cm for table codes, 8cm or more on a counter.
• Contrast: dark code on a light background.
• White space: leave a clear border around the code.
• Finish: matt scans better than gloss under café lights.

How to print café table QR codes goes into size, paper and stands in detail.

Step 4: Put it where people look

Put the code where guests already look, not just where there's space:

• On the table, at eye level on a stand, not flat where drinks go.
• At the door, for people deciding whether to come in.
• At the counter, for the queue.
• In the window, for passers-by.

Where to put QR codes in a café has more placement ideas.

Step 5: Test it like a guest

Before you open:

1. Scan every code with an iPhone and an Android phone.
2. Do it on mobile data as well as Wi-Fi.
3. Check the menu loads fast.
4. Check a code on a table matches that table.
5. Ask someone who hasn't seen it to find a flat white and its price.

Common mistakes

• Printing the code too small. The most common reason a code won't scan.
• Linking to a PDF that takes ages to load on mobile data.
• Forgetting to update the menu. A QR menu with wrong prices is worse than a printed one.
• No fallback. Some guests won't scan. Keep counter service available.
• Leaving out allergens.

What a QR code menu costs

A free code and a printed card cost almost nothing. A digital menu with ordering costs a subscription: Café QR's Order & Pay is £9.99 per venue per month with 0% commission and no setup fee, and the first month is free with no card needed. Compare it fairly using what a café POS system costs in the UK.

Related reading

• QR Code Menu for a Café: A Setup Checklist
• Is QR Ordering Worth It for a Small Café?