QR codes for restaurants and cafés
Menu codes you can update without reprinting, WiFi codes guests can join without asking, and review codes that actually get used.
A restaurant runs three QR codes well: a menu code guests scan at the table, a WiFi code that joins them to the network without a password typed, and a review code timed to the end of the meal. The failure that costs restaurants most is printing a menu code that encodes the PDF's URL directly. The day that PDF link changes, every table tent is dead, and you reprint. A dynamic menu code, and correct sizing for the distance people actually scan from, are what separate a code that works from one that becomes a sticker nobody uses.
Start here
What works here
- Make the menu code dynamic
- Menus change. A static code encodes the URL permanently, so a new menu means new table tents. A dynamic code lets you point the same printed card at a new file.
- Put the WiFi code where people sit, not at the counter
- Guests want the network once they are seated. A code on the table tent gets scanned; one behind the till gets asked about instead.
- Ask for the review at the end, on the bill
- A review code on the receipt or bill folder is scanned far more often than one on the door, because the meal has already happened and the opinion already exists.
- Size the table-tent code for arm's length, not the poster on the wall
- A menu code is scanned from roughly 30-40cm away, so it can be small: around 2cm is plenty. A window code read from the pavement needs to be several times that. Every generator page gives the exact millimetres from the placement you pick, so you are not guessing.
- Test the printed code, not the one on your screen
- A code that scans crisply on a monitor can fail once it is printed small, on textured card, under warm restaurant lighting. Scanlight decodes the finished code before you download it, but the honest final test is scanning the actual printed table tent with an ordinary phone before you run five hundred.
Sizes for where you print
Every generator page calculates the exact size from your code’s density. These are the placements that matter for restaurants and cafés.
- Table tent or counter cardAcross a table or counter · about 0.4m
- MenuHeld while seated · about 0.35m
- Shop windowFrom the pavement · about 1.2m
Common questions
- Can I change my menu without reprinting the QR codes on every table?
- Yes, if the code is dynamic. A dynamic code encodes a short link that forwards to your current menu, so you update the destination and every printed table tent points at the new menu instantly. A static code encodes the menu URL directly, so changing it means reprinting. For a menu that changes seasonally or daily, dynamic is the right choice.
- How big should a table QR code be?
- For a code scanned at arm's length across a table, about 30 to 40cm, roughly 2cm square is enough. The rule is that the printed code needs about one centimetre of width for every 25cm of scanning distance, at a minimum. A code on a window read from the pavement needs to be far larger. Each generator page calculates the exact size from your code's density and the placement you choose.
- Do I need an app for guests to scan the menu?
- No. Every phone sold in the last several years scans QR codes from the built-in camera app with no separate app to install. Point the camera, a notification appears, tap it. This is why QR menus recovered: the friction that killed them a decade ago is gone.
- Will a free QR code menu expire?
- A static one will not: it contains the destination directly and works forever, with nothing routing through us. Some services imply free codes expire to push you onto a subscription; ours do not. A dynamic code depends on an active account because the redirect runs on our infrastructure, which is the honest trade-off for being able to change the destination and count scans.