QR menu or PDF menu: which is better for a café?
A PDF menu is enough for a short menu that never changes. A QR menu website is the better choice when prices change, items run out, drinks come hot or iced, or photos help guests decide. If the printed code points to an address you own, you can start with a PDF and switch later without reprinting.
Side by side
| PDF behind a QR code | QR menu website | |
|---|---|---|
| What the guest gets | A file to download and zoom into | A page that fits the phone screen |
| Changing a price | Edit the file, export it, upload it again | Change it in the admin panel, from your phone |
| An item runs out | It stays on the menu until the next export | Hide it now, show it again later |
| Photos | Each one makes the file heavier | One per item, sized for phones |
| Hot or iced, size, flavor | A line of text | Buttons on the item, and the price follows the choice |
| Remembering the order | The guest remembers, or scrolls back | An order list to show the waiter |
| Cost | Nothing, if you already have the file | From 300 JD at Thorns Digital |
| Setup | Minutes | Usually 2 to 3 days after we have your menu and photos |
When a PDF is the right answer
Keep the PDF if your menu fits on one page, your prices hold for six months or more and nobody asks what a dish looks like. It costs nothing and it works. Export it small, so it opens on mobile data, and check on a phone that the prices can be read without zooming.
When a menu website is worth it
- Your prices change more than twice a year.
- Items run out during service, and guests order them anyway.
- Your drinks come in versions: hot or iced, small or large, one flavor or another.
- Your food looks better than it reads.
- You are tired of being asked to send the menu.
Before you print the code
- Point the code at an address you own. A code that points to a free or temporary address has to be reprinted when that address changes.
- Scan it from a table, on mobile data, with an older phone. That is the test your guests will run.
- Keep decoration under control. On a code drawn with dots or with a logo in it, keep the three big corner squares plain and solid, or some phones will not read it.
See one working
Formentera Café in Amman runs a QR menu website we built. Open it on your phone, then read what a QR menu from us includes.
More answers
Do guests need an app to open a QR menu?
No. The guest points the phone camera at the code and the menu opens in the browser, the way any website does. There is nothing to download and no account to make. The same address also works from your Instagram bio, your Google listing or a message.
Can guests order and pay from the QR menu?
Not in the menu we build today. Guests add items to an order list and show the screen to the waiter, who takes it from there. There is no checkout and no payment, so you need no payment provider. Online ordering is a different system, and we quote it on request.
Can I change prices on the QR menu myself?
Yes. You sign in to the admin panel on your phone and change a price, a photo or a description, hide an item that ran out, or add a new one. Your guests see the change without a reprint, because the code on the table keeps pointing to the same address.