How to Set Up Your Digital QR Menu in Under 10 Minutes

Why Speed Matters When Launching a QR Menu

Every day your restaurant operates without a digital menu is a day you leave money and efficiency on the table. Paper menus cost money to reprint, slow down service when items change, and offer zero analytics about what your guests actually look at. A QR menu solves all of that — and with Scan2Order, you can have one live before your next lunch rush.

This guide walks you through the entire process, from the moment you land on the registration page to the moment a guest scans your code and sees a polished, mobile-optimized menu. No technical background is necessary. If you can fill out a form and drag a file, you can do this.

Step 1: Create Your Scan2Order Account

Head to the Scan2Order registration page and sign up with your email address. You will receive a verification email — click the link to activate your account. Once inside, you land on your dashboard, which is the central hub for everything you will do on the platform.

During registration, you will provide basic information about your venue:

• Venue name — the name guests will see at the top of your digital menu.
• Venue type — restaurant, cafe, bar, hotel, food truck, or other. This helps Scan2Order tailor default settings.
• Primary language — the default language your menu displays in. You can add up to 31 languages later.
• Currency — sets how prices are formatted across your entire menu.

The Starter plan is available if you want to explore the platform before committing. It gives you access to core menu-building features so you can follow this entire guide without entering payment details.

A Note on Account Security

Choose a strong password and keep your login credentials private. Your Scan2Order account controls everything guests see — menu items, prices, branding. Treat it with the same care you would give your point-of-sale system credentials.

Step 2: Upload Your Menu Items

With your account ready, navigate to the Menu Items section from the dashboard. This is where you add every dish, drink, or product you want guests to see.

For each item, you will fill in:

• Item name — keep it clear and appetizing. "Grilled Atlantic Salmon" is better than "Salmon #3."
• Description — two to three sentences covering key ingredients, preparation style, and what makes the dish stand out. Mention allergens here if relevant.
• Price — entered in your chosen currency. The platform handles formatting automatically.
• Photo — upload a high-quality image. Items with photos receive significantly more attention than text-only listings. Use natural lighting and shoot from a 45-degree angle for the most appetizing result.

Bulk Upload for Larger Menus

If your menu has dozens or hundreds of items, adding them one by one is tedious. Scan2Order supports bulk operations that let you import items from a structured file. Prepare your data in advance with columns for name, description, price, and category, then use the import feature to load everything in a single pass. This alone can save hours of manual entry.

Photo Best Practices

Photos are the single most influential element on a digital menu. Research consistently shows that items with images outsell those without by a wide margin. Follow these guidelines:

1. Use natural or soft artificial light — avoid harsh flash.
2. Shoot against a clean, uncluttered background.
3. Show the dish as it arrives at the table, not a styled studio version guests will never receive.
4. Keep image files under 2 MB for fast loading on mobile devices.
5. Maintain a consistent style across all photos so your menu looks cohesive.

Step 3: Organize Categories

A menu without structure is a menu guests abandon. Categories are how you group items into logical sections — Starters, Mains, Desserts, Beverages, and so on. In Scan2Order, navigate to the Categories section and create each one.

For each category, you set:

• Category name — "Appetizers," "Wood-Fired Pizzas," "Cocktails," etc.
• Display order — drag categories into the sequence you want guests to browse. Most restaurants follow the natural flow of a meal: starters first, drinks last.
• Visibility — you can hide a category temporarily without deleting it. Useful for seasonal sections or items that are out of stock.

Once categories exist, assign each menu item to one. Items can only belong to a single category, so plan your structure before you start assigning. A typical restaurant might use six to ten categories. More than fifteen usually means you are overcomplicating navigation.

Category Structure Tips

Think about how guests actually order, not how your kitchen is organized internally. A guest does not care that the salmon comes from the grill station and the pasta comes from the sauce station — they care about browsing mains in one place. Keep category names short and universally understood. "Starters" works everywhere; "Petits Commencements" does not (unless your entire brand is built around French cuisine).

Step 4: Publish Your QR Code

With items uploaded and categories organized, your menu content is ready. Now you need to make it accessible to guests. Navigate to the QR Code section in your dashboard.

Scan2Order generates a unique QR code linked to your venue. This code points to your live menu URL, which is optimized for mobile devices. You have several options:

• Download the QR code as a high-resolution PNG or SVG file for printing.
• Customize the design — add your logo to the center of the QR code, adjust colors to match your branding, or select from preset styles.
• Generate table-specific codes — if you want to track which table scanned the menu, create individual QR codes per table number. This feeds directly into your analytics.

Printing and Placement

Where you place the QR code matters as much as the menu itself. The most effective placements are:

1. Table tents or stands — a small acrylic stand on each table with the QR code and a brief instruction like "Scan to view our menu."
2. Laminated cards — durable, easy to clean, and replaceable. Ideal for high-traffic venues.
3. Stickers on the table surface — permanent and impossible to misplace, though harder to update if the code changes.
4. Window or door signage — lets passersby scan your menu before even entering, which can drive foot traffic.

Print at a minimum size of 3 cm by 3 cm, though 5 cm by 5 cm or larger is recommended for easy scanning. Always test the printed code with multiple phone models before committing to a full production run.

Step 5: Test Your Menu Thoroughly

Before a single guest scans your code, test everything yourself. This step is non-negotiable. Open your phone camera, scan the QR code, and go through the entire menu as if you were a customer.

Your Testing Checklist

• Load time — does the menu appear within two to three seconds on a mobile connection? If not, your images may be too large.
• Item accuracy — check every name, description, and price. A wrong price on a digital menu is just as damaging as on a printed one.
• Photo quality — do images look sharp on a phone screen? Are they cropped correctly?
• Category order — does the flow make sense? Can you find a specific item within a few seconds?
• Readability — is text large enough to read comfortably? Are there any formatting issues, broken characters, or truncated descriptions?
• Multiple devices — test on both iOS and Android, and on at least two different screen sizes. What looks perfect on your iPhone may break on a smaller Android device.
• Multiple browsers — Safari, Chrome, and Firefox should all render the menu correctly.

Ask Your Staff to Test

Hand the QR code to two or three staff members who were not involved in building the menu. Ask them to find a specific item and tell you the price. Time how long it takes. If it takes more than fifteen seconds, your category structure or naming needs work. Fresh eyes catch problems you have gone blind to after staring at the same menu for an hour.

What to Do After Launch

Launching your QR menu is not the finish line — it is the starting line. Scan2Order provides analytics that show you which items get the most views, how long guests spend on each category, and which devices they use. Review these numbers weekly during your first month.

Common post-launch actions include:

• Reordering items — put your highest-margin dishes at the top of each category where they get the most visibility.
• Updating photos — if an item is getting views but few orders, a better photo often makes the difference.
• Adding descriptions — items you launched without descriptions should get them within the first week based on which questions guests ask your staff most frequently.
• Enabling additional languages — if you notice guests from specific countries in your analytics, add those languages to capture that audience.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

After helping thousands of restaurants launch their digital menus, these are the mistakes we see most often:

• Too many categories — guests get overwhelmed. Consolidate where possible.
• Missing prices — every item needs a visible price. Guests who cannot find the price will assume the worst and order something else.
• Low-quality photos — a bad photo is worse than no photo at all. If you cannot take a good picture of a dish, leave the photo field empty and add one later.
• Never updating the menu — a digital menu that still lists your summer specials in December erodes trust. Update it at least monthly.
• Ignoring analytics — the data is there. Use it. It tells you exactly what your guests want.

Moving Forward

You now have a fully functional QR code menu that guests can scan and browse on their phones. The entire process — from creating your account to testing the final result — takes under ten minutes for a typical menu with twenty to thirty items. Larger menus may take slightly longer, but the bulk upload feature keeps even the biggest operations manageable.

As your needs grow, explore Scan2Order's additional features: multilingual support for international guests, module add-ons for allergen filtering and nutritional information, and advanced analytics on the Professional, Advanced, and Ultra plans. Your digital menu is a living document — the more you refine it, the harder it works for your business.