Turn a PDF Menu into a QR Code Menu
TL;DRTo turn a PDF menu into a QR code menu, upload the file, check the dishes and prices it produced, and publish. A guest scans a code on the table and the menu opens in the phone's browser. There is no app to install.
A PDF is a fine file to hand to a printer and a poor menu to keep current. One price change means a new file, and a search engine mostly sees one document instead of a page for each dish. The steps below keep the dishes you already wrote and give them an address that can stay on the table.
1. Start from the PDF you already use
Create an account and open the import screen. A menu can come in four ways: a PDF, a photograph of the printed menu, rows copied from a spreadsheet, or a link to the menu page you have today. A PDF can be up to 20 MB. One import builds a draft of up to 150 items.
A scan that is only an image is harder to read than a PDF made of real text. If the file is a picture, upload it as a photo, or photograph the printed menu. You still check every line.
2. Check the draft before anything is public
The draft is not your live menu. Read every name, price, and description. Fix what the import misread, set the currency, and drop anything that should not be on the menu. Nothing goes live until you publish it yourself.
Allergen marks, if you use them, are yours to set on each dish. The import does not invent ingredients you did not write.
3. Preview, then publish
Pick a design if you want one, and preview the menu on a phone. Preview is free. Publishing is the paid plan.
When you publish, you get a permanent address and a QR code as PNG or SVG, in your colours. Print it on a table tent or a menu. The paper formats are listed under printable menus. What the guest sees is described on the QR code menu page.
4. Change a price without a new code
Edit a price in the panel and publish. The QR menu updates then. The printed code keeps pointing at the same address, so the cards on the tables can stay. Download a new PDF when you want the paper to match.
Staff can mark a dish sold out from a phone with a six-digit PIN. That PIN cannot see prices or design. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner can also switch on a schedule in the restaurant's time zone.
5. Give Google the page, not the PDF
Each dish gets its own page, with the name and the price as text. That is what a search engine can read. A PDF usually is not, or it is one slow file. Paste the menu address into Google Business Profile when you want Maps to open this page. The steps, and the things this product will not write into Google, are in how to add your menu to Google Business Profile.
Indexing takes days to weeks. A place in the results is not a promise. The same limit is spelled out in restaurant menu SEO.
Frequently asked questions
Is a free QR code enough?
A free QR code can point at a PDF, and that code will keep working for as long as the file does. It will not give each dish a page, and a new price still means a new PDF. The free generator on this site does that job and nothing more. A published menu keeps one code while the menu changes.
Will the import publish my menu for me?
No. It builds a draft of up to 150 items. You check it, fix it, and publish it. A draft is not on the public address and not in the sitemap.
What if I have more than 150 dishes?
One import stops at 150 items. Add the rest by hand in the editor, then check the whole draft before you publish.
Preview is free. Publishing is $29 a month.
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