Digital menu for cafes

What to put on a cafe menu

Keep the first screen to the drinks people actually order. Coffee and tea in one section, something from the case in the next. A long origin story on every espresso pushes the price down the phone. One line on the drink is enough: the milk, the method, the thing that makes this one different.

Sizes belong on the drink, as variants, when a latte is one price at 8 oz and another at 12. Do not make a separate dish for every size or the list doubles and guests miss the drink they wanted. Milk substitutions can live in the description if they do not change the price, and as variants if oat milk is a real upcharge.

Food from the case needs a sold-out mark more than it needs a paragraph. When the croissant is gone, mark it sold out. Guests stop ordering it, and you stop apologising. Staff can do that from a phone with a PIN that cannot change prices.

Morning menu, afternoon menu

If breakfast pastry and an afternoon menu are different lists, make them two menus on a schedule in the cafe's time zone. The QR code on the counter does not change at 2 p.m. The page behind it does. A guest who scans at 8 sees the morning list. A guest who scans at 4 sees what you are still serving.

Do not leave yesterday's sandwich on the morning list because deleting it feels like work. A short accurate list sells better than a long one that includes food you are not holding.

Paper for the counter, code for the table

Some guests will not scan. Export a counter card or a window poster from the same menu, and put the QR code on it if you want both. Prices stay in their own column, so a long drink name does not shove the price off the card. Leave photos off the paper if the case is the photo.

Preview is free. Downloading your own PDF is part of the paid plan, $29 a month or $199 a year per venue. The formats are listed on printable menus. Browsing the templates costs nothing.

Start from the coffee house design

Open the coffee house sample on your phone. It uses a green palette, a plain heading, and a round photo on a couple of drinks. That is a design, not a brand you have to keep. Change the colours in the editor if the room is not that green.

Create a menu from that design, or import the menu you already print. Check every price. Add allergen marks where a syrup, a milk or a pastry needs them. The US practical note is allergen labels on a restaurant menu. It is not legal advice.

Publish when the preview matches the bar. The code you print stays when a price changes. Paste the menu address into Google Business Profile if you want Maps to open this page. We do not type the drinks into Google for you. A bakery next door has a different sample: QR menu for bakeries.

Frequently asked questions