How to make a QR code menu for your restaurant

By Heisnam Pravin Singh · Updated 29 October 2026 · 6 min read

A QR code menu lets guests scan a code on the table, see your menu on their own phone and, with ordering turned on, send the order straight to your kitchen. It saves reprinting menus every time a price changes and takes pressure off your staff at busy times. Here's how to set one up properly.

1. Get your menu ready

Before you open any app, put your menu in order on paper or in a spreadsheet:

Categories in the order guests read them: starters, mains, drinks, desserts.
Exact prices for every item, and the size or portion if it varies.
Add-ons with their prices, such as extra cheese or an extra shot.
Veg / non-veg / egg labels. Guests in India look for these first.
Short descriptions for dishes guests might not know.

Photos help more than anything else, especially for your best sellers. A clear phone photo in daylight beats a stock image.

2. Decide: menu only, or ordering too?

A view-only QR menu is a digital copy of your menu; staff still take the order. A QR ordering menu lets guests order and, if you want, pay from their phone. Ordering saves the most time, because the ticket reaches the kitchen without anyone writing it down, and fewer orders get mixed up.

3. Give every table its own QR code

Use one QR code per table, so each order arrives already labelled with its table number. Add a separate code for takeaway at the counter. Print them on stiff card or stickers, at least 3 cm wide, and put them where guests look: a table tent, the table top or the wall beside the table. Test every code with two or three different phones before service.

4. Choose how guests pay

The common options are:

UPI at checkout, straight to your own UPI ID: no fees, but staff confirm the payment.
Pay at the counter by cash or card, after eating or at collection.
A payment gateway, which confirms payments automatically but charges a fee per payment.

Many cafés offer UPI and counter payment together. Our guide to zero-fee UPI payments explains the trade-offs.

5. Set up the kitchen side

Decide where orders appear: a tablet or laptop in the kitchen, or the phone of whoever runs the pass. Turn on sound alerts, and agree on who marks an order as preparing and ready. If guests can see the order status on their phone, they stop asking “is my food coming?”.

6. Launch, then watch the first week

Brief your staff to point guests to the code and help anyone who's unsure.
Keep a few printed menus for guests who prefer them.
Mark items as sold out the moment they run out, so nobody orders what you can't make.
After a week, check which items sell and which don't, and reorder your menu so best sellers come first.

Common mistakes

One QR code for the whole restaurant: orders arrive without a table number.
A PDF of the paper menu: hard to read on a phone and impossible to order from.
Prices that don't match the bill: update the digital menu first whenever prices change.
Codes too small or under glare: test them in the real lighting of your restaurant.

Doing this with Takane Serve

In Takane Serve you add categories, items, add-ons and photos from the dashboard, download a ready-to-print QR code for every table and for takeaway, and take orders on a live kitchen screen. Guests can pay by UPI straight to your bank or at the counter. You can try it free before paying anything: start a free trial.