QR code menu for cafes and coffee shops

A QR code menu for a cafe puts your whole menu on the guest's phone the moment they scan, with milk choices, extra shots and today's pastries. With Menuthere the code can be read-only, so guests browse while they wait, or it can let them order and pay from their table, so the line at the counter stays short. It opens in the phone's browser, there's no app to download, and Menuthere takes 0% commission. QR codes and table ordering are on the Free plan.

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Which QR code goes where in a cafe

A cafe has more places to put a code than a restaurant does, and they do different jobs. Use the right code in each spot.

Add up to 50 tables at a time, then download every code in one Excel sheet, or one code as a PNG. Put the table's name beside each code so staff can tell cards apart when they re-set tables. Print on matte card: glossy stickers glare under pendant lights. Want the menu code, your Wi-Fi and a Google review link on one tent card? Use the free table QR card maker and Wi-Fi QR code generator.

Changing a price, a dish or a table's name reaches the codes you've already printed. Deleting a table is the exception: its printed code stops working at once.

A coffee menu, built for QR ordering

Here's how a typical espresso bar sets up its menu. Every piece below is on the Free plan.

Two details catch cafes out:

• An add-on costs the same on every size. Oat milk is +$0.80 on a 12 oz and on a 16 oz. If you charge more for milk on the large, price it at your average, or list the large drink as its own item.
• Guests don't see caffeine. You can record caffeine on a drink, but the menu shows only allergens, calories and a halal mark. If you want guests to read the caffeine, put it in the description.

Already have a printed menu? Import it from a photo or a PDF, then check each item before you go live.

How a cafe day runs on QR ordering

The morning rush, 7:00 to 9:30 AM

Commuters stand in line and leave, so a table code does little for them. The store link does more. Put it on cup sleeves, the window and your Google profile so regulars order ahead for pickup. Show an average prep time, such as "about 8 min", at checkout. You type the number and Menuthere shows it as you typed it. On Lite, regulars can also pick a pickup slot, such as 15 or 30 minutes from now.

At the bar, keep the Menuthere partner app open on a phone or tablet. A new order rings until someone presses Accept. If the barista can't stop to tap, auto-accept with a delay of 30 seconds to 2 minutes takes the order anyway. Tickets, with no prices on them, can print by themselves. The ticket and the bill print as two separate jobs, so the ticket can go to the bar printer and the bill to the counter.

The seated hours, 10 AM to 3 PM

This is where table codes pay off. A guest at Table 6 scans, orders a flat white and a scone, and the order arrives marked Table 6. When they order a second coffee an hour later, from the same table and the same phone, it joins their running order. You see it tagged "Edited by customer", the new lines carry an "Added" tag, and the table still has one order and one bill. Reprint the ticket and the new drinks show as (ADDED).

Your table list shows which tables have an order running. A table frees itself when its order is completed or canceled, or after 4 hours with no activity. There's no seat timer.

When something runs out

When the almond croissants are gone, switch the dish off with one tap. Guests see it as Unavailable until you switch it back on. You can also switch off one size, or a whole category. A single add-on option has no off switch, so if you run out of oat milk, remove it from the milk group and add it back when the delivery comes.

There's no "busy mode" that adds minutes or caps orders. When the bar is buried, switch off the slow items, or close ordering with the Open/Closed button until you reopen it or until your next opening time. See can I pause QR table orders.

Paying: at the counter, at the table, or after the meal

With pay-after on, table orders go to the bar unpaid and read "Payment due". When you mark the order completed, the guest gets a Pay now button for 1 hour. After that, collect at the counter. You can also mix: card-only for pickup orders, so nobody orders ahead and never turns up, while table guests can still pay at the counter.

Card money goes to your own Stripe balance. Stripe's standard US price is 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card, and Menuthere adds nothing on top. See online payments.

Stop orders from outside the cafe

People photograph table codes. Geo-lock, on every plan, asks for the phone's location when a guest checks out from a table code. The order only goes through if they're within the distance you pick from your map pin: 100 m, 200 m, 500 m or 1 km. Phones are rarely exact indoors, so up to 150 m of the phone's own error is allowed on top. Pickup and delivery orders aren't checked. More in how to stop prank QR orders.

A menu in Spanish, Chinese or Japanese

Near a campus or in a tourist area, switch on Offer other languages (Lite). Your menu gets a language button with 13 languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Hindi. The translation is automatic, so check the dishes guests order most. On every plan you can also give a dish a second name in your own spelling, shown under the main name.

What a cafe QR menu costs

On Free, after 50 orders in a month your codes keep working but open a browse-only menu until the 1st, or until you upgrade. A cafe doing 30 table orders a day reaches 50 in two days, so treat Free as your trial run. Lite and Pro each start with a 7-day free trial; you add a card to start it, and nothing is charged until it ends.

Not a fit if

• You want tips on the order. Menuthere doesn't collect tips at checkout. Keep the tip jar or your card reader's tip screen.
• Tables split the bill. There's no split bill. Friends ordering on their own phones get their own orders, which works for some cafes.
• Your till must receive QR orders by itself. Menuthere has no ready-made link to Square, Toast or Clover. Orders arrive in the Menuthere dashboard and partner app.
• You want a self-order kiosk on the counter. Menuthere runs on guests' own phones.
• You want a stamp card on Free. Loyalty points are on Pro.

UK cafe? See our best digital menus for UK cafés and EPOS for cafés. For the whole cafe ordering picture, including delivery and loyalty, see the cafe ordering system. Want your own app in the stores, for order-ahead regulars? See the coffee shop app on the Branded App plan.

Set up your cafe's QR code menu

1. Create your store. Search for your cafe on Google to fill in your name, address and photos, or start by hand.
2. Add your menu. Import it from a photo or PDF, then add sizes and the milk, shot and syrup groups to each drink.
3. Set your day-parts. Give breakfast items their hours with Set Time, and tag allergens on your bakes.
4. Add your tables. Add them in bulk with a name prefix such as "Table" or "Patio", up to 50 at a time.
5. Download and print the codes. Get one Excel sheet with every table's code, plus the "Scan to view our menu" card for the counter.
6. Pin your cafe and switch on geo-lock. Set your map pin, then choose an allowed distance, such as 200 m.
7. Test it. Scan a table code with your own phone, place an order, and check that it rings and prints.

Table codes and ordering are free, with 0% commission.

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