QR codes for restaurants: 12 codes worth printing, and where each one goes

A restaurant can print a dozen useful QR codes, but they do different jobs: some only open a menu, some take an order to a table, and others send guests to a review box, your Wi-Fi or a payment page. The code itself is free. What matters is the page behind it, where you put it, and printing it big enough to scan from where the guest is. Below are the 12 codes worth printing, the free tool that makes each one (none needs a sign-up), and the size each needs.

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The 12 codes at a glance

You don't need all 12. A sit-down restaurant usually starts with 2, 6, 7 and 9; a counter-service spot with 1, 4, 5 and 6.

1. Menu code: a menu to read

The most common code opens a menu that guests read on their phone. It can point at a PDF, your website's menu page, or a live menu made for phones. A PDF is the quickest, but guests pinch and zoom, and you re-upload the file for every price change. A live menu changes the moment you edit a dish. The differences are in what is a QR menu?

• Any link: paste it into the free menu QR code generator and download the code as PNG or SVG. It warns you when the link ends in .pdf, because guests can read a PDF but not order from it.
• A Menuthere digital menu: opens as a page-turning booklet, with a "Scan to view our menu" card to print. It updates when you change a dish, so you print the code once.

2. Table ordering code: one code per table

A table code opens your menu with the table already set. The guest orders, and the order reaches the kitchen marked "Table 7", with no "delivery or pickup?" question. This is the code that saves the most staff time, because nobody walks over to take the order.

In Menuthere you add up to 50 tables at a time with a name prefix, such as "Table" or "Patio", then download every code in one Excel sheet or one code as a PNG. Renaming a table or changing its price reaches the codes you've already printed; deleting a table stops its printed code at once. Table codes and ordering are on the Free plan, up to 50 orders a month, with 0% commission. Taking card payments on the phone starts on Lite at $17 a month. See QR table ordering and mobile order and pay.

Stop orders from photos of the code. People photograph table codes. Turn on geo-lock and an order from a table code only goes through when the phone is within the distance you pick from your map pin: 100 m, 200 m, 500 m or 1 km. More in how to stop prank QR orders.

3. View-only table code: for spots you don't serve

Switch a table to View only and its code opens your full menu without an Add button. Use it for the waiting bench, a lobby or a standing bar where staff don't run food. The change reaches the printed code, so you can switch it back later without reprinting.

4. Store link code: order ahead for pickup or delivery

Your store link is your ordering page, and its QR code takes orders from anywhere, not just a table. The Share screen in your dashboard downloads it as a PNG. Put it where people decide to come back: the counter, the window, flyers, cup sleeves and your Google profile. On Lite, the link can use your own domain and guests can pick a pickup time.

5. Takeout bag code: the next order, direct

A code on the bag or box turns a delivery-app customer into a direct one. The code is your store link (code 4), printed on a sticker or insert with a reason to scan, such as "Order direct next time." The full playbook, with insert wording and what's allowed on each app, is in the takeout packaging QR guide.

6. Google review code: straight to the review box

The free Google review QR code turns your review link into a printable "Review us" card, or the code alone as SVG or PNG for a receipt printer or sticker. Paste the link from your Business Profile (Read reviews, then Get more reviews) so the scan lands on the review box itself. If you only have a Place ID, the review link generator builds the link. Google doesn't allow discounts or free items in exchange for reviews, and the tool warns you if your wording offers one. Put it where people finish: the bill folder, the counter and the bag.

7. Wi-Fi code: no password to spell out

The Wi-Fi QR code card makes a card that joins your network when scanned. It's made in your browser, so the network name and password aren't sent anywhere. Anyone who scans can read the password, so use a guest network, and print the password as text too for phones that can't read Wi-Fi codes. Change the password, print a new card.

8. Payment code

The table QR card maker can put a payment code on a table card beside your menu and review codes. In the US there's no national payment QR, so choose Upload my QR and add the code from your bank or payment app. The card never handles money, and the code carries no amount, so the guest types it in and you check each payment arrives. To take card, Apple Pay and Google Pay inside the order itself, use mobile order and pay instead.

9. Receipt code: the order online

In Menuthere's bill settings, Show order detail QR on the bill prints a code that opens the guest's order online. It helps when a guest wants to check what they paid for later. If you want a review code on the receipt too, the review tool's PNG or SVG fits a receipt printer.

10. WhatsApp chat code

The WhatsApp QR sticker maker prints stickers that open a chat with your first message already typed in, or that open a link such as your order page. The WhatsApp link generator gives you the wa.me link and its QR code. In the US, WhatsApp can send order updates but not promotions: Meta doesn't deliver marketing templates to +1 numbers, so use email for offers. Order updates are utility messages, about US$0.0034 each. More in WhatsApp ordering in the USA.

11. Loyalty card code

The loyalty stamp card maker prints "buy 9, get the 10th free" cards, ten to a sheet. Paste your menu or order link under Menu or order link and a small QR code prints on the back, so a regular can order from the card in their wallet. Points tracked for you in your store are a separate feature, on Pro.

12. Social profile code: Instagram, Yelp, TikTok

The menu QR code generator accepts any web link, not only menus, so it makes a code for your Instagram, Yelp or TikTok page. Put it on the menu cover or a wall where people take photos. Keep it off the table card: one card with too many codes slows guests down.

Where each code goes, and how big to print it

A code scans from about ten times its width in good light, a little less in dim light or at an angle, and most phones won't read one under 2 cm. The sizes below assume a short link (a Version 2 code, 25 modules a side). A longer link makes a denser code, so the QR code size calculator counts the modules in your real link and adds the white margin.

Add a white margin of four modules on every side: never let the code run to the edge of a sticker. Print on matte card, because glossy stickers glare under pendant lights. On a table, a tent card stands up where everyone can see it; a flat sticker gets covered by plates. The table QR card maker prints A6 cards with up to three codes on one card.

Static vs dynamic codes

A static code holds your link itself. It never expires and works for as long as the page behind it exists. A dynamic code holds a short link owned by the QR company, which forwards guests to your page; you can change where it points, but it stops working if that company switches it off, for example when a trial ends. Canva, for example, offers both, and its own help pages say a static code's link "can't be changed after creation."

Every free Menuthere tool makes static codes. Menuthere's own table and store codes point at your store, so editing a dish, a price or a table name never means reprinting.

Keep your codes safe

The FTC has warned that scammers cover real QR codes with their own, for example on parking meters, to send people to fake sites. A restaurant table is an easy target too. So:

• Check the tables when you reset them: a sticker on top of your code is a red flag.
• Use links guests recognize. On Lite, your store and table codes can use your own domain instead of menuthere.com.
• Never ask for card details on a page you don't control. Payments in a Menuthere order go through your own Stripe account.

A worked example: one restaurant's print list

A 20-table neighborhood restaurant with takeout prints this set. Sizes are from the table above, for a short link in good light.

That's three different codes on paper (the table codes, the store link and the review link) plus the Wi-Fi card, all made in free tools. With Menuthere's Free plan the table codes take up to 50 orders a month with 0% commission; Lite at $17 a month removes the limit and adds card payments.

How Menuthere fits

• Codes that take orders: table codes and your store link, on every plan, 0% commission.
• Codes that don't: a digital menu booklet and view-only tables, also free.
• Free tools for the rest: menu QR code generator, table QR card maker, QR code size calculator, Google review QR, Wi-Fi card, WhatsApp sticker, stamp card. None needs a sign-up.
• Choosing a QR ordering system? See the best QR code ordering systems compared, with the scoring shown.

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

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