How to Create and Update a QR Menu for Your Cafe

Creating a QR menu takes a day of preparation and a few minutes of upkeep afterwards. The quality of the result depends far more on how you organise your dishes than on the software. This guide walks through the steps in order, whether you build the menu yourself with a tool or ask WebsNP to set it up.

Step 1: clean up the menu you already have

Before typing anything, read your printed menu as a guest would. Remove dishes that are rarely ordered, merge near-duplicates and fix inconsistent names. A QR menu on a small screen punishes long lists, so a menu of sixty items will feel better when it has forty. Decide the order of categories to follow the way guests eat: starters, mains, drinks, desserts, or breakfast first for a cafe.

Step 2: write item names and short descriptions

Each item needs a name, a price and, ideally, a line of description. Keep descriptions to one sentence about what the dish is, such as the main ingredients and the portion. Use the same style throughout. Add veg and non-veg labels, and a spice level if your guests often ask. Do not make claims about health benefits. Guests with allergies should be told to ask staff, and you can place a visible note saying so.

Step 3: take or collect good photos

A photo sells a dish better than a paragraph, but only if it is honest and well lit. Take photos by a window in daylight, from slightly above, on a clean plate. Keep sizes small so they load on mobile data. If you cannot photograph everything, photograph the ten dishes you most want to sell. A menu that mixes great photos and blank spaces looks uneven, so be consistent within each category.

Step 4: add sizes, add-ons and languages

• Sizes such as half and full plates, or small and large coffee, with a price for each.
• Add-ons such as extra cheese, an egg or a shot of espresso.
• Nepali and English names, with the local name as guests know it.
• Timed sections for breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and happy hour.

Step 5: decide how guests will order

If you keep the menu view-only, guests tell the waiter what they want as usual. If you switch on ordering, decide who receives the orders, whether on a counter tablet or a kitchen screen, and how staff confirm them. Test the whole path with a few staff members acting as guests before opening it to the public.

Step 6: print and place the codes

Use a code per table if you want orders tagged with the table number, or a single code if you only show the menu. Print on a sticker or in a small stand with a short line such as Scan to see our menu. Place it where the guest looks first, not under the salt shaker. Check the code on several phones, in the lighting of your room, before printing all of them.

Step 7: build a daily update habit

When	What to do
Opening	Check sold-out items and the day's special.
Midday	Mark items that have run out.
Price change	Edit once and test on a phone.
Weekly	Review photos and remove poor sellers.
Festival or season	Add a special section and remove it afterwards.

Give one person responsibility for updating the menu, and one backup. A menu that is not updated becomes as unreliable as the printed one it replaced.

A common mistake to avoid

Do not launch with an unfinished menu. Guests who scan a blank category or a broken picture will not return to it. Finish the whole menu, then switch on the codes. If you plan to link orders to billing, our QR menu software page describes how ordering and bill handoff can be configured, and cafe and bakery software covers recipe costing and stock.

Choosing who maintains the menu

Decide before launch who is allowed to edit prices, who can only mark items sold out and who can add new dishes. A simple split works well: the owner or manager edits prices and descriptions, and a shift supervisor handles the sold-out switch. Keep a short log in a notebook or message group of what was changed and why, so that a mistake can be traced and fixed. If more than one person edits the menu, agree on naming and photo style so the menu stays consistent.

Small touches that guests notice

Put your outlet name, opening hours and WhatsApp number at the top. Add a short line about service charge and VAT if you apply them. Show Wi-Fi details if you offer them. Place popular items near the top of each category. These touches cost nothing and make the menu feel like part of your outlet rather than a generic page.

Next step: write down your top ten dishes with prices and take a photo of each. That is enough for us to build a first draft menu for you on WhatsApp.

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