How to create a digital menu for a cafe or restaurant
Step-by-step guide to building a QR code digital menu for your cafe or restaurant — from sign-up to the link you put on the table. Takes 10–20 minutes.
Updated September 11, 2026· 8 min read
A digital menu is your dish catalogue opened on the guest’s own phone: by scanning a QR code on the table, by a link in social media, in an app, or in Telegram. No reprinting because one price changed.
Below is the whole path to a working QR menu in Promenu. With a small menu, people usually finish in one quiet evening.
What you need before you start
10–20 minutes of quiet time.
An email address to sign in to the admin panel.
The name and address of your venue.
A few menu items with prices — three to five is enough, the rest can come later.
Photos of your dishes, ideally. If you have none, images can be generated right in the panel.
How to create a digital menu: 8 steps
1
Create an account
Open the sign-up page, enter an email and a password. After signing in you land in Places. Already have an account? Just sign in.
2
Add your venue
In Places create a new place: the name your guests will see, the address, and the menu language. Make sure you pick the address from the suggestions — until it is chosen from the list, the form may refuse to continue.
3
Set your opening hours
Open Hours in the place card and enter the real schedule, for example 09:00–22:00. The same hours are reused later for delivery and pickup, so it pays to set them now.
4
Build the menu
Go to Menu and create one category with three to five items. Name and price are required; weight, description, ingredients, nutrition facts, and allergens can be filled in later.
Menu → Items — dishes with prices
5
Add a cover image for the venue
Place → Profile → Images. Upload a photo of the room or the storefront, or press "Generate image". The first photo becomes the cover your guests see.
Place → Profile — cover photo and venue name
6
Give your dishes photos
Menu → Items → a dish → Images. A phone snapshot can be enhanced or generated in the panel. A menu without photos looks empty, so cover at least your three to five bestsellers.
7
Look in on the work modes
Place → Modes. Menu view is already on and has no off switch — it is the base capability of a venue, so the QR menu works without you touching anything here. The other toggles are delivery and orders, for later.
Place → Modes — what guests can do in the app
8
Activate the place and check the link
Switch the place to Active — while it is off, the venue stays a draft. Then open Link and test the public link or QR code on a phone.
Modes: browsing, delivery, pickup, table orders, and reservations
The digital menu is the base mode. Orders switch on later from the same catalogue — no moving dishes around, no second link for the guest.
Work modes and what each one needs
Mode
What it is for
What it needs
Menu view
QR menu and storefront
On from the start
Delivery
Orders to an address
Pro or Ultimate plan
Pickup
Orders collected in person
Pro or Ultimate plan
Dine-in ordering
Ordering at the table by QR
Ultimate plan
Table reservation
Booking requests from guests
Ultimate plan
Dine-in ordering comes in two variants and you pick one: in the simple one the guest stays in the app while a waiter takes the order, in the full one the party builds a shared cart and sends it to the kitchen. The two cannot be on at the same time.
How to check the menu through your guest’s eyes
Open the public link on a phone — not on the same laptop you set everything up on — and walk through this list:
The venue name and cover image load.
Categories and dishes are visible.
Prices are there and match reality.
Photos loaded instead of placeholders.
Everything is in the right language.
Anything empty or off gets fixed in the panel, then refresh the guest page. Two rounds usually do it. After that the QR code can go on the table, on the window, or into a messenger.
Guests open the same catalogue whichever way suits them: in a browser by QR with nothing to install, in the Android and iOS app, or in the Telegram Mini App. How to wire the bot is in the Telegram Mini App article. More about the channels on the home page.
How to switch on delivery and pickup
When you want to take orders from the same menu, the order of work is:
Set the delivery zone on the map, the delivery fee and minimum order, the hours, and payment — paying on receipt is usually enough to start.
Walk the full guest path yourself: pick dishes, place an order, and confirm it reaches the panel.
Dine-in ordering and table reservations run on the Ultimate plan. Switch them on separately once you are ready to serve the room through the app.
Checklist before you go live
The account is created and I can sign in.
The venue exists and its address was picked from the suggestions.
Opening hours are set.
There are at least a few dishes with prices.
There is a cover image and photos on the main items.
The work modes match what I actually offer.
The place is switched to Active.
I opened the link or QR on a phone and it looks right.
All boxes ticked means the digital menu works. From here it is only improvements: more items, descriptions and photos, delivery, pickup, orders at the table.
Where to click if you forgot something
Quick navigation around the Promenu panel
Task
Where in the panel
List of venues
Places
Name, address, cover
Place → Profile / Images
Opening hours
Place → Hours
Dishes and prices
Menu → Items
QR code and public link
Place → Link
Delivery, pickup, table orders
Place → Modes
Paying for the plan
Plans
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to launch a digital menu?
A small menu goes live in one evening — usually 10–20 minutes for the venue setup and a little more for dishes and photos. A large menu is faster to load from photos or a PDF with AI import, then proofread.
Do I have to pay straight away?
There is a starter plan for the digital menu. Delivery and pickup open on Pro and Ultimate, table orders and reservations on Ultimate — compare the plans.
Does the guest have to install an app?
No. The menu opens in an ordinary browser from a QR code or a link. The app and Telegram are extra doors into the same catalogue.
What if I have no good photos of my dishes?
Shoot them on a phone, or generate and enhance the images in the panel. At the start, tidy cards for a few bestsellers matter more than a perfect studio shoot of the whole menu.
Can I run more than one location?
Yes. Each venue is a separate place in the panel, with its own modes, opening hours, and public link.
Does a guest have to register to see the menu?
Not to browse. Placing an order may ask for a contact, depending on how you configure your work mode.
What if I get stuck on one of the steps?
It is almost always one of three things: the address was not picked from the suggestions, the place is not switched to Active, or the mode is waiting for a different plan. If that did not help, message us on Telegram at @EmilDevelop and we will work it out together.
