QR Menus for Restaurants: A Practical Guide

The QR code on the table is here to stay: guests scan, see the current menu, and nothing needs reprinting when prices or dishes change. This guide covers the real decisions: which type of QR to use, what link to put behind it, and how to print plates that survive daily service.

Static or "dynamic" QR: the most important decision

There are two models, and the difference is ownership:

	Static QR	Dynamic QR (subscription)
What it stores	Your link, directly	The provider's link, redirecting to yours
Expires	Never	Yes, if you stop paying
Change destination	No (but you can change the page it points to)	Yes, from a dashboard
Cost	Free, forever	Monthly
Privacy	Total	The provider sees every scan

The trick almost nobody mentions: a "non-editable" static QR becomes truly editable if the link points to a page you control. Encode yourrestaurant.com/menu and change that page's content anytime — the printed QR never changes.

What link to put behind the QR

Best: your own short page: yourrestaurant.com/m or yourrestaurant.com/menu. Short link = fewer modules = easier to print and scan.
Acceptable: a PDF hosted on your own site. Works, but reads worse on phones and adapts poorly to screens.
Avoid: very long links with marketing parameters (utm, session ids). They make the QR dense and fragile.

The plate: size, material, cleaning

For a table menu scanned from 20–30 cm:

Size: 50–60 mm is comfortable. Smaller gets hard to find; larger takes over the table.
Material: PLA indoors; PETG if plates get washed or there's kitchen humidity.
Relief: 1–1.2 mm. With wear and light grease, error correction M or Q keeps scans working.
Cleaning: water and a cloth. Plastic handles what paper can't: spills, alcohol wipes, full table bussing.

Where to put QRs besides the table

Storefront window — a big QR for people passing by: today's menu, hours, delivery.
Guest WiFi plaque next to the menu QR — two plates, two functions.
Counter / register — link to your Google reviews or Instagram.
Separate drinks menu — bars usually rotate drinks faster than food.

Common implementation mistakes

The menu only exists as a huge PDF. On a phone, a badly formatted 5 MB PDF drives guests away. A simple, light web page converts better.
Glossy-laminated QR facing a window. Reflection kills scanning. Matte plates or relief-based ones.
Small QR stuck at the table edge. Guests have to guess the right distance. 50 mm scans comfortably from any natural angle.
Testing with only one phone. Test with both iPhone and Android before printing the whole set.

Start today

Generate your QR on the PIXAROX home page, download the STL, and print the plate yourself or through a local 3D printing service. A 60 mm plate prints in under an hour. For exact size and relief numbers, see the 3D-printed QR codes guide.