When to use it
Cafés, pubs, restaurants, food trucks, hotel room service, festival stalls. The menu code became standard during the pandemic and stayed because it saves reprinting, lets the kitchen mark dishes as sold out in real time, and gives customers the menu in their own language if the page supports it. See the restaurant use case for placement ideas and finished designs.
How it behaves on phones
iPhone: the Camera app shows the domain in a banner. Tapping it opens Safari. If the menu page is well built it fills the screen and loads in a second on café Wi-Fi.
Android: most Android scanners open the link in Chrome. Google Lens shows a preview card first. Behaviour is the same as any URL code.
Because customers scan menus in dim light, from a seated position, at an angle, the code needs to be more forgiving than a poster code. That is why the recommended level here is Q rather than M.
Common mistake
Encoding the menu URL directly into a static code and printing 40 laminated table tents. Six weeks later the price of chips goes up, the web address changes to a new ordering system, and every tent is a reprint. Use a dynamic code from the start.
Gotchas
Dynamic first. A dynamic code stores a short redirect link. You change where it points; the print stays the same. For a menu that changes weekly it is the single most useful decision.
Web page, not PDF. A phone shows a web page at the right width. A PDF menu designed for A4 becomes a pinch and scroll exercise. If you only have a PDF, at least make it a single column at A5 and under 1 MB.
Fake stickers. A code on a table is exposed. Someone can stick their own code over yours, sending customers to a phishing page. Print codes on the tent itself, not as a peel-off sticker, and glance at them when clearing tables. Tell staff what the real domain is.
Wi-Fi and signal. A basement restaurant with no signal and a menu that only exists online is a problem. Offer a Wi-Fi code on the same tent, or keep paper menus.
Length. https://example.com/menu is 24 characters and fits version 2 at level Q, 25 modules wide. Add ?table=12&utm_source=tent and you are at version 4 for no customer benefit.
Try it in QR Studio
QR Studio makes dynamic URL codes with a logo and colours to match your brand, and the print export is sized in centimetres so the tent comes out right first time.
Print advice
Level Q. Print at 3 cm minimum on a table tent, 4 cm is better, and 8 cm or more for a menu board at the door read from a metre away. Laminate or use a wipe clean stock; a scratched code at level Q survives damage to about a quarter of its area. Keep a white quiet zone around it and put “Scan for menu” and the web address in text beside it.
Try it yourself
Enter the distance from a seated customer to the tent and get the minimum print size at level Q.