Menus that update without reprinting
One code on the table tent opens the menu. Change a dish, a price or the whole card from your phone, and the next guest sees it.
The sample setup at a glance
- codes in the sample setup
- 6
- hosted pages among them
- 4
- recommended plan
- Starter
- a month, or $5 a month billed yearly
- $7
Problems we fix
What goes wrong, and what Dotwick does about it
Prices and dishes change faster than the print run
The menu is a hosted page behind the code. Edit it in the editor, tick a dish as sold out from your phone, and nothing is reprinted.
From StarterLunch and dinner share one table
Add a time route to the code. Between 11:30 and 15:00 on weekdays it opens the lunch menu; the rest of the day it opens the dinner menu.
From StarterYou cannot tell whether the window sticker brings orders
Give the takeaway code its own UTM tags and split its traffic between two offers. Scans show in Dotwick, orders in your own shop analytics.
From Starter
A worked example
A week at Northwind Bistro
An 18-table bistro with a terrace and a takeaway window. One manager, no designer, a menu that changes with the season.
Northwind Bistro is a sample business. The codes, pages and rules are real Dotwick features.
- 01
Monday, 10:00
Set up the menu
The manager starts from a Restaurants template. The dinner menu is one hosted Menu page: sections, prices, diet chips, photos, and two buttons at the bottom, Call waiter and Order online. She adds the bistro's logo and colours.
- Table menu
- Guest WiFi
- 02
Monday, 10:40
Add the lunch rule
She builds a second Menu page for lunch and gives the Table menu code a time route: Monday to Friday, 11:30 to 15:00, local time. A route opens a web address, so it points at the Lunch menu code's short link. At every other hour the code opens the dinner menu.
- Table menu
- Lunch menu
- 03
Tuesday
Print the tents
She picks Table / flyer under Where will it go?, so the code is sized for a guest at the seat. She prints the test sheet, scans it from a chair, and sends the PDF to her print shop. The WiFi code goes on the back of the tent.
- Table menu
- Guest WiFi
- 04
Friday, 19:40
The kitchen runs out
Crab linguine is gone. She ticks Sold out on her phone, and the next guest to scan sees the dish greyed out. Nothing is reprinted and no waiter has to apologise.
- Table menu
- 05
The next Wednesday
A quiet code speaks up
The takeaway window sticker has had no scans for three days, so its alert emails her. The sticker had peeled off in the rain. She replaces it and the scans come back.
- Takeaway window
- 06
The next Monday, 08:00
The weekly email
Dotwick emails the owner and admins a summary of last week's scans. She opens each code's analytics to see scans by hour, how many scans the lunch route caught, and the feedback form's new answers.
- Lunch menu
- Feedback
- 07
Week 6
The spring menu
She edits the dinner menu in ten minutes. On the takeaway code she splits traffic 50/50 between two offers with different UTM values, and compares orders in the shop's own analytics. If her card ever fails, the tents keep working for 90 days.
- Table menu
- Takeaway window
The codes in this setup
What to watch in this setup. She watches scans by hour (are the lunch scans real?), how many scans the lunch route caught, the return rate, new feedback answers, and takeaway orders by UTM in the shop's own system.
Where the codes go
- 01Menu
Table tent
One code, the right menu by the hour, and a sold-out tick from your phone.
- 02WiFi
Back of the tent
Joins the network without asking the waiter. Free, and it never stops working.
- 03Link Page
Bill folder
Google review, a private feedback form and Instagram in one scan.
- 04URL
Window and takeaway bag
Tagged and split, so you can compare offers and see what the sticker earns.
- 05Coupon
Loyalty card
An offer page with a code to show at the till and an end date.
How restaurants set it up
- 01
Build the menu as a page
Add sections, prices and photos, tick the diet chips, and set the two buttons. Pick the page colours to match your room.
- 02
Give each job its own code
Menu, lunch menu, receipt card, feedback and takeaway are separate codes, each with its own scans and rules.
- 03
Add the rules
A time route for lunch, an alert for a code that goes quiet, UTM tags and a split for the takeaway window.
- 04
Print once, then test
Size for a guest at the table, print the test sheet, and scan it from a chair under your own lighting before the full run.
Measure it
What to measure
The numbers worth looking at, and where each one lives.
- Scans by hour and weekday
- The code's analytics, scans over time
- Lunch scans caught by the time route
- The rule breakdown in the code's analytics
- Unique devices and return rate
- The summary tiles of the analytics
- Feedback answers
- The form's answers, and the email for each one
- Takeaway orders
- Your shop's analytics, matched by the UTM value the window code adds
Print it right
Print it right
Wipeable, and matte
Tents get wiped between services. Use laminated or coated card, matte rather than gloss, so spotlights do not wash the code out.
Size it for the seat
A guest reads a tent from arm's length. A window sticker is read from further away, so it needs a bigger code. The editor works out the minimum for each.
Test on the real table
Print the test sheet and scan every size from a chair, in your evening lighting. Keep the smallest that scans at once.
How big to print it
These sizes are for a typical dynamic code. The editor's Where will it go? step works out yours, and the test sheet lets you scan before the print run.
Honest notes
What to watch in restaurants
A QR menu does not replace allergen information
Rules on allergen information differ by country, so check yours and keep the details on paper or with staff. Our diet chips cover vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nuts, spicy and halal. They are not a full allergen list, so write the rest in the dish description.
Ask for reviews the way Google allows
Google's policy for Maps contributions forbids selectively asking happy customers for reviews, and offering a discount in exchange for one. Show both links to every guest: review us on Google, and tell us privately.
Keep a few paper menus
Some guests have no phone, no signal or a flat battery. A handful of printed menus covers them.
Which plan
Which plan fits
Our pick
Starter
$7/ monthor $5 / month billed yearly
14-day free trial
One venue with up to 20 dynamic codes fits Starter: unlimited hosted pages, time routes, alerts, a split and UTM tags. Everything in this week runs on it.
Start 14-day trialCompare every planWhat each plan covers here
- Free$0 / month
Static codes only, unlimited: as many WiFi codes as you like, or a link to a menu you host yourself. No hosted menu and no changes after printing.
- Starter$7 / month
The whole week above: 20 dynamic codes, unlimited hosted pages, time routes, a split, alerts and scan details.
- Pro$15 / month
The print studio lays out table tents for you, your logo and colours come from your website address, reports can be scheduled, and form answers can go to a webhook.
- Business$49 / month
A group of venues: folder permissions per venue, a locked brand and 5 brand kits.
QR code templates for this industry
Scan-tested designs for the places it gets printed, ready to restyle in the editor.
Connect your tools
Connect your tools
Feedback into Slack or a spreadsheet
On Pro, a webhook sends every feedback answer to Zapier or Make, which can post it to Slack or add a row to a spreadsheet.
Orders by code
On Business, the conversion pixel and the Shopify app show online orders per code, so the window sticker has a number.
Questions about restaurants
Can lunch and dinner use the same printed code?
Yes. Add a time route to the code: from 11:30 to 15:00 on weekdays it opens the lunch menu, and the rest of the day the dinner menu. Time routes are on Starter and up.
A dish runs out mid-service. Do I reprint?
No. Tick Sold out in the editor, from your phone if you like. The next scan shows the dish greyed out.
What happens to the menus on the tables if my payment fails?
Dynamic codes keep working for 90 days after payment stops, and we never replace a printed code with an ad or a sales page. Static codes, like the WiFi one, work forever.
Can guests read the menu in their own language?
Yes. Make one menu page per language and add a language route to the code, so phones set to Spanish open the Spanish menu. Routes are on Starter and up.
Can I send unhappy guests to a private form and happy ones to Google?
We do not recommend it, and Google's policy forbids selectively asking happy customers for reviews. Show both links to everyone: review us on Google, and tell us privately.
Does the WiFi code change when I change the password?
No. A phone reads a WiFi code itself, so it is static and holds the password. A new password means printing a new code.
Print it once. Change it whenever you like.
Static codes are free forever. Dynamic codes start with a free trial, and a printed dynamic code keeps working: we never swap it for an ad.
Start freeYour printed code keeps working. No ads, no swaps.