For restaurants, bars and anyone with tables
How to set up a QR code menu that customers actually use
A practical guide to QR ordering in a Nigerian restaurant: what to print, where to put it, what happens when the order arrives, and the mistakes that make customers give up and wave instead.
Start here
The QR code is not the point. The wait is.
A table that is ready to order and cannot get anyone's attention is the most expensive minute in a restaurant. It is where a first drink gets skipped, where a table turns slower than it should, and where a review gets written about service rather than food.
A code on the table exists to close that gap. Done properly the customer orders when they are ready and the kitchen or bar sees it straight away. Done badly it is a laminated square nobody scans, so the details below matter more than the technology.
Setting it up
Five things to get right before you print
Most QR menus fail on one of these, and all five are decided before a single customer scans.
Point it at an order page, not a PDF
A scanned PDF that opens sideways and needs pinching to read is worse than paper. The page should load on a cheap phone, on mobile data, and let the customer actually order rather than just read.
One code per table, not one for the room
When the code knows the table, the order arrives with it and nobody has to ask who ordered the suya. A single code by the door throws that information away.
Say what it is next to the code
Scan to see the menu and order. Three words of instruction lifts scanning more than any design choice, because most people assume a code on a table is for paying.
Put it where hands already go
A standee in the middle of the table beats a sticker under the edge. If it is behind the pepper sauce it does not exist.
Decide who sees the order
Drinks to the bar, food to the kitchen, both on the ticket for the waiter. Agree this before the first service or the first busy night will decide it for you, badly.
What changes
The same service, minus the waiting
Ordering
- Today
- Catch the waiter's eye
- With TAB
- Order when ready
The first round is the one most often lost. A table that orders on arrival spends more without being asked to.
Getting it right
- Today
- Written down, then typed in
- With TAB
- The customer chose it
Most wrong plates start as a misread note. When the customer picks from the menu themselves, that step is gone.
Adding to the order
- Today
- Another wave, another wait
- With TAB
- Scan again, add a round
Second and third rounds are where the spend is. Anything that makes them harder is costing you.
Paying
- Today
- Bill, then card, then change
- With TAB
- Paid from the phone
The end of a meal is when a table is most likely to be waiting on you. Closing it from the phone frees the table sooner.
Be honest about the limits
A code does not replace your staff
Some customers will not scan, and that is fine. The code is there for the ones who would rather not wait, not to remove the waiter. Keep printed menus for anyone who wants one and let both work side by side.
It also will not fix a slow kitchen. If the order reaches the pass faster and then sits there, the customer notices the same delay in a different place. QR ordering buys you time at the front of the meal, and what happens next is still yours to run.
Where TAB fits
One mention, then you can go
TAB generates the codes, keeps the menu priced from your own catalog, and routes what is ordered to the right station, with payment collected in the same flow and settled to your bank the next day. The advice above holds whichever tool you use.
Questions we get
The ones worth answering plainly
- How do I make a QR code menu for my restaurant?
- Put your menu on a page that a phone can order from, generate one code per table that points at it, print the codes with a short line of instruction, and decide where each order goes when it arrives, usually drinks to the bar and food to the kitchen.
- Do customers need to download an app to scan?
- No. Every current phone camera reads a QR code and opens the page in the browser. If a tool asks your customers to install something, it will not get used.
- Does a QR menu work without internet at the table?
- The customer's phone needs a connection to load the page, which in practice means their own mobile data. Free wifi with the password on the standee removes the excuse for anyone who is low on data.
- Will a QR code menu replace my waiters?
- No, and it should not try to. It removes the waiting at the start of the meal and the waiting at the end. Everything in between is still service, and most tables still want to be looked after.
- Can customers pay from the QR code too?
- Yes, if the page takes payment as well as the order. With TAB the customer can pay by card or bank transfer in the same flow, and the collection settles to your bank account the next day.
Think TAB might help?
Tell us what you run and we will say plainly whether it fits, including when it does not.
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