How to build a digital menu from scratch

What your restaurant's digital menu is

The digital menu is the list of everything your restaurant sells, built in two layers: categories (Starters, Pizzas, Drinks) and the items inside them. Each item carries a name, description, photo and price, and this is exactly the list the waiter taps to add things to the tab and that guests see when they open the table QR code on their phone. No app to install: it runs in the browser.

When an item is entered, it becomes an order line and goes to the kitchen with the size, flavor and add-ons you set up here. That's why building the menu comes first: without it, the rest of the flow — Draft, Preparing, Ready, Served — has nothing to carry.

Why organizing categories and prices pays off

• The waiter stops typing. With items set up, entering an order is just tapping a name on screen: no prices from memory, no illegible handwriting, no wrong math when closing the bill.
• The Kitchen gets the whole order. Size, flavor and add-ons travel with the order line, so nobody has to go back to the table to ask which crust the pizza had.
• Guests choose on their own through the table QR code. The same list opens on their phone, with photos and descriptions, and none of it requires installing an app.
• Changing a price takes ten seconds. You edit the item, save, and the new price applies from the next order on — no reprinting, and no commission per order, because we're not a marketplace.

Step by step: from scratch to your first item live

Seven steps, and after the third one you can already serve a real table.

1. Open the Menu on your Dashboard

   On your restaurant's Dashboard, tap the Menu card and then Edit menu. The screen opens with the categories in the middle and, on the side, three lists shared by the whole restaurant: Sizes, Flavors and Option groups. You don't need to fill everything in now — you can start with just categories and fixed-price items.

2. Create your categories

   Tap + Category. The only field is the name, so use what guests understand: Starters, Savory pizzas, Desserts, Drinks. Save and repeat until the skeleton is ready. A new category goes to the end of the list, and the order you leave here is the same order the waiter and guests see.

   Tip: Five to eight categories are usually enough. Too many, and the waiter ends up scrolling in the middle of a rush.

3. Add your first item

   Use the + Item button inside the category's card: it opens the form with the right category already filled in. Write the Name and Description (guests see it, so it's worth listing the ingredients) and tap Choose photo to upload the image — square photos look best. Tap Save and the item joins the list.

4. Set the item's price

   Under Price type, leave Fixed for most cases: then you just fill in the amount in the Flavors and prices (R$) table, in the size's column. If the item is sold by weight or measure, choose Variable (by weight), enter the unit (unit, kg, 100g, portion, liter) and the price per unit, like R$ 42,00 per kg — the waiter types in the weight when taking the order.

5. Set up sizes and flavors

   An item whose price changes with size or flavor uses the lists on the side: add them with + Size (Small, Large) and + Flavor (Calabresa, Margherita). There's always a default Regular size, which stays hidden when it's the only one. Back on the item, check the sizes, check the flavors and fill in the price for each combination. Each cell is your own amount, no formula.

6. Turn on half and half and option groups

   If guests can combine flavors, turn on Several flavors in one item and, under Price with several flavors, choose between Highest price and Average of the flavors. Crust, filling, topping and add-ons are something else: create them with + Group, set whether it's Required and the Maximum choices (1 makes it a single choice, 0 allows several), with the extra charge for each option. Then just check the group on the item.

7. Arrange everything and check it on the table QR code

   Go back to the Menu and drag: a category's ⠿ handle changes the order of the sections, and an item's handle moves it to another category. Anything without a category goes into the Uncategorized block. To take something off the menu without deleting it, turn off Active when editing the item: it disappears from the waiter app and the public menu, and comes back when you turn it on again. Now open a table's QR code on your phone and see how it looks.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Category

A section of the menu that groups similar items, like Starters or Drinks, and sets the order everyone sees.

Item

Each product you sell, with a name, description, photo and price; it's what the waiter adds to the tab.

Size

A portion variation shared by the whole restaurant (Small, Large); every restaurant starts with a default Regular size.

Flavor

A version of an item, like Calabresa or Margherita, with its own price in each size.

Option group

A reusable list of extra-cost choices, like Crust or Add-ons, that you attach to several items.

Variable price

A way of pricing by measure (kg, 100 g, portion) where the waiter enters the amount when taking the order.

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