A restaurant menu app that is a web page
Gaslamp is a web app. You open app.gaslamp.ai in the browser already on your phone, sign in, and the menu editor is there. Nothing to find in an app store, nothing to install, no update to wait on before service. If you want it one tap away, bookmark it like any page.
That choice is deliberate. A menu app for restaurants gets used by whoever is closest when something changes: the chef on the line, the bar manager at the well, the owner in the walk-in doing inventory. Those people should not have to install anything to take a dish off the menu.
Edit your restaurant menu from your phone: what the screen does
The editor on a phone has two tabs.
- Edit. Your menu as a list: sections, then dishes, each with its name, description, price, dietary tags, and a switch.
- Preview. The menu as guests will see it, in your design, so you can check the change before it goes out.
The controls that matter at the pass:
- The price field brings up the number keypad. No hunting for digits on a full keyboard with wet hands. Each item takes up to three labeled prices (glass and bottle, small and large), from $1 to $9,999.
- Sold out in one tap, and a switch on every item and section. Mark a dish sold out and the hosted menu shows it struck through with a “Sold out” label; the next PDF leaves it off. Flip the show switch off instead and the dish, or the whole section, leaves the hosted menu until the delivery comes.
- Save & update live menu. One button. That is the entire publish step.
Everything else you would do on a laptop works on the phone too: add the weekend special, rewrite a description, tag a dish gluten-free. Longer jobs, like typing in a new seasonal menu, are easier on a bigger screen, and the same account works there.
What happens after you tap save, measured
These are measured numbers, not estimates.
| Step | How long | How we know |
|---|---|---|
| The hosted menu rebuilds | About 2 seconds | Average of 1,064 real rebuilds, July to September 2026 |
| Phones scanning the QR code see it | About 20 seconds after that | Three timed runs, 17 to 22 seconds |
| The QR code on the table | Unchanged | One code per menu, and it never changes |
Put together: a guest who scans about thirty seconds after you save sees the new price. A guest who already has the menu open sees it on their next load. Paper you printed last week does not change, which is why the PDF is a separate step you take when you choose.
A night of edits, from one phone
This is what a menu app for restaurants is for. None of it needs a laptop, and none of it needs a designer.
| When | What changed | What you do on the phone |
|---|---|---|
| 3:30, the produce order lands short | No ramps today | Switch the ramp toast off. Save. |
| 4:00, the short rib costs more | Price moves from 32 to 34 | Tap the price, type 34 on the keypad. Save. |
| 5:00, the special is set | A new dish for tonight | Add it to a Specials section, check the preview tab. Save. |
| 8:15, the last halibut goes out | Sold out | Mark it sold out. Save. |
| Next morning | Halibut is back, special is over | Put the halibut back on and switch the special off. Save. |
Each of those is a few taps on the phone, and each reaches guests about thirty seconds after the save. The QR tents on the tables never moved. If you print paper menus, download a fresh PDF when the changes are worth the paper; for a single sold-out dish, they usually are not.
The menu management app, beyond the quick edit
The phone handles the daily changes. The same account holds the rest of the menu’s life.
- Several menus. Dinner, brunch, bar, and seasonal menus, each with its own QR code. Paid plans hold as many as you need; the trial holds one live menu.
- Version history. The last 50 versions of each menu. If someone saves the wrong price at 6 p.m., restore the earlier version.
- Eight designs. Switch from one to another and every dish and price carries over. See restaurant menu design.
- Print-ready PDF. Paid plans download the paper menu from the same edit. See printable menus.
What this menu app is not
- Not an ordering app. Guests read the menu. They cannot order or pay through it.
- Not a POS app. It does not connect to your register or your delivery apps. Change the price in your POS separately; the price update guide covers every place a price lives.
- No push notifications. It will not buzz your phone. Nothing about the menu happens unless someone opens it and saves.
- No scheduled or time-of-day menus. Brunch and dinner are separate menus with separate codes, or sections you show and hide.
- One login per account. No staff seats or permission levels.
Who it fits
An independent restaurant, bar, café, or truck where the menu changes more often than anyone wants to open a design file, and where the person who knows about the change is on their feet. If you need guest ordering, POS sync, or a separate login for each manager, Gaslamp is the wrong tool, and we would rather say so here. The menu management page walks through the whole life of a menu, and the restaurant-type pages go through it kind by kind, from cafés to steakhouses.