Put in the link your menu lives at. A website page, a PDF, anything that opens in a phone browser.
Your code draws here as you type.
Scan it with your own phone before you print a stack. Tent: one per letter sheet, fold across the middle. Counter cards: four 3×5 cards per sheet, cut on the lines.
How to make a QR code for your restaurant menu
- Find the address your menu lives at. Open the menu on your phone, the way a guest would, and copy the link from the browser bar. If it opens a PDF, copy that link.
- Put it in above. The code draws as you type, and the line under the box shows exactly what it will open. Read it once. A typo here gets printed on every table.
- Pick a style. The five colors are the same five in the Gaslamp app. All of them are dark on white, because phone cameras read that most reliably.
- Add your name and a line if you are printing the tent or cards. “Scan for our menu” is fine. So is “Drinks and dinner menu.”
- Scan it from your own phone. Then download the PNG for the web or social posts, the SVG for a print shop, or print the pieces straight from here.
That is the whole tool. It does not ask for an email, it does not put a watermark on the code, and the code it makes never expires, because there is no service in the middle that could stop answering.
What this free QR menu maker gives you
| Piece | What you get | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | A sharp image about 1,600 pixels square, white margin included | Your website, Instagram, a Word or Canva menu, email |
| SVG | Vector code that stays crisp at any size | Print shops, window vinyl, a menu your designer is setting |
| Table tent | One tent per US letter sheet, both faces printed, fold line marked | Dining tables, patio tables, booths |
| Counter cards | Four 3×5 cards per letter sheet with cut lines | The register, the pastry case, the bar rail, the pickup shelf |
Under the hood it is a standard QR code, the format Denso Wave released in 1994, drawn with medium error correction, which the standard says can restore about 15 percent of the code if part of it is scuffed or splashed. It keeps the four-module white margin the standard requires on every side. Do not crop that margin off when you place the PNG; a code jammed against a border or a photo is the most common reason a code will not scan.
What it does not do, so you are not surprised later: it does not count scans, it cannot be re-pointed after printing, and it does not put a logo in the middle. Scan counts and re-pointing need a service in the middle, and that service is the part that can expire.
The catch with every free QR code menu
The code is the easy part. A QR code is a web address drawn as squares, and every free generator on the internet draws it the same way. The part that goes wrong is the address, and it goes wrong on the day the menu changes.
- A PDF menu. The spring menu goes up as a new file with a new name. The codes on the tables still open the winter file, and guests order the dish you took off in March.
- A page on your website. Someone rebuilds the site and the menu page moves from one address to another. Every printed code now opens a “page not found.”
- A “free” dynamic code. The code holds the generator company’s short link, which forwards to your menu. When the trial ends, the forwarding can stop, and the codes open an error or a sales page. Our dynamic vs static guide covers the questions to ask before you print one.
None of that is the code’s fault, and no generator can fix it. The fix is to point the code at an address that never changes and keep the menu itself up to date at that address. That is why we built Gaslamp the way we did: each menu gets one hosted page and one code, and when you move a price or switch off a dish from your phone, the page behind the code shows it about thirty seconds after you save. The code on the table is never reprinted.
Printing QR code menus that actually scan
Most scanning trouble is printing trouble. What we check before a stack of tents goes out:
- Size to the distance. A common rule of thumb is a code one tenth as wide as the distance it is read from. Seated guests are one to two feet away, so the tent’s 2.6 inch code has room to spare. A code on the front window, read from the sidewalk, needs to be much larger.
- Dark on light, never the reverse. That is why all five styles are dark squares on white. A white code on a black card looks sharp and fails on a lot of phones.
- Matte stock. Gloss throws glare under pendant lights and at a sunny patio table. Plain matte cardstock from an office store works; check your printer’s heaviest paper setting before you run a stack.
- Flat and upright. A code on a curved cup or a crumpled sticker distorts. The tent’s fold keeps it standing and flat.
- Test from the chair. Scan it from where a guest sits, in the light you serve dinner in, with an older phone if you have one around.
More on sizes, stands, and placement in our table tent guide.
Which address to put in the code
| The code opens | Works well when | Breaks when |
|---|---|---|
| A PDF | The menu changes a few times a year and you replace the file at the same address | The new file gets a new name, or guests have to pinch and zoom through it |
| A page on your website | Someone on staff can edit it from a phone, and the address stays put | The site is rebuilt, or the only person with the login is off tonight |
| A social media post | Almost never for a menu | The post scrolls away or the app asks guests to log in |
| A hosted menu page | The address never changes and you edit the menu itself | The account behind it closes; plan one reprint if you ever move |
If your menu changes a few times a year and you are careful with the file name, a PDF and a free code are enough, and you do not need us. Read QR codes for PDF menus first. If the menu changes weekly, nightly, or whenever the fish comes in, that is where a menu you edit from your phone earns its keep.
Is this QR generator free, and what does Gaslamp cost
The generator is free, with no account and no limit, and the codes it makes are yours. Gaslamp itself is menu software you run from your phone: pick one of eight designs, type your dishes in, and get a hosted menu with its own code, printable table tents, a window sign, and counter cards, plus a print-ready PDF on paid plans. It starts with a 30-day trial with no card, then $19 a month or $190 a year. There is no free plan, and we would rather say so here than on day fifteen.
Want the full picture first? The QR code menu page shows what a Gaslamp code opens, and free QR code menus lays out every free route, including the ones that do not involve us.