How Do You Put a QR Code on a Menu or Table Tent?
A table tent is scanned by a seated guest in restaurant lighting, through a laminate, at about 40 cm. Make the code below, then read on for the size that survives that, the tent height and angle that make it easy, and the landing page mistake that loses more customers than any print error.
Opens in Google Maps. Coordinates work too - "37.4224, -122.0841".
The code opens your business's "Write a review" form. Paste the Place ID, or a Google Maps link that carries one.
A UPI link carries no checksum, so a mistyped ID produces a code that scans perfectly and pays somebody else. Paste the ID from your payment app rather than typing it, and send yourself one rupee before printing.
Paste it exactly as copied. KoloQR does not assemble the payload - it encodes the one your bank issued, and checks it before you print it.
SVG, PNG, JPG • Max 2 MB
What Size Should a Table Tent QR Code Be?
Print it at 3 to 4 cm. A seated guest scans a tent from 35-45 cm across a table, and the ten-to-one rule puts that at 3.5-4.5 cm. Restaurant lighting is dimmer than any office, so take the upper end: 4 cm scans first time where 2.5 cm makes people lean in.
- The Tent, in Millimetres - an A6 tent stands about 105 mm tall on a 74 mm face, an A5 tent about 148 mm. Put the code in the upper half of the face, so a guest is not scanning downwards into the tablecloth.
- Angle and Height - a tent leaning back 20-30 degrees puts its face square to a seated phone. Flat on the table means scanning from directly above, which is the awkward angle every guest resolves by picking the card up.
- Quiet Zone - four blank modules on every side. On a 4 cm code that is roughly 6 mm, and the tent's own border is the thing most likely to eat it.
- Dim Light Wants Contrast - restaurant lighting is a fraction of office lighting, and a phone camera compensates by raising exposure and losing detail. Black on white on a menu is not a lack of imagination; it is the margin that keeps the code working at dinner.
A code printed on the menu itself is a different measurement: menus are held at 30-35 cm, so 3 cm is enough, which the minimum size for print guide explains. The table tent is the harder case because it stays on the table and is scanned across it.
Generate QR CodeWhat to Link a Menu or Table Tent Code To
One table, several jobs. These are the six destinations worth a tent face, and the reason each beats asking a member of staff.
The Menu as a Web Page
A responsive page, not a PDF. A PDF menu opens in a viewer, arrives zoomed out, and has to be pinched and dragged - which is the single most common reason guests give up on a menu code and ask for paper.
The Wine or Drinks List
The list that changes weekly and costs the most to reprint. A tent code that opens the current pour list keeps the printed food menu stable while the wines move.
The Wi-Fi Network
A Wi-Fi code joins the network without anyone spelling out a password with capitals in it. On a tent it belongs on the reverse face, so the menu code keeps the side that faces the guest.
A Review Form
Goodwill peaks with the bill, not the next morning. A tent or bill-fold code opening a review form catches it while the meal is still the most recent thing that happened.
Order and Pay at Table
For venues running table service through an app, the tent carries the table number in the link. Fewer trips to the counter, and no guessing which table an order belongs to.
Events and Bookings
Quiz night, the tasting menu, next month's supper club, the booking form. A tent is the only advertising space in a restaurant where the audience is already seated and reading.
How to Make a QR Code for a Menu or Table Tent
Five steps, and one of them is about the page rather than the print. On menu codes the landing page is where most of the failures live.
Generate QR Code- 1
Publish the Menu as a Web Page
Put the menu at a URL as ordinary HTML, so it opens at readable size on a phone. If a PDF is the only option, at least make it a single portrait page with large type.
- 2
Use One Short Link per Purpose
example.com/menu for the menu, example.com/wine for the list. Short paths encode into coarser, more forgiving patterns, and they read sensibly when printed as text beneath the code.
- 3
Build the Code
Open the generator above, paste the link, and style it to match the tent. Keep the modules dark on a light background - contrast is worth more here than on any other surface in this collection.
- 4
Design the Tent Around the Code
Code in the upper half of the face, at 3-4 cm, with its quiet zone clear of the border, and four or five words beside it saying what it opens. Put a different code on the reverse face rather than crowding two onto one side.
- 5
Test It Seated, at Dinner Service
Sit at a table with the finished, laminated tent in place, under evening lighting, and scan it from where a guest's phone actually is. This is the test that catches laminate glare and undersized codes at once.
Laminate, Glare and Grease
A table tent lives under a downlight and gets handled with buttery fingers, which makes the finish the most consequential decision on the piece. Gloss lamination mirrors the ceiling light straight into the camera, and the smear from the last guest scatters what is left.
- Matte Laminate, Always - matte scatters light, gloss reflects it. On a table under a spotlight, matte lamination is what makes the difference between a code that works and one that guests hold at an angle - see matte vs gloss printing.
- Wipeable, Because It Will Be Wiped - laminated 350 gsm board survives a service; uncoated card curls and stains within a week. A stained code is a low-contrast code.
- Print the Code Flat - no spot UV, no foil, no embossing on the pattern. Every finish that makes the tent feel premium makes the code reflective or uneven.
- One Code per Face - menu on the front, Wi-Fi or reviews on the back. Two codes on one face at tent size means two codes too small for dim light.
Tents get replaced far more often than menus, which makes them the right place for anything seasonal. Keep the printed food menu pointing at a stable URL and let the tent carry the code that changes - and point both at your own domain, so a change of booking platform does not mean a reprint.
Generate QR CodeBefore the Tents Reach the Tables
A menu code is scanned by every table, every service, by people who will not come back if it is annoying. These checks cost one evening.
Never Link Straight to a PDF
A PDF opens zoomed out in a viewer and has to be pinched into readability. A plain web page is the single biggest improvement available to any menu code, and it costs nothing per scan.
Keep the Page Under a Second
Guests scan on mobile data inside a building with thick walls. A menu page carrying full-resolution food photography is a menu page nobody sees before the waiter arrives.
Keep Paper Menus Available
Some guests have no phone, no data, or no interest. A QR menu is an addition to the printed one, and treating it as a replacement is what gave menu codes their reputation.
Label Every Code
'Scan for the menu', 'Scan for Wi-Fi'. Two unlabelled codes on a table are indistinguishable, and a guest who joins the Wi-Fi expecting the menu blames the restaurant, not the tent.
Scan It Under Service Lighting
Test at the table, in the evening, through the laminate, with two phones. Daylight at the pass is not the condition the code will be used in.
Check It Weekly
Tents get scratched, greasy and swapped. Scanning one from each section at the start of a shift takes a minute and catches the dead link before a hundred guests do.
Questions? Answered
3 to 4 cm, and 4 cm if the room is dimly lit. A seated guest scans from 35-45 cm across a table, which the ten-to-one rule puts at 3.5-4.5 cm of code width. On the menu itself, held at 30 cm, 3 cm is enough.
No. A PDF opens in a viewer, arrives zoomed out and has to be pinched and dragged before anything is readable, which is why guests abandon menu codes. Publish the menu as an ordinary web page instead; it loads faster, reads at phone size, and can be edited without regenerating anything.
Restaurant lighting plus gloss lamination. Dim light makes a phone raise its exposure and lose module detail, and a glossy laminate mirrors the downlight straight back into the lens. Matte lamination and a 4 cm code fix nearly every case of this.
Yes, one per face - menu on the front, Wi-Fi or reviews on the back. Two codes on the same face means both are too small for dim light and neither is labelled clearly enough. Whatever you choose, put a few words beside each saying what it opens.
Yes. Some guests have no phone, no signal or no patience, and a venue that offers only a code turns them away at the table. Treat the code as the fast route for people who prefer it and keep enough printed menus for the rest - see QR codes for restaurant menus for how venues run both together.
No - they encode different things. A Wi-Fi code joins the network directly and a menu code opens a web page, and a guest who scans the wrong one gets a confusing result. Print them on separate faces with clear labels; see Wi-Fi QR codes for what the network code contains.
Whenever the code gets scratched, greasy or faded, which in a busy room is every few months. A dulled or smeared pattern loses contrast long before it looks damaged, so scan a sample from each section at the start of a shift rather than waiting for a complaint.
Yes, if the code points at a URL on your own domain. Change the redirect behind it and every printed tent follows. That is also the reason not to encode a booking platform's own address directly - switching supplier would otherwise mean reprinting every table in the room.
Keep Exploring
Pages that pick up where this one leaves off - the same setting, the same kind of code, or the next thing worth deciding.
Restaurant Menus
Table cards and takeaway packaging that open the current menu in one scan - update a price and every table shows it, with nothing reprinted.
Bars & Pubs
Drinks menus, rotating tap lists, Wi-Fi and gig calendars on codes that still scan in a dim room.
Google Review QR Code
Open your business's Google review form in one scan, with the stars ready to tap.
Tripadvisor QR Code
Send guests straight to your review form instead of asking them to search for you.
Product Packaging
What a code on a carton, pouch, label or bottle has to survive - sizes, finishes that kill a scan, and what the scan should open.
Banners
Roll-ups, exhibition and outdoor banners - the size the distance demands, the height that works, and why mesh and wind break scans.
Why KoloQR?
- Create QR codes for websites, menus, Wi-Fi, PDFs, and business cards
- Customize colors, logos, and unique shapes
- Download high-quality PNG and SVG files
- Built for both print and digital
