Café QR Menu Template: What to Include and How to Structure It
A café menu does different work from a restaurant menu. Orders are small and frequent, almost every drink is customised, the morning rush is intense, and the best customers order the same thing every day. A café QR menu should be built around those facts.
The structure
Keep the top level short. A template that suits most cafés:
- Coffee (espresso drinks, filter, iced)
- Tea and other drinks
- Breakfast, available until late morning
- Pastries and bakes
- Lunch, from midday
- Extras that guests can add to anything
Categories can carry their own availability hours, so breakfast switches off at 11:00 on its own and lunch appears at midday, without anyone editing the menu. Categories and groups.
Customisation without a long list
Coffee orders are mostly options. Put them on the drink, not as separate items:
- Size: small, regular, large, each with its own price
- Milk: a single-choice group (whole, oat, almond)
- Extras: a multi-choice group (extra shot, syrup) with a sensible maximum
Descriptions that earn their space
One honest line per item is enough: origin for the coffee, what makes the pastry worth it. AI generate can draft descriptions for you to edit, and dietary tags (Vegan, Gluten-Free) save repeated questions at the counter.
Codes for each way of ordering
- A takeaway code at the counter, so the queue can order while it waits
- Table codes for guests who sit down
- Order ahead for collection, with a verified mobile number
Make regulars feel like regulars
Regulars are the café's business. Points for every visit, a streak for coming back each month, a monthly challenge, and one-tap reorders of a usual order give them a reason to choose you over the café next door.
Template checklist
- Five or six categories, with breakfast and lunch hours set
- Sizes, milk and extras as option groups
- One-line descriptions and dietary tags
- Takeaway and table codes printed
- Order ahead switched on
- Loyalty with a reward regulars actually want
For UK cafés, see QR menus for UK cafés. To build the menu, start with the menu builder.
