QR code menu generator for restaurants: stable URLs and scan tracking

Encode a URL that points to a page you control on your domain, for example https://terrazon.com/menu. Do not encode a Google Drive link, a Dropbox share, or a Notion page on a free plan.

The reason is mundane: the QR is printed on a laminated card or etched into a wood stand. The URL inside it is frozen for the next two years. If the underlying file moves, expires, or hits a free tier limit, every printed code in the restaurant is dead until you re-print. A page on your domain stays put. You update the menu HTML on the page, the QR keeps working forever.

A real HTML menu also wins on speed (no 3MB PDF download on a 4G corner), accessibility (screen readers parse it), and SEO (Google indexes the page, the PDF probably not).

If you want to know how many people scan, append UTM parameters to the URL inside the QR. Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom and Umami all read them.

Use the source to identify the QR location, the medium to identify the format, and the campaign to identify the menu version. A working tagged URL:

https://terrazon.com/menu?utm_source=qr&utm_medium=table_tent&utm_campaign=menu_2026

If you have multiple table positions or terraces with different codes, vary the source per code. utm_source=qr_terrace, utm_source=qr_indoor, and after a month you know which area of the restaurant is busiest by raw scan count, not by guesswork from the floor staff.

Two thirds of QR scan failures in restaurants are accessibility failures, not technical ones. The code is too small, too dim, or hidden behind a candle.

Concrete rules. Print the QR at minimum 30mm square on a table tent, 50mm on a wall poster. Add a "Tap here for menu" line below the code in a 14 point readable font, the line tells older guests what the code is for. High contrast, black on white or near white, not a tinted illustration. Place it where a phone can rest on the table to scan, not on a vertical menu holder that requires holding the phone steady at arm's length.

Always offer a paper menu on request. The QR menu is a default, not a replacement. Visually impaired guests, older guests, guests with a dead phone battery exist.

Some QR services sell "dynamic QR codes" where the code points to their domain and they redirect to your page. Useful in theory, you can change the destination without reprinting. The catch: if you stop paying or the service shuts down, every printed code in the restaurant goes dead immediately.

Self-host the destination on your own domain, even if it means re-printing once a year. Static QR encodes a URL you own, dynamic QR rents a redirect. For a restaurant fixture, ownership wins.