How to Create a Digital Menu With AI, Step by Step
From the menu on your table to a QR menu guests open on their phone: what to photograph, what the AI reads, how to answer its questions, check the draft, publish and print your QR codes.
To create a digital menu with AI, you photograph the menu you already have or upload its PDF, and doXmenu reads it into a draft: menus, sections, dishes, prices, descriptions, ingredients, allergens and diet tags, already translated into up to six of your languages. You answer the questions it asks, check the draft, press Publish and print your QR codes. This guide takes you through every step, in order.
For a one-page overview of what the AI reads and what it leaves to you, see AI menu import: from a paper menu to a QR menu.
What do you need before you start?
- Your menu as photos or a PDF. Photos from your phone in JPG, PNG, WEBP or HEIC, or a PDF of up to 40 pages. A menu kept in Word, Excel or PowerPoint is saved as a PDF first.
- A doXmenu account. The first month is free and no card is needed.
- Your menu languages. The AI translates the menu into up to six of your venue's languages while it builds it, so choose them when you set up the account.
How do you create a digital menu with AI? 8 steps
1. Photograph every page, or use the PDF
Take one photo per page: the page flat, in good light and whole in the frame, prices included. If your menu is already a PDF, upload the file as it is.
- Photograph every page guests order from: food, drinks, desserts, the wine list and the back page.
- If your menu marks allergens with numbers or symbols, photograph the key that explains them too.
- The cover and pages without dishes or prices can stay out.
2. Choose AI import and upload
A new account is offered three ways to build its first menu: from a template, from blank or with AI import. Choose AI import and add all the photos, or the PDF, in one go.
3. Let the AI read the menu
Reading takes a few minutes. You do not have to wait in front of the screen: doXmenu emails you when the draft is ready.
4. Answer its questions
Where the menu is unclear, the AI asks you instead of guessing: a dish with two prices, an allergen symbol that is crossed out or unreadable, a currency that looks wrong, or languages that disagree about a meat or an allergen. The menu cannot be published while a question about a meat or an allergen is open.
5. Check the draft
The menu arrives as a draft, and nothing in it reaches your guests yet. Read it the way a guest would and change any line by hand.
- Prices and currency, dish by dish
- The order of menus and sections
- Allergens and diet tags on every dish
- The translations, in every language you can read
6. Press Publish
When the draft is right, press Publish. From that moment your guests see the menu, and every change you save later is live at once.
7. Download and print your QR codes
On the QR screen, download one QR code for the menu and one for each table, as PNG, SVG or PDF. Print them on stickers, table tents or stands and put them where your guests sit.
8. Share the link for computers too
Your menu also has its own address, doxmenu.com/your-venue. On a screen 900 px wide or more it opens as a website-style grid of 2 to 4 columns, so the same link works on your website, your Google Business Profile and your social pages.
How long does it take?
The AI reads the menu in a few minutes and emails you when the draft is ready. After that, the time depends on your menu: how many questions it raises and how carefully you check the draft. What you skip is the slow part, typing every dish, price, description and allergen yourself. Read why owners love building their menu with AI.
How do you make it look like your venue?
AI import builds the content of your menu, not its look: it does not create dish photos and does not apply a design. Choose one of 70 palettes in 10 groups by type of venue and one of 16 font styles, or set the 6 colours yourself with an eyedropper, then add your logo, a background photo and your own dish photos.
Or let AI design start it for you: upload your logo and get three designs made to match it, in colours and font styles.
Everything else doXmenu does is in the complete features guide.
How many menus can you create with AI?
Each account can create 2 AI menus a day and 10 a month. AI import is included in every plan, from 12.99€ a month billed yearly, and the first month is free with no card needed. See the pricing page, or see how it works in the AI menu section of our homepage.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to create a digital menu with AI?
The AI reads the menu in a few minutes and emails you when the draft is ready. Then you answer its questions, check the draft and press Publish.
Can I upload a PDF of my menu?
Yes, a PDF of up to 40 pages, or photos in JPG, PNG, WEBP or HEIC. Save a Word, Excel or PowerPoint menu as a PDF first.
Is the menu published automatically?
No. It arrives as a draft, and nothing reaches your guests until you check it and press Publish. A question about a meat or an allergen must be answered first.
Which QR codes do I get?
One QR code for the menu and one for each table, as PNG, SVG or PDF.
Does the AI add photos of my dishes?
No. It reads the text of your menu. You add your own dish photos and choose the design.
Start your free month and create your menu with AI.
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