One table, one QR code, one stamp-sized PDF
It began like so many good ideas: with a bad mood and an empty stomach. A restaurant, a table, a QR code. I scan it — and nothing happens. Then a PDF loads, the size of a postage stamp. I zoom, swipe, zoom again. Somewhere between the starter and despair a thought arrives that will not leave: this cannot be that hard.
Spoiler: it was harder. Just not the way I expected. The problem was not the guests, it was the office behind the kitchen. The menu had long been finished as a PDF — lovingly designed, with last month's prices. Every change meant: reprint, re-laminate, get annoyed again. And the digital options wanted you to retype the entire menu. Dish by dish. As if a restaurateur had nothing else to do.
So I turned the recipe around: the PDF stays. The QR code stays. Only the content behind it changes. The printed code holds a dynamic link instead of a rigid pointer to a file — upload a new PDF and you swap the content. The code on the table stays the same, day one or season ten.
Simple for the guest means elaborate underneath: one platform for many restaurants, every account cleanly separated, updates for everyone automatically, nothing to install. The guest menu is a lean web app rather than a download — it opens in the browser, even on the weak wifi in the corner by the window. The analytics show views, time spent and the split by weekday and hour. They help the restaurateur and do not spy on guests.
“menuQR is what I wished for at that table back then: one scan and the menu is there. The rest is a matter of taste.”
The long version of this story is in the blog: Road to menuQR.
I develop menuQR. And I run it, too.
No investor, no sales team, no agency in between. menuQR is the product of one person who builds it and keeps it running. This page shows who that is — and how you can verify it instead of taking my word for it.
Where I come from
I started with an apprenticeship as a marketing communications specialist at an advertising agency, 2003 to 2006. I have been self-employed since 2007: brand building, design, communication and campaigns for mid-sized companies.
Alongside that, marketing and communications responsibility in companies from industry and logistics, sports and sponsorship, packaging and healthcare — always on the side where content is created and measured afterwards. What almost always went wrong was not the idea but the execution: too slow, too expensive, not measurable.
In recent years IT and automation have been added: interfaces, data flows, AI-assisted processes. menuQR is the consequence — design, brand, media, IT and automation in one product instead of five projects.
Two halves of one brain
Anyone who only builds software or only markets it misses one of the two sides. Here both come from the same person — which explains one or two decisions on this page.
From marketing
Why the page looks like this
Prices are in the open: €29 Professional and €49 Enterprise per month, cancellable monthly. No “price on request”, no sales call as the entry ticket. You test for seven days without entering payment details.
See SEO & branding →From engineering
Why it works
Upload a PDF, generate a QR code, done — the rest happens server-side: menus, languages, allergens, analytics. No app download for guests, no setup for the team.
See data export →How you can tell this is honest
The prices are on the page
€29 Professional or €49 Enterprise per month, cancellable monthly. Anyone hiding prices wants to negotiate. There is nothing to negotiate here.
You test without payment details
Seven days, no credit card, no automatic renewal buried in the fine print.
No profiles about your guests
Analytics counts views, device classes and times — not people. No cookie profiles, no advertising IDs, no guest login.
Servers in Germany
Hosted at Hetzner in Nuremberg. The menus sit in the EU, not in a US data centre.
What you will not find here
- A phone call just because you signed up.
- A minimum term or a cancellation deadline at year-end.
- A feature that only exists in the demo.
- A “book a call” gate in front of a price.
- Review stars from a dubious source.
Common questions
I do. Application, website and operations come from one hand. When something breaks, there is no queue between you and the person fixing it.
On servers in Germany (Hetzner, Nuremberg) and in EU storage for the menus. Only the application's operations team has access.
The subscription ends at the end of the month — cancellable monthly, no year-end deadline. You can take your data with you via the data export.
By email to [email protected]. The reply comes from the person who builds the product.