Why your menu belongs online

Guests decide before they arrive

The choice of restaurant no longer happens at the door - it happens on their phone. A much-cited survey from the reservation service OpenTable shows that as many as 93 percent of guests check the menu online before visiting a restaurant. Already in 2015, OpenTable found that 86 percent did so regularly, and the proportion has only increased since then.

We see the same pattern in local searches. The analysis agency BrightLocal found that 84 percent of consumers had searched for a local business online in the last three months, and that Google is the place where the vast majority start. When someone searches for "thai oslo" or "kebab nearby", the menu is often the first - and only - thing they will see before making a choice.

The consequence is simple: if you don't have the menu online, the guest compares you to restaurants that do. You are not included in the assessment, and you will never know that you lost a guest.

A bad online menu scares away guests

It is not enough to have the menu online - it must be good to read on a mobile phone. In an American consumer survey, 41 percent stated that a menu that is difficult to read is the biggest annoyance when ordering food online. Almost one in three answered that they go straight on to another restaurant if they come across a PDF menu that they have to pinch and zoom through.

A picture of the paper menu or a scanned PDF may feel like a quick fix, but for the guest on a mobile screen it's often worse than nothing: small print, sideways scrolling and prices that may be out of date. A real digital menu – built for mobile, with clear categories, searchable text and updated prices – gives the guest an answer in seconds.

The QR code has become the norm – not the replacement

After the pandemic, QR codes on the table have become quite common. Industry research estimates that around 75 percent of restaurants globally offer their menu via QR code, and over half of consumers have scanned a QR code at a restaurant in the past month.

At the same time, the same surveys show that many guests still appreciate a physical menu at the table. The lesson is not to choose either paper or online, but to use them for their respective jobs: The paper menu works at the table, while the online menu works for you 24/7 – before the visit, in a Google search, in the link in the Instagram profile and for the guest who wants to call and order takeaway. The digital menu can also do things paper never can: show pictures of the dishes, be updated by the minute and be read in the guest's own language.

Allergens are not optional - they are required by law

In Norway and the EU, allergen labeling is a legal requirement, not a pleasant extra service. The EU's food information regulation (1169/2011), which applies in Norway through the food information regulation, requires all catering establishments to be able to provide information about the 14 defined allergens in each and every dish - including oral serving and takeaway.

On a paper menu, a recipe change means that the entire run must be reprinted. On a digital menu, you change the allergen information once and it is immediately correct everywhere. For guests with food allergies, a menu with clear allergen labeling is also often the very reason why they choose one restaurant over another - they always check in advance.

The menu is your best Google content

An online menu is not only a service for guests who already know you - it is also how new guests find you. When the menu is online as real text, Google can index each and every dish. Then your restaurant can appear when someone searches for "pad thai", "vegetarian pizza" or "gluten-free burger" in your area - search in which you are invisible with a paper menu or a menu image.

Structured data (schema.org) makes this even stronger: Google can display your menu, prices and opening hours directly in the search result. Combined with good reviews - which BrightLocal shows that almost all consumers read before choosing a local restaurant - the online menu becomes a sales channel that works for free, around the clock.

Always up to date – without printing costs

Raw material prices change, dishes sell out, and seasonal menus come and go. With paper, every change means a new print, and in the meantime you serve guests a menu that promises something other than what the kitchen can deliver - a classic source of bad reviews.

A digital menu can be changed in seconds, from the mobile, at no cost. New price, a dish that is out of stock for the day, the special of the day - everything is updated at the same moment everywhere: on the website, in the QR code on the table and in the link you share.

Guests from all over the world read in their own language

Norway has millions of foreign tourists every year, and in the cities a large proportion of the guests are non-Norwegian speakers. A paper menu is usually available in one, perhaps two, languages. A digital menu can automatically be displayed in the guest's own language – from English and German to Thai and Arabic – so that the tourist understands what "raspeballer" actually is, and orders confidently.

For guests with visual impairments, a digital menu is also more accessible: the text can be enlarged, read out by a screen reader and displayed with good contrast – something a laminated paper menu in candlelight can never offer.

Briefly summarized

The research points in the same direction: Guests make decisions online, penalize menus that are difficult to read, expect allergen information and find new places to eat through Google. A mobile-friendly online menu is therefore no longer a "nice to have" – it is the restaurant's most important showcase, open 24 hours a day.

This is exactly what MyMenu is designed for: Take a photo of your paper menu, and you will get a fast, mobile-friendly online menu with allergen labeling, QR code and automatic translation into 23 languages ​​- ready the same evening.