Digital Menus
How to Keep a Restaurant Menu Updated in Real Time
A restaurant menu stays current when there is one place where it is edited and every other copy reads from it. Guests meet the menu in many places — the QR code on the table, your website, a counter tablet, your Google profile, delivery apps — and each copy you keep by hand will drift. Make the live online menu the source, link to it from everywhere you can, and keep a short list of the copies that still need updating by hand.
Count the copies of your menu
| Copy | Updated by |
|---|---|
| QR code on the table | Automatically, if the code opens your live menu |
| Your website | Automatically, if it shows or links to the live menu |
| A counter or kiosk tablet | Automatically, if it runs the same menu |
| Google Business Profile | A link to your menu, or the menu typed into Google |
| Printed menus and boards | By hand, every time |
| Third-party apps | By hand, in each app |
Google takes its own time
Your Google profile has a menu link field: point it at your live menu, so guests who tap it always see the current version. If you also use Google's own menu editor, remember that Google says changes can take 24 to 48 hours to appear on Maps and Search, and that Google may transcribe menu data from your website. Treat the copy on Google as a lagging one, and keep the link pointing at the live menu.
More on the profile itself: the restaurant Google Business Profile guide.
The changes that cannot wait
- A dish runs out during service — mark it sold out at once, so nobody orders it.
- An allergen changes because the recipe or a supplier changed.
- A price changes — before the first guest of the day, not after.
- Breakfast ends and lunch starts — show each menu only at its time.
- You close for a holiday — say so on the menu itself.
A routine that keeps it true
- One person owns the menu, and one deputy can edit it when they are away.
- Change the live menu first, then the copies you keep by hand.
- Open the menu on a phone after every change, as a guest would.
- Once a month, compare every copy in the table above with the live menu.
Live menu updates with Thmenu
In Thmenu the menu is edited once in the panel, and the QR codes, the restaurant website and the kiosk all show that same menu. A price change, a dish marked sold out or a new item reaches guests within a minute; you can also change many prices at once by a percentage. Stock tracking can mark a dish sold out by itself when its count reaches zero. Categories can be shown only on certain days and between certain hours, and a dish outside its hours cannot be ordered. Holiday mode puts a banner on the menu and stops new orders. Thmenu does not edit your Google profile for you: put your menu's link in its menu link field.
See menu management in Thmenu.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help — About the menu editor (accessed 28 October 2026)