Digital Menus
Dynamic vs Static QR Codes for Restaurant Menus
A static QR code contains the menu address itself, so it works for as long as that address works and can never be pointed somewhere else. A dynamic QR code contains a short address that a service forwards to your menu, so you can change the destination without reprinting — but every printed code now depends on that forwarding service. For a restaurant, the deciding question is simple: who controls the address inside the code, and will it still work in five years?
How each type works
| Static QR code | Dynamic QR code | |
|---|---|---|
| What the code contains | Your menu address | A short address on a forwarding service |
| Changing where it points | Not possible — print a new code | Change the destination in the service; printed codes follow |
| What it depends on | Your menu address staying the same | The forwarding service staying online and your account staying open |
| Scan statistics | None, unless your menu page measures visits | Usually counted by the forwarding service |
| Code density | Grows with the length of the address | Short address, so a simpler pattern |
When a static code is the right choice
A static code is the most robust option when the address inside it will never change — typically a page on a domain the restaurant owns, such as yourrestaurant.com/menu. Nothing sits between the guest and the menu, and there is no third party whose account or service can lapse.
- Use the shortest stable address you can: a shorter address produces a less dense code that phone cameras read more easily from a distance.
- Do not encode a link to a file on a personal drive or a temporary upload — those addresses change or expire.
- Before printing, decide the final address; a static code cannot be corrected afterwards.
When a dynamic code is worth it
A dynamic code makes sense when you expect the destination to change — a new website, a different menu provider, a seasonal page — or when you print many codes, for example one per table, and want to manage them centrally.
Before relying on one, check four things with whoever runs the forwarding:
- Who owns the short address inside the code — you, or the service?
- What happens to the printed codes if you close the account or the service shuts down?
- Can you change the destination yourself, at any time, without a support request?
- What scan data is collected, where it is stored, and whether it identifies guests.
Safety: make sure guests scan your code
Because a QR code hides its address until it is scanned, it can be abused: a sticker placed over a genuine code can send guests to a look-alike page that asks for card details. Consumer-protection authorities advise people to check the address a code opens before entering any information.
- Print codes as part of the table card or stand rather than as loose stickers, and check them when you reset tables.
- Print your short web address next to the code so guests can see where it should lead.
- Never ask for card details on a page that guests reach from a code you cannot account for.
The US Federal Trade Commission's consumer alert of 6 December 2023 warns that scammers hide harmful links in QR codes and advises people to inspect the address before opening it.
Table codes: one per table
If guests order from their table, each table needs its own code so that the order arrives with the right table number. That multiplies the number of printed codes, which is exactly where the choice between static and dynamic matters most: reprinting thirty table cards because the menu moved is the cost you want to avoid.
Doing it with Thmenu
Thmenu prints one code per table, and each code contains a permanent Thmenu address made only of the table's own identifier — no domain name, no menu name and no language. Thmenu works out the destination every time the code is scanned, so the printed codes keep working if you rename the restaurant or its menu link, and the menu opens in the language of each guest's phone.
See how the Thmenu QR menu works.