Everything you need to know about setting up and running your digital menu.
Most restaurants are live in under 30 minutes. Sign up, name your restaurant, and claim your public URL in about 30 seconds. Then add your menu items one by one or bulk import from a CSV file. Once your menu is built, open the URL on any smart TV browser and you're displaying.
No. If you can use a smartphone, you can use Live Digital Menus. Adding items, uploading images, changing prices, and 86ing items are all done through a simple dashboard. No coding, no design software, no IT support needed.
Yes — the Free plan is free forever, not a trial. You get up to 20 menu and drink items, a public menu page with a unique URL, category organization, dietary and allergen tags, and a mobile-friendly display. No credit card required to start.
Just your restaurant name. Everything else — menu items, categories, branding, pricing — you can add at your own pace. You can be live with a basic menu in under 10 minutes.
Sign up for a free account, name your restaurant, and add your menu items with names, descriptions, prices, and categories. You can add items one by one or bulk import from a CSV file. Once your items are in, customize your colors and fonts, then share your menu URL, display it on a TV, or generate a QR code for tables. The whole process takes under 30 minutes.
Yes — that's the main advantage over printed menus. You can change prices, 86 items, add daily specials, and reorder categories from your phone in seconds. Every change shows up instantly on your TV display, QR code menu, and public URL. No reprinting, no waiting, no design skills needed.
It works on any smart TV with a browser — Samsung, LG, Vizio, Sony, Fire TV, and most others. Just open the browser on your TV, navigate to your menu URL, and it displays. No media player, no Fire Stick, no extra hardware required. If your TV has a browser, you're ready.
Live Digital Menus supports four TV display modes: split-screen (two menu columns side by side), page-flip (menu sections rotate automatically), auto-scroll (the menu scrolls continuously), and static (the full menu displayed at once). You choose which mode works best for your space.
Yes. Category scheduling (also called dayparting) is available on the Pro plan. You can assign categories to specific times of day and days of the week, and they appear and disappear automatically. No manual switching needed.
Plug in an Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, or Chromecast — all of these have browsers you can use to load your menu URL. A Fire Stick typically costs $30–$50 and works with any HDMI TV.
Yes. Any smart TV with a web browser can display your digital menu board. Open your menu's URL in the TV's browser and choose a display mode (split-screen, page-flip, auto-scroll, or static). No media player, no app, no special hardware — just a URL. If your TV doesn't have a browser, a $30 Amazon Fire TV Stick adds one.
Yes. The TV display mode is designed specifically for large screens — large text, high contrast, and a layout optimized for readability from across a room. It's different from the mobile menu view, which is optimized for phones.
Toggle the item off in your dashboard and it disappears immediately — from the TV display, the QR code menu, and the public menu URL. No reprinting, no crossing things out, no lag. Customers see the updated menu within seconds.
Yes. The dashboard is mobile-friendly, so you can add items, change prices, 86 specials, and update categories from your phone without needing a computer.
Mark any item as a special and assign it a label (like "Chef's Pick" or "Happy Hour") and specific days of the week. The special appears automatically on the assigned days and disappears on the others. No manual toggling required.
Yes. You can create any categories you want, rename them, reorder them with drag and drop, and move items between them. Common setups include Starters, Entrees, Desserts, On Tap, Cocktails, Wine, and Seasonal — but you can name them anything.
Yes, on the Pro plan. You can upload an image for each menu item, which appears on both the TV display and the public menu page.
You can tag any item with labels like GF (gluten-free), Vegan, Vegetarian, Contains Nuts, Spicy, Dairy-Free, and more — 13 tags in total. These appear as badges on the public menu so guests can quickly find what works for them.
Yes. On the Starter and Pro plans, you can bulk import menu items from a CSV file. This is the fastest way to get a large menu set up — export your existing menu data to a spreadsheet, format it to the CSV template, and import it in one step.
Your POS (Toast, Square, Lavu, etc.) handles order-taking and payments. Live Digital Menus handles how your menu looks on every screen in the house — your TV, your customers' phones via QR code, and any printed copy. They solve different problems and work alongside each other, not instead of each other.
Digital signage platforms are built for generic content — ads, announcements, slideshows. They require a separate media player device ($50–$150), charge extra for QR codes ($30+/mo), and show static images only. Live Digital Menus is built specifically for restaurant menus: real-time 86ing, daily specials, QR codes on all plans, multi-language support, and TV display modes — all without extra hardware.
No contracts, no lock-in. All plans are month-to-month and you can cancel anytime. Annual plans are available at a discount if you want to pay upfront.
A digital menu can range from free to $89+/month depending on features. Live Digital Menus offers a free plan (up to 20 items, forever), a Starter plan ($49/month for 50 items with custom branding and QR codes), and a Pro plan ($89/month for unlimited items with TV display modes, item photos, and multi-language support). No contracts — cancel anytime.
Live Digital Menus has a free plan that lets you create a digital menu with up to 20 items, dietary tags, category organization, and a public URL — free forever, no credit card required. Unlike design tools like Canva, it's a live menu that you can update in real time from your phone.
The Free plan includes up to 20 menu and drink items, a public menu page with a unique URL, category organization, dietary and allergen tags, and a mobile-friendly display. It's free forever — not a trial.
Pro adds unlimited menu items, TV display modes (split-screen, page-flip, auto-scroll), full brand customization (background images, custom fonts, logo), item photos, multi-language menus in 10 languages, category scheduling by time of day, and a live dashboard preview. Starter covers up to 50 items with custom branding, QR codes, daily specials, and print menu.
Yes. For a one-time fee of $299, the Live Digital Menus team will build your entire digital menu — categories, items, images, colors, fonts, and TV display configuration — ready to display within 48 hours. Just send your existing menu and branding materials.
Yes. Generate a QR code from your dashboard in one click. Print it for tables, add it to your signage, or share it digitally. Customers scan it with their phone camera — no app download required — and see your live menu instantly.
Yes. The QR code links to your live menu URL, so any change you make in the dashboard — price updates, 86'd items, new specials — appears immediately when someone scans the code. You never need to reprint the QR code.
Yes, on Starter and Pro plans. You can generate a clean, print-ready version of your menu directly from your dashboard — useful for takeout menus, hostess stands, or customers who prefer paper.
Yes. The Custom plan includes a multi-location dashboard and restaurant switcher, so you can manage separate menus for each location from one account. Contact us to discuss your setup.
Yes, on the Pro plan. Live Digital Menus supports 10 languages. Guests can pick their language on the public menu page, and the TV display mode supports language parameters as well.
Yes. On the Starter plan you get custom colors and branding. On Pro you get full customization: your logo, custom fonts, background images, and accent colors — so the menu looks like an extension of your restaurant's identity, not a generic template.