On this page
The short version
- One outlet with around 40 dishes can go from sign-up to a live QR menu between lunch and dinner service.
- The free Starter plan is enough to go live: QR menu, Bangla and English dish names, print-ready table codes and guest ratings.
- The menu is the long step. If you would rather not type it, send a photo of your printed menu to the Plateforum team the day before and approve what they build.
- Table ordering is optional. Start with the menu, switch ordering on when your team is ready.
- Before opening, scan every table yourself. Five minutes of checking saves a confused guest at table 9.
Most restaurant owners we talk to assume a digital menu is a project: a vendor, a few meetings, a launch date two weeks out. With Plateforum it is closer to an afternoon's work, and most of that afternoon is spent on the one thing only you know well, which is your own menu.
This guide follows a real sequence for a single outlet. The times are a plan, not a promise. Your menu size and how many tables you have will move them a little. The order matters more than the clock.
Before 2 PM: what to have on the counter
An afternoon goes wrong when you stop halfway to hunt for a logo file or count tables. Gather these first. Tick them off as you go.
Pre-flight checklist
2:00 PMCreate your account
About 15 minutes
Start on the free Starter plan at plateforum.com. Registering makes you the owner of your restaurant straight away. There is no approval queue and no sales call required.
Add your restaurant's name, address and cuisine, then confirm your email. You can keep building while the confirmation is pending, but the menu only goes public once your address is verified. Do it now so it is not the thing holding you back at 5:45.
Your menu gets its own link the moment the restaurant exists. Copy it somewhere; you will use it for WhatsApp and your Facebook page later.
2:15 PMBuild the menu
About 90 minutes for 40 dishes
This is the long step, and it is worth doing properly. Start with categories in the order guests should see them: what sells best near the top, drinks and desserts somewhere a hungry guest will still notice. Then add dishes one category at a time.
Each dish can carry its English and Bangla names side by side, a price, portion options such as half and full, a discount price, dietary labels, allergens and prep time. Fill in prep time even if it feels optional. A guest who sees "20 min" next to a kebab stops asking the waiter where their food is.
One dish, as you enter it and as the guest sees it
Try the switchesKacchi Biryani
Or let the team build it
If typing 40 dishes is not how you want to spend your afternoon, send a photo of your printed menu to the Plateforum team. They build it with categories, prices and Bangla names and hand it back for you to approve. Send it the day before, so your afternoon starts at step 3 with a finished draft waiting.
| Build it yourself | Send a photo to the team | |
|---|---|---|
| Who enters the dishes | You, in the owner panel | The Plateforum team |
| Bangla names | You type them | Added by the team, you check them |
| Your time on the day | About 90 minutes for 40 dishes | Reviewing and approving the draft |
| When to start | 2:15 PM on the day | The day before |
| Best for | Small menus, owners who like control | Long menus, busy owners |
A self-serve menu import, where you upload a photo or PDF in the owner panel and get a draft to review, is in development on the Plateforum roadmap.
3:45 PMPhotos and today's availability
About 30 minutes
You don't need a photographer for day one. Photograph your ten best sellers on a phone, near a window, on a plain plate, from slightly above. Ten good photos beat forty rushed ones, and you can add the rest over the week.
Then walk through the menu once more and mark anything you can't serve tonight. The floor manager can switch a dish off mid-service with one tap, so this isn't a one-time job, but starting accurate matters.
If you run separate breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, set the schedule now. Time-based menus switch on their own, so the night shift never shows the breakfast paratha.
4:15 PMMake it look like yours
About 15 minutes
On the Service plan you can add your logo, your colours and your own link. Plateforum keeps text readable whatever colours you choose, which matters in a dining room with warm, dim lighting.
On Starter, skip this step. The menu works perfectly well in the default look, and you can brand it the day you upgrade.
4:30 PMPrint the QR stickers
About 45 minutes, including the trip to the print shop
Plateforum generates a printable A4 sticker sheet in one click, with each code already numbered for its table. Every sticker knows which table it belongs to, so orders and scans arrive tagged with the right number.
One A4 sheet, twelve numbered table codes
Illustrative layout- TableOne per table, numbered
- CounterFor bar and counter seats
- TakeawayAt the pickup point
- BranchOne per outlet
- RestaurantWindow, door, Facebook page
- CampaignFlyers and promotions
Print on matte sticker paper, or laminate them if your tables get wiped down with water often. Glossy paper reflects ceiling lights and makes phones struggle to focus.
Place each sticker where a seated guest can scan it without moving a plate: near the edge of the table, facing the chair, not under the condiment tray. Then sit down at a table yourself and try it from seat height.
5:15 PMDry run with your team
About 30 minutes
Gather whoever is on the floor tonight. Walk the room and scan every single table with a phone. Check that the menu opens and that the right table number appears at the top. One mislabelled sticker means orders going to the wrong table all night.
If you are on Service and switching table ordering on, add staff logins now so each person sees what their role needs. Then send a test order and follow it through the four stages your kitchen will use.
A test order, from table to served
Interactive demo- Accepted
- Preparing
- Ready
- Served
- 1 × Kacchi Biryani
- 2 × Borhani
The order lands with its table already attached. Nobody has to write "T7" on a slip.
Each stage is a tap. The guest's phone shows where their food is, which cuts down on "how long?" questions.
On Starter, or with ordering switched off, skip this part. Waiters take orders as they always have, and guests still browse and rate from the menu.
5:45 PMDoors open
That's it. The first guests scan, browse photos and prices in the language they prefer, and before they leave they can rate the dishes they ate, with stars and photos. You can reply to a review or hide anything that breaks your rules.
Keep one printed menu behind the counter for the first few nights. Some guests will ask for it, and it costs nothing to say yes.
When a price changes next week, edit the dish once. Every table updates within seconds. The stickers stay exactly where they are.
Your first week: what to watch
The owner panel shows scans by table, by hour and by dish. In the first week, three questions are worth answering.
Scans per hour, first Friday evening
Illustrative dataThe 8 PM peak tells you when to have your strongest server on the floor.
Are all tables scanning? A table with no scans after three busy nights usually has a sticker problem: wrong spot, glare, or covered by a napkin holder.
Which dishes get opened but not ordered? That is often a photo, a description or a price worth revisiting. We wrote a whole piece on reading that signal: what a QR menu tells you that your POS never will.
What are guests rating? Read every rating in week one, including the threes. That is where the fixable problems are.
Which plan does this afternoon need?
You can do everything in this guide except branding, staff logins and table ordering on the free plan. Prices below are from plateforum.com as of October 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it adds for go-live |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | ৳0 per month | QR menu for one outlet, Bangla and English names, print-ready table QR codes, guest ratings |
| Service | ৳1,200 per restaurant per month | Table ordering with live order status, staff logins, your logo, colours and link |
| Signature | ৳2,900 per branch per month | Every branch on one account, unlimited menu items, full reporting, your own domain |
| Enterprise | Talk to sales | POS and accounting connections for chains, hotels and food courts |
You can change plan any month, so starting free and upgrading when ordering makes sense is a perfectly normal path.
Common questions
Does it really take only one afternoon?
For a single outlet with a menu of around 40 dishes, yes. A menu of 150 items, several branches or dishes with many portion options will take longer. The slowest part is usually the menu itself, which is why the team can build it for you from a photo.
Who sets up my menu?
Either you or the Plateforum team. Send a photo of your printed menu and the team builds it with categories, prices and Bangla names, then hands it to you to approve.
Do my guests need to install an app?
No. The phone camera opens the menu in the browser, on an entry-level Android as well as the newest iPhone.
Can I keep taking orders through my waiters?
Yes. Many restaurants start with the menu and reviews only. Table ordering is a switch you turn on when your team is ready.
What does it cost to start?
Starter is free for one outlet and covers the QR menu, Bangla and English dish names, print-ready table QR codes and guest ratings. Service is ৳1,200 per restaurant per month and adds table ordering, staff logins and your own branding.
What if a price changes in the middle of service?
Edit the dish once in the owner panel and every table, and every branch, shows the new price within seconds. The printed stickers never change.
What happens to my data if I stop?
Your menu, orders and reviews are yours. Ask and the team exports them and deletes the account.
The bottom line
Going digital used to mean a project plan. Now it means clearing one afternoon, knowing your menu, and walking the room with a phone before the doors open. The hard part was never the software. It was finding the afternoon. Pick one this week.
Last updated . Times are a suggested plan for one outlet; figures in charts are illustrative. এই লেখাটি বাংলায় পড়ুন