How to make a video menu for your restaurant
To make a video menu, film short vertical clips of your dishes (a phone works), build them into a mobile menu page with sections, prices, and allergens, and put the resulting QR code on tables and in your social bios. Diners scan, watch the food in motion, and order — no app required. Here's each step in detail.
1.Start with the menu you already have
List your sections and dishes exactly as they are today — PDF, POS export, or a photo of the printed menu all work. Don't redesign anything yet; the structure diners already know is the right starting point. Decide which 5–10 dishes matter most (signatures, high-margin items, anything diners hesitate on) — those get videos first.
2.Film short clips of your priority dishes
A modern phone is enough. Shoot vertical, 8–15 seconds per dish, in daylight or bright kitchen light. Capture the moment the dish looks most alive: the pour, the steam, the cheese pull, the sauce hitting the plate. One take per dish is fine — diners are deciding what to eat, not judging cinematography.
3.Keep clips short, vertical, and silent-friendly
Menus are browsed at the table with the sound off. Trim every clip to the best few seconds, crop to vertical (9:16), and make sure the dish is recognizable within the first second — autoplay means there's no second chance at a first impression.
4.Build the menu as a mobile page, not a PDF
Diners will open this on a phone, so it needs to behave like an app: sections they can jump between, dish rows with a playing clip, prices and allergens on every item. You can assemble this with a video menu platform, or have it built for you — what matters is that it's a fast web page behind one permanent link, never a PDF behind a QR code.
5.Put the QR code everywhere diners decide
Tables and windows first, then the places people decide before they arrive: your Instagram and TikTok bios, Google Business Profile, and website. Because the QR code points at a link and the link never changes, you print once — every future menu change is just an edit.
6.Update it the moment the kitchen changes
The whole advantage of a video menu is that it's never wrong. Hide sold-out dishes during service, change prices the day your costs change, and add specials as clips from tonight's line. A menu diners trust is a menu that's always current.
Or skip all six steps.
Send us the menu you have today — we film, build, and hand you a finished video menu with QR codes, plus a drag-and-drop editor for everything after. Flat $100/month per restaurant.
Common questions
Do I need professional equipment to film a video menu?
No. A recent phone, good light, and 8–15 second vertical clips are enough to start. Professional shoots raise the ceiling — better lighting, styling, and editing — but a phone-shot video menu already outsells a text menu.
How long does it take to make a video menu?
Filming 8–10 priority dishes takes an afternoon. Building the menu page takes anywhere from a day (done-for-you service) to a weekend (DIY tools). Most restaurants launch with videos on their signature dishes and add the rest over time.
Do diners need to download an app?
No — a proper video menu opens in the phone's browser straight from the QR code. If a tool requires diners to install anything, keep looking.
Can I get the videos made for me?
Yes. HeyPlates offers on-site content production — a crew films and edits your dishes in one visit, and the clips are yours to reuse for DoorDash, ads, and social.