Tourists read menus on their phones. FlyMenu, a menu service built in Venice, says about four menu views out of five there come from a phone set to a language other than Italian (PeerPush listing, Sep 4, 2026, vendor data). Ready-made QR menu software already translates: doXmenu charges US$14.99 a month billed yearly outside Europe (US$16.99 billed monthly), with auto-translation and allergen display in every plan, and MENU TIGER lists menu translation even on its free plan (Nov 9, 2026).
What to build
A program that takes a photo or PDF of a printed menu, reads the dishes and prices into a table the owner checks, and builds a static web page in five or more languages (for a US or UK restaurant: Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Japanese) that opens in the language of the guest's phone. Each dish has the restaurant's own photo and allergen icons that only the owner sets in the table. The program makes the QR code and a print PDF for the tables, hosts the page for free, and rebuilds the page when a price changes in the table, so nothing is reprinted.
Who needs it: independent restaurants, cafés and bars in places with foreign visitors that still hand out a paper menu in one language. Sell the finished menu and its upkeep, not the software: subscriptions with automatic translation start free and run to US$46 a month (MENU TIGER, doXmenu), and some include allergen display. What a subscription does not do is check the translation with a person and set up the allergen list with the kitchen; that is the service to sell. Start with your own menu, or a friend's restaurant with their permission.
The prompt
Open Claude Code, an AI coding tool, in an empty folder and paste this:
Build a multilingual QR menu for a café. Input: a photo or PDF of the menu. Read the dishes and prices into a table (CSV or Google Sheet); the owner checks it. From the table build a static page in 5 languages (more is fine, for example Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Japanese), with the language chosen from the guest's phone, a photo per dish and allergen icons (the 14 allergens listed in the UK and EU, or the 9 major allergens in the US). Only the owner marks allergens in the table, never guess; under the menu put the line "allergen information provided by the restaurant, please ask the staff". A person checks the dish names after translation. Make a QR code and a print PDF; hosting is free (Cloudflare Pages). Editing a price in the table rebuilds the site. API keys go in .env, never in the chat. Test on your own menu, or on someone else's only with the owner's written permission. Show me the plan and a cost estimate first, then the code.
Rules
- Allergen and ingredient text is regulated, and a person checks it before it goes live. In the UK, food businesses must give allergen information for any loose item that contains any of the 14 listed allergens; it can be given verbally or in writing, and if verbally, the business must say where the written confirmation is (gov.uk). In the US, federal law defines nine major allergens for food labels, sesame being the ninth since Jan 1, 2023 (fda.gov). For restaurants the FDA publishes a model Food Code: where a state or city has adopted the 2022 edition, unpackaged food needs written notice of major allergens, and menu notices are one accepted form (fda.gov, content current as of Dec 10, 2024). The model code is "neither federal law nor federal regulation", so check what your state and city have adopted.
- The allergen list comes from the kitchen only. AI never guesses allergens from a dish name, and the menu says the information was provided by the restaurant.
- Someone who speaks the language reads the translated dish names before publication. Dish names and local ingredients translate badly.
- Use the restaurant's own photos; do not show stock photos as its dishes.
- Do not promise legal compliance, a higher average bill or more guests. Rules for menus, prices and allergens differ by country, state and city.
- Test on your own menu, or on someone else's only with the owner's written permission.
Running costs
- Reading the menu photo and translating: Google's gemini-3.5-flash-lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens (text and images) and $2.50 per million output tokens; a free tier exists.
- Hosting: the Cloudflare Pages Free plan allows 500 builds a month, up to 20,000 files per site and 100 custom domains per project.
- QR code and print PDF: made by open-source libraries inside the code, no service fee.
Market prices
- MENU TIGER (US): free plan, then US$17, US$46 and US$119 a month; 15% off when billed yearly. Its plan comparison lists multi-language menu translation on every plan, the free one included.
- doXmenu: US$14.99 a month billed yearly and US$16.99 billed monthly outside Europe; in Europe 12.99 € to 14.99 € a month. All plans include multi-language menus with auto-translation and allergen display per item.
- FineDine: prices shown only in EUR: Starter 27 € a month, Growth 65 € a month; on Nov 9, 2026 a limited-time campaign showed 14 € and 33 € a month billed annually. AI translation and allergen labels in all plans.
- FlyMenu: free plan, paid plans from 23 (the listing shows a $ sign without a currency code; PeerPush, Sep 4, 2026).
- A done-for-you menu as a service, in the EU: a Croatian studio charges 130 € to 170 € plus VAT (euros only) one-off for the menu, QR code and table stickers, plus 40 € per additional language (qr-cjenik.com.hr).
Prices are vendors' public prices on Nov 9, 2026. They are not income figures.
Sources: peerpush.com/p/flymenu (Sep 4, 2026), menutiger.com/pricing, doxmenu.com/pricing, finedinemenu.com/pricing, qr-cjenik.com.hr, gov.uk/understanding-food-labelling/allergen-labelling, fda.gov (Food Allergies: What You Need to Know, Aug 16, 2024; Addition to the 2022 Food Code, Sesame added as a Major Food Allergen, Dec 10, 2024), developers.cloudflare.com/pages/platform/limits, aistudio.google.com/docs/pricing, checked Nov 9, 2026.
We are not affiliated with the companies mentioned.