Print Your Digital Menu: Paper Sizes, Columns and a QR Corner in One Click
Paper is not dead. Some guests still want something to hold, a terrace table has no signal, a wine list looks better on card, and a health inspector wants a copy they can staple to a form. The problem was never paper. The problem is two sources of truth: the live menu your QR code opens, and the file a designer built six months ago that still lists the soup you stopped serving in March.
The NEMENU print menu closes that gap. It takes the menu you already publish, lays it out on real paper sizes, and prints it from your browser. Change a price on the digital menu, open the print page, print again. There is nothing to redraw and nothing to email back and forth.
What the print menu is (and is not)
It lives at /admin/settings/print-menu. On the left you have the controls, on the right a paged preview that shows exactly how the sheets will break. When you are happy, you press Print and your browser's print dialog opens. That is worth being clear about: this is a browser-print rendition of your menu, not a PDF file that downloads to your computer. If you want a PDF, choose Save as PDF as the destination in that same dialog. Every modern browser offers it, and the result is a proper vector PDF you can send to a print shop.
The print menu is a Pro and Enterprise feature. On the Free plan the page is there, but it shows an upgrade gate instead of the controls. Pro is $8.99 a month and free for the first 60 days, so you can print a full menu cycle before you pay anything.
One thing it is not: it is not the QR table plates and posters tool. Those live on a separate page, /admin/settings/print-designs, and are built for a single large code with a headline. The print menu is the whole menu, item by item, with the QR code as an optional corner.
Choose paper and orientation
The first control is Paper size: A5, A4, A3 or US Letter. The second is Orientation: Portrait or Landscape. Between them they decide almost everything else, because margins, the default type size and the number of columns that fit are all derived from the sheet you pick.
A5 is the table card. It is held in the hand, so the type starts smaller and you usually get one or two columns. It suits a short menu, a drinks list or a dessert card that stands in a holder. A4 and US Letter are the classic folded or single-sheet menu, and A4 portrait is the default because it is what most printers assume. A3 is the wall board: bigger type, up to six columns, meant to be read from a metre away at the counter of a café or a takeaway. Landscape is worth trying on A4 when you have many short items, because a 297 mm wide sheet takes as many columns as an A3 portrait.
Columns, type and spacing
The Columns control offers only the counts your sheet can actually hold. Each column needs at least 62 mm so a dish name, its dotted leader and the price fit on one line, and the ceiling is six columns even on A3. Turn an A4 to landscape and the range grows; shrink to A5 and it narrows. The hint under the control tells you the maximum for the current sheet.
Type size is Small, Medium or Large. Sizes are absolute points, so Medium on A5 is the same physical size as Medium on A3; only the default changes with the paper. Spacing is Tight, Normal or Airy and controls the breathing room between items and categories. Tight packs a long menu onto fewer sheets, Airy gives a short menu the feel of a printed card.
Then four toggles. Item photos prints the images from your digital menu next to each item; it looks lovely and, as the hint says, adds pages and uses far more ink. Descriptions switches the item descriptions on or off, which is the single fastest way to halve a page count. Start each category on a new page does what it says and suits menus where each category is a course. And Language lets you print in any language your menu is published in, so a German card and an English card come from the same page.
The QR corner
A paper menu should carry the live one. The moment you print, the sheet starts ageing; the QR code is how it stays honest. A guest who scans it gets today's prices, today's sold-out items, photos, allergen filters and every language you publish. The paper becomes the invitation and the phone becomes the source of truth.
The QR code control has five settings: Off, top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right. The code is a fixed 24 mm square regardless of paper size, because scannability is a floor, not a design choice; at that size every module is comfortably above what cheap printers and glossy laminate can blur. Two sub-options appear once a corner is chosen. On every page repeats the code on each sheet, which is right for a multi-page menu where guests may only see page two, and costs a little space on every sheet. Show the menu address prints your menu URL small under the code for anyone who prefers to type it.
Theme and language
There is no separate theme editor for print. The sheet follows the template and brand colours you already set for your digital menu, so the printed card and the phone screen a guest opens by scanning it look like they belong to the same place. Here is a quick reference for the options that shape the look.
| Option | What it changes | Good default |
|---|---|---|
| Paper size | Sheet dimensions, margins, default type size and the column range | A4 for a hand menu, A3 for a wall board, A5 for a table card |
| Orientation | Which way the sheet turns and how many columns fit | Portrait, unless you have many short items |
| Columns | How many item columns run across the page | Two on A4 portrait, three or four on A3 |
| Type size | Absolute point size of item names and prices | Medium; Large for wall boards read at a distance |
| Spacing | Vertical gap between items and categories | Normal; Tight when you need to save a page |
| Item photos | Prints item images beside each entry | Off for menus over one page |
| Descriptions | Prints the item description under the name | On for food, Off for drinks lists |
| QR code | Corner position of the 24 mm code that opens the live menu | Bottom right, on every page |
| Language | Which published language the sheet is printed in | Your primary language; print one sheet per language you serve |
Printing one venue at a time
On Enterprise accounts with several locations, the print is per venue. Pick the venue at the top of the page and the preview switches to that venue's menu, hours and items, while the brand template stays shared. A hotel can print the pool bar's A5 cards and the restaurant's A4 dinner menu from the same account in two minutes, and each sheet's QR corner opens that venue's live menu, not the group homepage. If you are running more than one location, our multi-location guide at /blog/multi-location-menu-management-resort-hotel explains how venues, roles and QR codes fit together.
One more artefact on the same page
Below the print controls sits a second panel called Image for Google. It renders the same menu as a multi-page PNG image sized for Google Business Profile photos, so the menu people read on Google Maps before they walk in is the same one they will hold at the table. It follows the same template and brand colours and is also a Pro and Enterprise feature. We wrote a separate walkthrough for it, including the upload steps on Google's side: /blog/google-business-profile-menu-image.
Print-day checklist
- Publish first. The print page renders the published menu, so an unpublished price edit will not appear on paper.
- Turn Descriptions off and check the page count, then turn them back on only if the extra sheets are worth it.
- Pick a QR corner and switch on On every page if the menu runs past one sheet.
- Match the paper and orientation in the browser's print dialog to what you chose in the controls, especially in Safari.
- Set margins to Default or None in the dialog, never Minimum, so the sheet's own margins are respected.
- Print one copy, read every price against the digital menu, then print the batch.
A printed menu used to mean a designer, a proof, a week and a stack of sheets that were out of date by the second week. Now it means opening a page, choosing a paper size and pressing Print, with a QR corner that keeps the paper pointing at the truth. The print menu is included in Pro at $8.99 a month, free for the first 60 days, and in Enterprise. See what else comes with it at /pricing.
