A multilingual QR menu: your menu in every guest’s language
Guests order what they understand. A menu in their own language turns a five-minute translation at the table into a decision, and it is the one thing a printed menu can’t do for every guest.
Which languages you need
Start with the guests you already have. Ask your team which languages they hear at the tables, and look at where your bookings come from. In a tourist area the list is longer than the printed menu has room for, which is where a menu on the phone wins: it can carry every language without a thicker folder.
What to translate, and what to leave
Translate what helps the guest choose: the category, the description, what is in the dish, how spicy and how large. Leave the names of the dishes that carry your kitchen’s identity, and explain them in a line instead: a Wiener Schnitzel or a portion of bitterballen is better as itself, with a short description underneath.
Read the dishes you are proudest of in the main languages, or ask a guest who speaks them. Machine translation is good at descriptions and bad at puns and local names.
Allergens in every language
A guest with an allergy needs the allergens in words they understand, on the dish itself. Letters or symbols help, but only if the guest can read the key. On a digital menu the allergens can follow the guest’s language, and a filter can hide every dish they can’t eat.
Keep every language current
A translated menu that is a price change behind is worse than none: the guest orders from it. The translations should change when the menu does, without anyone remembering to send the new text to a translator.
Where GoRunny fits
GoRunny translates the menu automatically into the guest’s language, from 201 languages, and you can edit any translation yourself. When you change a dish, its translations follow. Every dish shows its photo and allergens, and guests can filter the whole menu by allergen. The menu opens in the phone’s browser, with no app.
Questions
How many languages should my menu have?
As many as your guests speak. A printed menu has room for two or three; a menu on the guest’s phone can offer every language without getting longer.
Should I translate the names of my dishes?
Not the ones that are part of your kitchen’s identity. Keep the name and add a short description in the guest’s language.
Can I correct a machine translation in GoRunny?
Yes. Every translation can be edited by the venue.