Dynamic QR code change link: one table card, many menus

What a dynamic QR code change link does

A dynamic QR code does not hold your menu. It opens a short web address, and that address sends the phone on to a page you choose. To change the link, you swap that page for another one. The printed square stays the same. Only the page it opens moves.

A static code works differently. Its pattern spells out the final web address itself. If the menu page moves, the static code opens an error page. The only fix is to print it again.

In a cafe, you see that difference on the tables. Forty tables with two tent cards each make eighty printed pieces. Reprinting all of them every time the menu changes costs board, lamination and an afternoon of someone's time.

One table card, many menus

This post covers one use: a folded tent card on each cafe table. Ours is 100 mm wide and 150 mm tall, printed on 300 gsm board with a matt laminate. The code on it opens the menu page.

Over a year, that one card can open many pages. It might open a summer menu with cold drinks for four months, then a monsoon menu with soups and pakoras. It can open a festival page with sweets for two weeks. On the night of a private booking, it can open a page that says the kitchen is serving a set menu only.

You change where the code points from your account. The card on the table never moves. Staff do not collect cards, reprint them or reset anything.

Some changes need a new page. Others don't. If breakfast and lunch differ every day, keep one menu page with both sections and edit that page. Save the re-point for bigger changes: a new season, a new set of prices, a move to a new website.

Size and contrast for a table card

A guest scans a table card from about 0.3 to 0.5 metres away. At that distance, a code 25 mm square scans on most phones. We print it 30 mm square on a 100 mm card to leave some room for error.

The rough rule is that the code should be at least one tenth as wide as the scanning distance. A poster scanned from 2 metres needs a code 200 mm wide. A table card needs far less.

Leave a clear border around the code, at least 4 mm wide on a 30 mm code. Keep that border empty: no edge of a logo, no fold line, no table number.

Contrast matters more than colour. Print a dark code on a light background, such as black or deep brown on white or cream. A light code on a dark background fails on some older phones, and pale grey on white fails on most. Avoid gloss over the code too. Overhead lights make a bright patch on gloss that hides part of the pattern.

A dynamic code also helps with size. The short address it carries has fewer characters than a long menu link. Fewer characters means fewer, larger squares in the pattern. Larger squares scan from further away and still work after months of wiping and coffee rings.

Changing the link, step by step

1. Publish the new menu page first, then open it on your own phone to check it loads.
2. Sign in to your account and open the code you want to move.
3. Paste the new page address into the destination field and save.
4. Scan a printed card on a table, not the screen, and check that the new page opens.
5. Leave the old page up for a few days with a line that points to the new menu, for anyone who saved it.

Keep a short log of each change: the date, the old page and the new one. If a guest says the card opened the wrong menu, the log shows when the code was moved.

Give each printed object its own code. If the table cards and the window poster share one code, moving the table menu also moves the poster. With separate codes, you can change one without touching the other.

Test before the cards go to print

Print one proof at full size on the same board you will use for the run. Scan it with two or three phones, including one older model. Scan from 0.3 metres and from 1 metre. Scan under the cafe's real evening lights, not beside a window in daylight.

If any phone takes more than a moment, make the code larger or the background lighter before you print eighty. Fixing one proof is cheap. Fixing a full run means printing it again.

Check the fold as well. On a tent card, the fold should sit at least 10 mm from the code's border. A code that runs into the crease bends, and a bent pattern scans badly.

After every change of link, scan one card again. It takes ten seconds and catches a mistyped address before a guest finds it.

When a code can stay static

Not every code needs to move. A code on a back door that opens a fixed contact page can be static. So can a code on a flyer you hand out for one weekend and never print again.

Choose dynamic for anything printed in quantity and kept for months. Table cards, menu boards, counter stands and laminated window stickers all fit that rule. These are the pieces that cost the most to reprint and stay in use the longest.

If your menu also lives on an ordering site or a delivery listing, tell us where you sell. We will suggest which page the table card should open so guests land in the right place.

Ordering the code

You can order a dynamic code at https://buyqrcode.com/ and choose the page it opens when you check out. You can change that page later from your account as often as the menu changes.

Use code STARTUP10 for 10% off one order per account. It is valid until 31 December 2026 or for the first 100 uses on this site, whichever comes first.

When you order, send us the card size and the board you print on. We will send the code at the right size, with its clear border marked, ready to drop into your table card file.