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How to Make a Menu on iPhone

Make a menu or price list on your iPhone: what to put on it, how to write prices, which paper size to pick, and how to print it or share a PDF or image.

  • How-to
  • Menu Cat
Made for this: Menu Cat

A café's new season, a food truck's new spot, a salon's new prices: a menu changes more often than a sign does, and it has to work on the counter, on the table and on a screen. You can make one on your iPhone and print it at home. This guide walks through what a menu or price list usually has on it, then how to make one with Menu Cat, our menu maker for iPhone.

What goes on a menu

Most menus and price lists carry the same few things:

  • Sections in the order people order: starters, mains, desserts, drinks. For a price list, the services in the order people book them: cuts, colour, treatments.
  • A name and a price for each item. Add a short description only where it helps someone choose. A menu is read standing at a counter or waiting at a table.
  • Your name at the top, and the practical facts at the bottom: opening hours, address and phone.
  • A key for any marks. If you mark dishes with V or HOT, say what each mark means.

Write the prices the way you charge them

Pick one way to write prices and use it on every line: 4.50 or 4,50, not both. Ranges are fine too, like "from 35" for a service that depends on the job, or "market price" for the catch of the day. Check every price before you print a stack; one wrong number means a whole stack to reprint.

Pick the right size

  • Wall or counter menu: Letter (8.5 × 11 in) in the US and Canada, A4 (210 × 297 mm) in most other places.
  • Table menu: Half Letter (5.5 × 8.5 in) or A5 (148 × 210 mm).
  • Table card or handout: A6 (105 × 148 mm).

Design at the size you'll print on. A long menu reads better on two pages than squeezed onto one in tiny type.

Make the menu in Menu Cat

  1. Start from a sample or a blank menu. Under Start from a sample, pick Café, Food truck or Salon price list. Each is a finished menu you just edit, so you swap in your own dishes and prices. Or tap Blank menu to start from nothing.
  2. Fill in the top. Type your business name and an optional subtitle, and tap Add logo to pick one from Photos. Your whole logo is shown, never cropped.
  3. Add sections and items. Name each section, then tap Add item for each dish or service: a name, a price and an optional description. Prices are typed as text, so they print exactly as you write them: $4.50, 4,50 € or "from 35". Use Add section for the next group, and Arrange sections or Reorder items to change the order. Swipe an item to delete it.
  4. Mark dishes if you want to. Tap + Tag on an item to mark it; it prints as V, VG, GF, HOT or NEW. The marks you use get a key at the bottom of the menu. You choose the marks: Menu Cat prints what you tick and doesn't check your dishes.
  5. Add the bottom line. Opening hours, address and phone go under Bottom of the menu, and print at the end of the last page.

Every change is saved as you type. Your menus wait in My Menus, where you can duplicate one for a lunch version, a second location or a seasonal special.

Change the look, not the words

Switch to the Design tab to pick one of five designs, such as Classic, Chalkboard or Bistro, and an ink colour, or choose your own colour. Changing the design never changes what you typed. Under Size, pick Letter, Half Letter, A4, A5 or an A6 card. A long menu continues on the next page instead of being cut off.

Want people to open your website, ordering page or Instagram from the table? Turn on QR code on the menu and type your link. The code holds your own link.

Tap Print & share:

  • Print to your printer. Print at 100% (actual size), not "fit to page", so the menu comes out at the size you picked.
  • Share PDF to email it or send it to a print shop.
  • Save to Photos or Share image for social posts, screens and delivery apps. A menu with several pages becomes one image per page.
  • Save QR code to Photos or Share QR code to use the code on its own, for a table sticker, your window or a post.

Scan the printed code with your own phone before you print a stack.

Selling more than food?

Selling stock over the counter? See how to keep track of inventory on iPhone. Catering an event? See how to make an invoice on iPhone.

What it costs

The samples, the five designs, colours, your logo, every page size, long menus, printing, the PDF, images, Save to Photos, the QR code and My Menus are free. Nothing is printed on your menu except your menu: no watermark. There's no trial, no ads, no sign-up and no account. Menu Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase that adds table tents, two to a sheet of Letter or A4 with cut and fold marks, and three more designs: Diner, Garden and Noir. More on the Menu Cat page.

Your menus and logo are kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share, save or print them. Menu Cat makes the menu you print and share; it doesn't host a web menu or take orders.

Quick answers

How do I create a menu on iPhone for free?
In Menu Cat, start from a sample or a blank menu, type your sections, items and prices, pick a design, then print or share a PDF or image. All of that is free, with no watermark. Pro adds table tents and three more designs.

How do I make a price list for my business?
List your services in sections, one price per line written the way you charge it ("from 35" is fine), with your hours and phone at the bottom. Menu Cat has a Salon price list sample to start from.

How do I make a price list poster?
Use Letter or A4 for the wall or counter, and print at 100%. For a bigger print, send the PDF to a print shop.

How do I post my menu online?
Share it as an image instead of printing it. Menu Cat makes a PNG for each page.

Try Menu Cat

Try Menu Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/menu-cat