AR Menu vs PDF Menu: Which Is Better for Your Restaurant?
The short answer
A PDF menu is fine if you only need to show prices. An AR menu is better if you want guests to see what they are ordering: they scan the table QR code, open the menu in their phone browser and see selected dishes in 3D, at real size, on their own table.
Where PDF menus fall short
- Hard to read: a PDF is laid out for A4 paper, so guests pinch, zoom and scroll sideways on a phone.
- The food never looks good: a PDF can't show a video or the real portion size.
- Hard to update: changing a price means editing the design file, exporting it and uploading it again.
- Slow to open: picture-heavy PDFs are large files, which struggle on weak signal inside a restaurant.
What an AR menu adds
With ART by armenu.art, the menu is built for phone screens and updates instantly. On plans with AR dishes, guests tap "View in AR" to place a 3D model of the dish on their table and check the portion before ordering. It works in Safari on iPhone and Chrome on Android, with no app to download.
You create the 3D dishes yourself: scan the plated dish with the free KIRI Engine app, upload the scan to your ART dashboard, and ART converts it into a phone-friendly 3D model. There is no 3D artist or agency fee.
Cost side by side
- PDF QR menu: typically ₹200 to ₹500 a month.
- Printed paper menu: ₹5,000 or more per reprint.
- Custom 3D agency: typically ₹40,000 to ₹1,50,000 for setup.
- ART: from ₹199 a month; plans with AR dishes from ₹799 a month. First month free, 0% commission, prices exclude 18% GST.