75 terms · updated 2026-04-29
Restaurant Menu Glossary
A working dictionary of 75 terms restaurant operators run into every week — menu engineering, QR codes, KDS workflows, dietary compliance, channel attribution, and the SaaS jargon that comes with digital menus. Each entry is short, citable, and links to deeper guides where useful.
8 1 term
86'd
Menu Design- Restaurant slang for an item that has run out and is no longer available to order. Servers communicate this to the kitchen and customers; on a digital menu, the operator marks the item as sold out so it stops appearing as available.
A 5 terms
ADDE Act (California Allergen Disclosure)
Compliance- The California Anaphylaxis Disclosure and Disclaimer Education Act (effective 2025), requiring restaurants to disclose specified allergens in menu items. Applies to chain locations meeting volume thresholds. Digital menus simplify compliance via filtering and tagging.
- See also: Allergen disclosure
Allergen disclosure
Menu Design- Identifying ingredients on a menu that commonly cause allergic reactions (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, fish, shellfish, sesame). Required by law in many jurisdictions; best practice everywhere. Digital menus typically use icons or filters.
- See also: Natasha's Law, EU 1169/2011, Dietary tag
API (Application Programming Interface)
POS & Software- A defined way for software systems to communicate. POS-to-menu APIs let menu platforms read item data, push price updates, or sync availability. Most enterprise POS (Toast, Square) offer APIs; many smaller systems do not.
Attribution
Marketing- Determining which channel (Instagram, Google, email) drove a specific customer interaction. Without UTM tagging, every channel's traffic looks the same in analytics. Attribution lets operators decide where to invest marketing budget.
- See also: UTM, Channel mix
Average check
Menu Design- The average revenue per customer transaction at a restaurant. Calculated as total sales divided by number of guests (or transactions). Used to track menu engineering effectiveness and pricing strategy.
- See also: Menu engineering, PMIX
B 2 terms
Back of house (BOH)
Operations- The kitchen and prep areas of a restaurant — chefs, line cooks, dishwashers, expediters, kitchen managers. Distinct from FOH (servers, hosts, bartenders). Menu changes affect BOH workflow more than FOH.
- See also: Front of house, Expediter, KDS
Bounce rate
Customer Experience- The percentage of menu visitors who view a single page and leave without further interaction. High bounce on a menu landing page signals slow load times, broken links, or wrong-channel traffic. Industry benchmark for restaurant menus: 35-55%.
C 12 terms
Calorie disclosure (FDA)
Compliance- FDA Food Code Section 7-410.10 requirement that chain restaurants with 20+ locations disclose calories on menus and menu boards. Independent restaurants are not required but may opt in. Digital menus typically render this in the item detail card.
Channel mix
Marketing- The distribution of menu views across acquisition channels — Instagram bio, Google Business Profile, in-venue QR, email, organic search. Most restaurants get 60-80% from 2-3 channels and the rest is long tail. Mix varies dramatically by concept.
- See also: Attribution, GBP
Click-through rate (CTR)
Marketing- The percentage of viewers who click a link on a piece of marketing material. "Menu link in Instagram bio CTR" = clicks ÷ profile views. Restaurant CTRs vary widely; Instagram bios typically convert at 3-8% for active accounts.
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold)
Operations- The direct cost of ingredients used to produce sold menu items, expressed as a percentage of revenue. Industry benchmark: 28-32% for full-service, 25-30% for QSR. Plate cost feeds into COGS; menu pricing decisions impact COGS materially.
- See also: Plate cost, Margin
Comp (comping)
Operations- Removing or discounting an item from a customer's bill, typically because of a complaint, error, or marketing gesture. Tracked in POS as a separate line. Excessive comp rates (over 2-3% of sales) signal operational problems.
Contribution margin
Operations- The dollar profit per item after subtracting plate cost from menu price. "$8 menu price minus $2.50 plate cost = $5.50 contribution margin." Distinct from gross margin (a percentage). Drives menu engineering recommendations.
- See also: Plate cost, Menu engineering
Conversion rate
Customer Experience- The percentage of menu viewers who complete a desired action — placing an order, making a reservation, signing up for a loyalty program. Display-only menus track view-to-action conversion; ordering platforms track view-to-cart-to-checkout.
Cover
Operations- A single dining customer at a restaurant. "50 covers" means 50 individual diners served. Used to track sales volume, table turnover, and per-cover revenue. Distinct from "transaction," which can include multiple covers.
- See also: Average check, Table turnover
Custom domain
POS & Software- Hosting a digital menu on the restaurant's own domain (menu.yourbistro.com) rather than the menu platform's subdomain (menujo.com/@yourbistro). Better for branding; sometimes gated behind a paid plan. Affects SEO indirectly.
Customer journey
Customer Experience- The sequence of touchpoints a customer encounters from first awareness (Instagram post, Google search) through decision (menu view, reviews) to consumption (in-venue order) and retention (return visit, review). Channel mix maps to journey stages.
- See also: Channel mix
D 3 terms
Dietary tag
Menu Design- A label on a menu item indicating dietary suitability — vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, halal, kosher, dairy-free, organic. Digital menus typically render these as icons or filterable categories. Distinct from full allergen disclosure.
- See also: Allergen disclosure
Dwell time
Customer Experience- How long a customer spends at a table from seating to leaving. Shorter dwell times mean more table turnover; longer ones mean higher per-cover spend. Digital menus typically reduce dwell time vs printed menus by 5-12% due to faster ordering.
- See also: Table turnover, Cover
Dynamic QR code
QR & Tech- A QR code that encodes a redirect URL controlled by the operator, allowing the destination to be changed without reprinting the code. The opposite of a static QR code, which has the URL hard-coded into the printed pattern.
- See also: Static QR code, QR code
E 3 terms
Error correction (QR)
QR & Tech- Built-in redundancy in a QR code that lets it scan correctly even when partially damaged or obscured. Levels: L (7%), M (15%), Q (25%), H (30%). Higher levels mean more dots and slightly larger minimum scannable size; M is recommended for most printed restaurant materials.
- See also: QR code, Static QR code
EU 1169/2011
Compliance- EU Food Information for Consumers regulation requiring disclosure of 14 named allergens on all food sold to consumers in the EU and EEA. Applies to digital and printed menus equally. Implemented in UK as Natasha's Law (2021).
- See also: Allergen disclosure, Natasha's Law
Expediter
Operations- The kitchen role responsible for assembling, plating, and verifying that each ordered dish leaves the kitchen correctly. The expediter calls out tickets and coordinates timing across stations. KDS systems augment but do not replace this role.
- See also: KDS, BOH, Kitchen ticket
F 2 terms
Featured item
Menu Design- A menu item highlighted with a visual badge ("Chef's Pick," "New," "Popular," "Bestseller") to direct customer attention. Digital menus toggle this with a checkbox; print menus require a physical layout change. Featured items typically lift order volume 10-30%.
Front of house (FOH)
Operations- Customer-facing roles in a restaurant — servers, hosts, bartenders, sommeliers, runners. Distinct from BOH (back of house). Digital menus shift FOH workload from order-taking to upselling and table service.
- See also: Back of house
G 4 terms
Garnish
Menu Design- An accompanying decorative or flavor element added to a finished plate — herbs, a citrus wedge, edible flowers, a sauce drizzle. Listed on the menu when material to the dish; omitted when purely decorative.
GDPR
Compliance- EU General Data Protection Regulation. Applies to any business serving EU customers, including restaurants collecting customer data via digital menus, ordering, or loyalty programs. Required: lawful basis for processing, clear privacy notices, deletion on request.
Ghost kitchen
Operations- A restaurant business operating delivery-only with no dine-in space. Often runs multiple virtual brands from one shared kitchen. Menus are typically digital-only — no physical printed materials needed.
- See also: Virtual brand, Cloud kitchen
Google Business Profile (GBP)
Marketing- Google's free business listing product (formerly Google My Business). Surfaces a restaurant in Google Maps and the Knowledge Panel for branded searches. Has a dedicated menu URL field separate from the website field. Critical for local restaurant SEO.
- See also: Local SEO
H 2 terms
Halal
Menu Design- A dietary category referring to food prepared according to Islamic law. Common menu tag in markets with Muslim diners; covers slaughter method (zabihah), prohibited ingredients (pork, alcohol), and preparation cross-contact. Distinct from kosher.
- See also: Dietary tag, Kosher
Halal certification
Compliance- Third-party verification that a restaurant's preparation methods, ingredients, and supply chain meet Islamic dietary law. Certifying bodies vary by region (HMC, JAKIM, Halal Food Authority). Distinct from informal halal claims; certified restaurants typically display the certifier's logo.
- See also: Halal
I 1 term
Inventory sync
POS & Software- The automatic propagation of stock levels from POS or inventory management software into the menu — when an item runs out, it appears as sold out on the digital menu. Available in tightly integrated POS+menu suites; rarely available in standalone display menus.
K 3 terms
Kitchen Display System (KDS)
POS & Software- A digital screen in the back of house that replaces printed kitchen tickets, displaying incoming orders, tracking ticket times, and routing items to specific stations. Some menu platforms (MenuTiger Advanced, Toast) include KDS; display-only menu platforms (Menujo) do not.
- See also: POS, KOT, Expediter
Kosher certification
Compliance- Third-party verification that a restaurant's preparation, ingredients, and equipment meet Jewish dietary law. Certified by rabbinical organizations (Orthodox Union, Star-K, OK Kosher). Indicated by certification marks on menu and signage.
KOT (Kitchen Order Ticket)
POS & Software- The printed or digital order ticket sent from the front-of-house POS to the kitchen, listing items, modifiers, and table number. Digital KOTs route to a KDS; physical KOTs print to a station printer. Unaffected by which menu platform the customer views.
- See also: KDS, POS, Modifier
L 2 terms
Link in bio
Marketing- A clickable URL placed in a social media profile (Instagram, TikTok, X). Most platforms allow one or a small number of bio links. Aggregators (Linktree, Menuzen) add a link-tree intermediate page. Native multi-link support beats aggregators for most restaurants.
- See also: UTM, Linktree
M 4 terms
Modifier
POS & Software- An option that customizes a menu item — extra cheese, no onions, well-done. Modifiers can carry their own price (extra cheese +$1) or be free (no onions). Important for ordering platforms; less common on display-only menus.
N 2 terms
Natasha's Law
Compliance- UK Food Information (Amendment) Regulations 2019, effective October 2021, requiring full ingredient and allergen labeling on all pre-packaged food made on-site. Named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse who died from an allergic reaction. Digital menus help compliance.
- See also: EU 1169/2011, Allergen disclosure
NFC tag
QR & Tech- Near Field Communication tag — a small chip embedded in stickers, table tents, or business cards that triggers a phone action (typically opening a URL) when tapped. Faster than QR scanning but requires NFC-enabled phones (most iPhones since iPhone 7 and most Androids).
- See also: QR code, Tap-to-pay
O 3 terms
OG image
Marketing- Open Graph image — the preview image displayed when a URL is shared on social media or messaging apps. Defined in HTML meta tags (og:image). Recommended size: 1200×630 pixels. Restaurants typically use a hero food shot or branded menu cover.
Order accuracy rate
Customer Experience- The percentage of orders delivered correctly (right items, right modifiers, right table). Tracked via comp rates and customer complaints. Digital menus reduce order-accuracy errors by 15-30% vs verbal ordering by removing transcription errors.
Out of stock (OOS)
Customer Experience- An item that is currently unavailable. Marked as such in the digital menu so customers do not order it. Reduces customer disappointment and server back-and-forth. Available on most digital menu platforms via a single toggle.
- See also: 86'd
P 6 terms
Pacing
Operations- The timing rhythm of courses and items leaving the kitchen — appetizers before mains before desserts, with appropriate spacing. Critical in fine dining and tasting menus. Digital tablet menus help kitchens by signaling when a table is ready for the next course.
PCI compliance
Compliance- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard — requirements for any business handling credit card data. Restaurants taking payments via integrated ordering must meet PCI DSS. Display-only menus do not handle payments and are therefore not in PCI scope.
Plate cost
Operations- The total ingredient cost of producing one serving of a menu item. Includes the protein, sides, garnish, sauce, and consumables (oil, salt). Subtract plate cost from menu price to get contribution margin. Drives pricing decisions.
- See also: COGS, Contribution margin
PMIX (Product Mix)
Operations- A report listing each menu item's units sold over a period, expressed as a percentage of total items sold. Used in menu engineering to identify popular vs slow-moving items. PMIX + contribution margin determines whether an item is a Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle, or Dog.
- See also: Menu engineering
Point of Sale (POS)
POS & Software- The hardware and software a restaurant uses to take orders, process payments, and record sales. Examples: Toast, Square for Restaurants, Clover, Lightspeed, Loyverse. Some POS systems include menu publishing; most do not.
- See also: KDS, KOT
Prep list
Operations- A daily or weekly schedule of mise en place tasks the kitchen completes before service — chopping, marinating, portioning. Digital menus that surface predicted demand help kitchens build accurate prep lists.
Q 1 term
QR code
QR & Tech- Quick Response code — a two-dimensional barcode that encodes data (typically a URL) readable by smartphone cameras. Restaurants use QR codes to send customers to a digital menu without needing an app download. Standardized as ISO/IEC 18004; not patent-restricted.
- See also: Dynamic QR code, Static QR code, Error correction
R 2 terms
Repeat customer rate
Customer Experience- The percentage of customers who return within a defined period (typically 90 days). Higher repeat rates indicate menu loyalty and customer satisfaction. Digital menus with analytics can attribute repeat visits to specific items, channels, or campaigns.
- See also: Customer retention
Reservation conversion
Customer Experience- The percentage of menu viewers who proceed to make a reservation. Distinct from menu view conversion (which only counts clicks). Drives the case for placing reservation CTAs prominently on the menu landing page.
S 10 terms
SaaS (Software as a Service)
POS & Software- Software delivered via the web and paid for as a recurring subscription rather than a one-time license. Most restaurant menu platforms (Menujo, MenuTiger, Toast, FineDine, Flipdish) are SaaS. Pricing typically tiered by features and volume.
Scan-to-view rate
Customer Experience- The percentage of QR scans that result in a menu page view. A scan that fails to load (broken link, slow load, expired domain) does not count. Industry benchmark: 90%+ for healthy QR code menu setups.
- See also: QR code, Bounce rate
Schema markup
Marketing- Structured data (typically JSON-LD) added to a web page to help search engines and AI engines understand the content. For restaurants, Restaurant, Menu, MenuItem, and LocalBusiness schemas are most relevant. Boosts visibility in Google AI Overviews and Maps.
- See also: Schema.org, Structured data
Schema.org
QR & Tech- A vocabulary for structured data markup co-developed by Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex. Restaurants use Restaurant, Menu, MenuItem, FAQPage, and BreadcrumbList types to help search and AI engines understand and surface menu content.
- See also: Menu schema, Structured data
Service charge
Operations- An automatic fee added to the bill (typically 18-20% in the US) in lieu of expected tipping. Applied to large parties or specific service models. Distinct from gratuity. Digital menus that surface bill totals must show service charges separately.
Star item
Menu Design- In menu engineering, a high-popularity, high-margin item — a top performer the operator should protect, feature, and merchandise. Categorization comes from PMIX (popularity) and contribution margin. Other categories: Plowhorse (popular, low-margin), Puzzle (unpopular, high-margin), Dog (unpopular, low-margin).
- See also: Menu engineering, PMIX
Static QR code
QR & Tech- A QR code with the URL permanently encoded into the printed pattern — cannot be changed without reprinting. Free to generate. Risk: if the destination URL changes, every printed copy stops working. Mitigated by encoding a permanent URL pattern.
- See also: Dynamic QR code, QR code
Structured data
Marketing- Machine-readable metadata embedded in a web page using a defined vocabulary (Schema.org). Lets search engines and AI engines extract specific information (menu items, prices, allergens, hours) without parsing HTML. Generally written as JSON-LD inside script tags.
- See also: Schema markup
Subdomain
POS & Software- A prefix on a domain name — for example, menu.example.com is a subdomain of example.com. Some menu platforms host customer menus on their own subdomain (yourbistro.menujo.com); others use a path (menujo.com/@yourbistro). Path-based is generally better for SEO consolidation.
- See also: Custom domain
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
POS & Software- A vector image format that scales without pixelation — the ideal output format for printed QR codes. A 1 KB SVG prints sharp at the size of a business card or a billboard. PNG, by contrast, is raster and gets fuzzy when scaled beyond its export resolution.
- See also: PNG, QR code
T 3 terms
Table turnover
Operations- The number of times a table is occupied by different parties during a service. Higher turnover = more covers = more revenue per square foot. Calculated as covers ÷ table count over a service period. Affected by dwell time, ordering speed, and menu complexity.
- See also: Dwell time, Cover
Theme
POS & Software- A pre-designed visual style (colors, typography, layout) applied to a digital menu. Most platforms ship 5-15 preset themes plus a custom-color option. Themes are platform-specific and rarely portable between platforms.
Ticket time
Operations- Elapsed time from when an order enters the kitchen to when it leaves the pass. Tracked per item or per ticket via KDS. Industry benchmark: 12-15 minutes for full-service mains; 4-7 minutes for QSR. Long ticket times signal kitchen stress or menu engineering issues.
- See also: KDS, Pacing
U 1 term
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module)
Marketing- URL parameters added to a link that identify its source, medium, and campaign — utm_source=instagram, utm_medium=bio, utm_campaign=summer. Lets analytics tools attribute traffic to specific channels and campaigns. Essential for menu attribution.
- See also: Attribution, Channel mix
W 2 terms
Webhook
POS & Software- An HTTP callback fired when a specific event happens — a menu update, a new order, an inventory change. Lets external systems react to menu platform events. More reactive than polling an API. Used in advanced integrations.
- See also: API
White-label
POS & Software- Removing all platform branding from a customer-facing menu so the restaurant brand is the only one visible. Typically gated behind the highest paid tier (MenuTiger Premium, FineDine top tier). Distinct from custom domain (white-label can apply with or without).
À 1 term
À la carte
Menu Design- A menu format where each dish is priced individually rather than as a fixed multi-course meal. Customers compose their own meal from the available items. The opposite of prix fixe or table d'hôte.
- See also: Prix fixe, Table d'hôte, Tasting menu
Where to Go Next
Some terms link to deeper guides. The full hubs cover the broader playbook.
Menus by Restaurant Type
Concept-first guides — cafés, food trucks, hotels, fine dining, and more.
Where Your Menu Lives
Distribution channels — Instagram bio, Google Business Profile, WhatsApp, your website.
Compare Platforms
Founder-written platform comparisons with pricing audits and migration steps.
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