Design a clean, printable menu for a restaurant, café, food truck, party or wedding. Add sections, dishes, descriptions, dietary tags and prices, choose one of five templates, fonts and an accent color, and export a sharp PDF for printing or a PNG for social media and screens.
Last updated:
Template
Header & footer
Sections and items
Drag the ⋮⋮ handle to reorder items or sections (or focus it and press the arrow keys). Prices like 12 or 9.5 are formatted with your currency; anything else (MP, 12 / 18) prints as typed.
Design
Columns
Preview
Advertisement
Advertisement
How to use the Menu Maker
Pick a template and, if you like, load an example (café, restaurant, pizzeria or wedding) to start from.
Enter the name, tagline and footer, such as your address, opening hours or an allergy note.
Edit sections and dishes: name, price, description and dietary tags. Press Enter in an item to add the next one and drag the ⋮⋮ handle to reorder.
Choose the size, columns, fonts, currency and color. Size text to fill one page keeps everything on one page.
Download the PDF for printing, or the PNG to post online, show on a screen or send to a print shop.
Menu design tips that help customers order
Keep it short. Fewer, well-described dishes are easier to choose from than a long list. Group them in the order people eat: starters, mains, sides, desserts, drinks.
Describe, don't list. A short line with the main ingredients and cooking method ("slow-roasted, garlic butter, herbed potatoes") sells a dish better than a name alone.
Be consistent with prices. Use the same format everywhere. Many restaurants drop the currency symbol and decimals (12 instead of $12.00) for a cleaner look; turn off dotted leaders if you want guests to focus on the food rather than the price column.
Mark dietary options with short tags such as V (vegetarian), VG (vegan) and GF (gluten-free), and explain them in the footer.
Make it readable. Dim lighting is common in restaurants, so avoid tiny text. Body text around 10 to 12 points on a Letter or A4 menu is comfortable.
Which template to choose
Template
Look
Good for
Classic
Centered serif titles, dotted price leaders
Diners, family restaurants, cafés
Modern
Color header band, left-aligned sans serif, accent prices
Fast casual, food trucks, coffee bars
Chalkboard
Dark board background with light text
Bakeries, pubs, specials boards, screens
Elegant
Cream paper, double frame, centered small caps
Weddings, tasting menus, fine dining, events
Bistro
Bold border and color section labels
Bistros, pizzerias, brunch spots
Printing your menu
Print the PDF at 100% scale (Actual size) on heavier paper, around 32 lb / 120 gsm or card stock, so the menu feels sturdy. For menus that get handled often, laminate them or use menu sleeves. To print several Half Letter or A5 menus economically, ask a print shop to place two per Letter or A4 sheet and trim them. Building a new menu? The Food Cost Calculator helps you set prices that cover ingredient costs.
Frequently asked questions
Is this menu maker really free?
Yes. You can design, download and print as many menus as you like with no account, no watermark and no limit. The menu is created in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
What size should a restaurant menu be?
The most common sizes are US Letter (8.5 × 11 in) or A4 for single-page menus, Legal (8.5 × 14 in) for longer menus, Half Letter or A5 for cafés and dessert menus, and 4 × 9 in for table cards and drink lists. Tabloid (11 × 17 in) works for large single-sheet menus or posters.
How do I put the whole menu on one page?
Keep 'Size text to fill one page' turned on. The text is scaled up or down automatically so the menu fills exactly one page, down to a still-readable minimum. Switching to 2 columns, a larger paper size or shorter descriptions also helps.
Should I use the PDF or the PNG?
Use the PDF for printing: the text and lines are vector, so it stays sharp at any size and print shops accept it. Use the PNG (about 200 DPI) for websites, social media, delivery apps, emails or digital menu screens.
How do I show prices like $12 or 12,50 €?
Type plain numbers such as 12 or 12.5 in the price field. Choose the currency symbol and whether it goes before or after the number; 'after' uses a comma as the decimal separator. Text like MP (market price) or 14 / 19 for two sizes is kept, and each number gets the currency symbol.
Can I make a menu without prices?
Yes. Untick Show prices for wedding menus, tasting menus and event menus. The Elegant template with one column is a good fit for those.
How can customers open the menu on their phones?
Upload the PDF to your website, then create a QR code that links to it with a QR code generator and print the code on table cards or the window.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.