What a 3D digital menu for restaurants is and how it works

What it is, exactly

It's a restaurant menu published as a web page and linked from a QR code on the table, just like a regular QR menu. The difference is in the dishes: instead of a photo, every modelled dish has a real-scale 3D object. Guests spin it with a finger, look at it from above or from the side and, if they tap “View on my table”, the phone places it on the tablecloth with augmented reality, at its true size.

The menu still has everything it always had — categories, prices, descriptions, allergens and languages — so the remaining dishes, the ones not modelled, appear as text and photo like in any digital menu.

How it works under the hood

1. Modelling the dishes. Each dish becomes a 3D model through photogrammetry: we photograph and film the real dish at the restaurant, just as it's served. The model is scaled to its real size (a 27 cm plate measures 27 cm on the table).
2. Web menu. Dishes, prices and texts live on the restaurant's own website, on a subdomain like yourrestaurant.cartalux.es, with its logo, colours and typography.
3. QR on the table. The QR code points to that website. Since it's a fixed address, changing prices or dishes never means reprinting.
4. Augmented reality without an app of its own. On iPhone the menu uses Quick Look, the system's augmented-reality viewer, with nothing to install; on Android it uses Scene Viewer or WebXR and, on some phones, Google asks the first time to enable its free augmented-reality component.

What a restaurant needs to have one

• Its current menu, in any format: PDF, photo or link.
• The dishes it wants in 3D, ready on the day of the scan. The photos, video and modelling are done by us on site.
• Its logo and, if it has them, its brand colours.
• A spot on the table for the QR: a small stand, a sticker or the tablecloth itself.

No hardware or tablets needed: the menu is viewed on each guest's phone. With Cartalux, the complete set-up costs €350 and includes 5 dishes in 3D; the remaining dishes are modelled at €20 each. See the details on the pricing page.

Which restaurants get the most out of it

The higher the price per dish and the more international guests, the better it pays off. A tourist who doesn't know what a fideuà is won't order it; if they see it on the table, they will. The same goes for the high-margin dishes nobody knows and for sharing portions, where the doubt is always how much arrives. A daily-menu bar with regulars gets less out of it than a restaurant in a tourist area, a hotel or a venue with a long menu.

What changes compared with a QR menu

A QR menu solves a logistics problem: no reprinting. A 3D menu also solves a sales problem: the guest understands the dish before ordering it. In practice, the 3D menu is a QR menu with one more layer; nobody has to choose between the two.

How to try it

The quickest way is to open the demo menu on your phone: demo.cartalux.es. Pick a dish, spin it and tap “View on my table”. If you'd like to see it with one of your own dishes, we model one for free and show it to you on your table.