Glossary: the vocabulary of digital restaurant ordering
Plenty of terms circulate around QR ordering systems that confuse more than they explain. This glossary defines the important ones — from PWA through CloudPRNT to the EU Food Information Regulation — in two or three sentences each. It is meant for looking things up, not for reading through.
Ordering and the menu
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| QR menu | A digital menu the guest opens in the browser via a QR code — with or without an ordering function. |
| QR ordering | Ordering straight from the digital menu: the guest chooses, orders, and the staff receive the order with the table it belongs to. |
| Spot | One specific ordering location with its own QR code: a table, a sunlounger, a room. The spot tells the system where the order belongs. |
| Area | A group of spots sharing a menu and a responsibility — the dining room, the terrace, the pool bar. Areas can carry their own offers and opening hours. |
| View-only mode | The menu is readable by QR code but has no ordering function — the risk-free way in, which can be upgraded to ordering later. |
Technology
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PWA (progressive web app) | A website that installs onto the home screen like an app — with no app store. The staff app for incoming orders is a PWA. |
| Web push | A notification a website or PWA is allowed to send to a phone — this is how a new order announces itself on the lock screen, on iPhone and Android alike. |
| SSE (server-sent events) | The technique that makes new orders appear on screen live, without anyone reloading the page. |
| CloudPRNT | A method by which a receipt printer fetches its print jobs over the internet by itself. It means the printer needs no till, no computer and no open ports. |
| AI import | Automatic adoption of an existing menu from a PDF or a photo: the AI recognises dishes, prices and categories and produces an editable draft. |
| Multi-tenancy | An architecture in which many businesses use the same platform while their data stays strictly separate. Each business has its own address (its slug). |
Law and organisation
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Food Information Regulation (LMIV) | The EU regulation on food information: among other things it requires information on the 14 main allergens — on the digital menu too. |
| Data processing agreement (AVV) | The agreement under Article 28 GDPR between the business and the system provider — mandatory as soon as the provider processes data on the business’s behalf. |
| GDPR | The EU General Data Protection Regulation. With QR ordering and no guest account, the data situation is simple: at its core the order contents and the table number. |
| revFADP | Switzerland’s revised Federal Act on Data Protection, in force since 2023 — aligned with the GDPR but independent of it. |
| Happy hour | A time-controlled promotion on the digital menu: reduced prices within a defined window, which guests can be actively pointed to. |
What is the difference between a QR menu and a QR ordering system?
A QR menu only displays the offer — like a printed menu, only up to date. A QR ordering system also takes orders and passes them to the staff. At MenuMonkeys the plain menu is free; the ordering function is part of the paid plans.