Paper to digital in Malta
You already have three menus printed. Start from those.
Almost every Maltese restaurant runs the same three cards: food, drinks and desserts. Photograph them, confirm what Qarta read, and publish to a QR sticker. No typing out seventy dishes, no data-entry evening after service.
- Photograph, confirm, publish
- Maltese dish names kept as written
- Per-page retry if a card reads badly
The migration
Three steps, one afternoon
Snap the cards
Lay each printed menu flat and photograph it page by page. Multiple pages, inserts and handwritten specials are all fine. Qarta reads them while you carry on with prep.
Confirm what it read
Sections, dishes, descriptions and euro prices come back grouped as printed. You skim and correct. Local names such as lampuki, bragioli and ġbejniet are never rewritten.
Publish to the sticker
Ten languages, allergen labelling and polished dish photos go live together. The QR stickers arrive printed as part of setup, so tables are ready the same week.
What paper costs you
The reprint is not the expensive part
Frozen prices
When fish or beef moves mid-season, a printed card keeps you on last quarter's margin until the next run is worth ordering.
Specials that never appear
The best plate of the week lives on a chalkboard by the door, invisible to the guest already seated with a card in hand.
Translation at the table
In August your waiters explain the same six dishes in four languages, table after table, instead of turning covers.
Bring your three cards to a short call and we will read one live so you can see exactly what comes back before committing. .
Questions
Paper to digital FAQ
- Do I have to retype my menu?
- No. You photograph the printed cards you already use - food, drinks and desserts - and Qarta transcribes every section, dish, description and price. You then confirm or correct what it read, page by page. Most Maltese venues finish this in under an hour.
- What if a page is read badly?
- Each page has its own retry. A creased card, a handwritten specials insert or a photo taken at a bad angle can be re-shot and re-read on its own without starting the whole menu again.
- Will it keep my prices and sections exactly as printed?
- Yes, including section order and the way you group things - antipasti before pasta, or a single 'Ftajjar' block. Prices come across in euro as printed, and you can correct any of them before publishing.
- What happens to handwritten specials?
- They transcribe too, as long as the writing is legible in the photo. Many venues then keep specials as a section they edit from the phone each morning, which is the part paper can never do.
- How much does reprinting actually cost us?
- Ask your printer what your last run of laminated cards cost, then multiply by how often the kitchen wants to change something and cannot. That gap - the changes you skip because reprinting is not worth it - is usually the bigger loss.
- Do we throw the paper menus away?
- Not necessarily. Plenty of Maltese rooms keep a few paper cards for guests who prefer them and put the QR sticker on every table for everyone else. The digital version is the one you actually maintain.
Bring the printed cards, leave with a live menu
EUR 39.90 per month plus EUR 149 setup with printed QR stickers and staff training.