Menu Photos — add pictures to your items

A picture sells the dish. This page lets you add a photo to each item so your QR ordering menu (the page customers see when they scan a table/room code) looks beautiful and appetising. Items without a photo show a tidy placeholder.

Before you start

• You need the Inventory permission.
• Have your photos ready on the device you're using (phone or computer). Square photos look best; each can be up to 5 MB.

Steps

1. Go to Inventory → Menu Photos.
2. Find the item — type in the Search box (matches item name or category).
3. Click Upload on the item's card and pick a photo. It appears immediately.
4. To change a photo, click Replace. To clear it, click the trash icon.

Let AI suggest a photo

Adding a picture to hundreds of items by hand is slow. If your administrator has turned on photo suggestions, the system can propose pictures for you — you just pick the best one.

1. On any item's card, click the ✨ sparkle button (next to Upload).
2. Wait a few seconds while ideas are prepared. You'll see a grid of options:
   • Photos marked AI are generated — a clean, illustrative picture made from the item's name and category.
   • Other photos are real stock photos (with a small credit line).
3. Click the one you like. It opens the crop tool — adjust, then Crop & save. The photo uploads just like a manual one.
4. Not happy with the choices? Click Regenerate for a fresh set.

Suggestions are remembered by the item's exact name, so the next item with the same name (in any company) gets them instantly. Capital letters, spacing and word order don't matter, but every word and number does: iPhone 15 never gets the iPhone 13 pictures, and iPhone 15 Plus never gets the iPhone 15 ones.

Fill a whole category at once (Auto-fill)

To photograph many items quickly, use Auto-fill — it sets a photo on every item that has no photo yet, unattended:

1. (Optional) Narrow the list first with the category dropdown or the search box — Auto-fill only touches the items currently shown.
2. Pick the photo source next to the button:
   • AI (accurate) — recommended. Generates a photo that matches each item. Best for unusual or local items.
   • Free stock (cheaper) — uses free stock photography. Cheaper and fine for common items, but stock search matches words, so it can mis-pick on technical names (e.g. "13AMP SOCKET" might return a photo of power lines).
3. Click Auto-fill N photos. A progress bar shows how many are done; click Stop any time. When it finishes, review the grid and Replace any photo you don't like.

Good to know: AI photos are illustrative — a representative picture, not necessarily your exact item/plating. They make the menu look complete fast; swap in a real photo whenever you have one (just click Replace).

Tips

• Photos are stored securely in the cloud (not in your database), so adding lots of them won't slow the system down.
• No ✨ Suggest button? Photo suggestions aren't switched on for your system. Ask your administrator to add an OpenAI and/or Pexels key — until then you can still upload photos manually.
• A good, well-lit, square photo on a plain background looks most appetising.
• You don't need a photo for everything — items without one simply show a neat placeholder, so the menu still looks consistent.
• Changes show on the customer's QR menu right away (they may need to refresh).

Common problems

• "Image is too large" → the file is over 5 MB. Take a smaller photo or resize it first.
• "Only image files are allowed" → you picked a non-image file (e.g. a PDF). Choose a JPG, PNG, GIF or WEBP.
• The suggestions show a different model (an older phone, another size) → the item's name is probably too general. Put the model or size in the name (e.g. iPhone 15 128GB, Coke 50cl) and click Regenerate.
• The photo didn't change on the customer page → ask them to refresh; photos are cached on their phone for a short while.
• An item isn't in the list → only sellable items appear (Tax/Discount items are excluded). Inactive items are hidden too.