QR ordering for a food truck takes 3 steps. Put your menu in the app, put the QR code on the truck, and take the orders on a tablet at the window. Customers scan the code, order from their phone and wait away from the window until their order is ready. They pay at the counter when they collect the food.
Step 1: put your menu in the app
Set up the menu once, before your first trading day.
- Add each item with a name, a price and a photo.
- Mark the allergens on each item, so customers can check them before they order.
- Group the items into categories, for example mains, sides and drinks.
- Add the item names in other languages too. Customers then see the menu in their own language, which helps at events with visitors from abroad.
- Set price changes in advance, for example a different price for a festival weekend.
Then open the menu preview and check it on a phone, the way your customers will see it.
Step 2: put the QR code on the truck
- Print the QR code and put it where people look while they wait: on the menu board, on the side of the truck, next to the window.
- Use more than one copy, so people at the back of the line can scan too.
- Protect the paper from rain, for example with a plastic sleeve.
Customers scan the code with their phone camera. The menu opens in the browser, with nothing to install. They join the queue and order in one go, and each order gets a number. Customers who do not want to use their phone order at the window as before. Staff enter those orders too, so all orders are in one list.
Step 3: run the orders from a tablet
- An order appears at the window as soon as the customer sends it.
- The tablet shows what is being made and what is ready.
- When an order is ready, call its number. The customer's phone shows that the order is ready for pickup, and the customer comes to the window.
- The customer pays at the counter on collection, in the same way as before.
If one person takes orders and another hands out food, Pro also lets you use separate order and pickup windows.
What you need on site
- A tablet or phone at the window, with a charger.
- A mobile data connection for the tablet. Customers use their own data.
- The printed QR codes.
There is no ticket printer, no card reader to connect and no extra screen. Payment stays at the counter, with the method you use today.
Keep the hygiene records too
QR ordering changes how people queue, not your food safety duties. A food truck counts as movable premises under Annex II, Chapter III, of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. The chapter has rules on hand washing, drinking water, waste, including waste water, and keeping food at the right temperature.
Keep a tank log for the truck. Each time you empty, clean or disinfect the water tank or the waste water tank, write down:
- The date.
- Which tank, and what was done.
- The product used for cleaning or disinfection.
- Who did it.
Keep the temperature checks for the truck's fridges and hot holding as well. Many national guides use 0 to +5 °C for chilled food and 63 °C or above for hot holding. National rules differ, so check your national guide, and also check how often your country wants the tanks emptied and disinfected.
Do it in the app
EZLineGo runs the queue, the QR menu and the order list on one tablet, and keeps the HACCP logs, such as temperature checks and corrective actions, in the same account. Ordering and the HACCP logs are part of Pro, which costs 15 EUR a month and which you can try free for 30 days; the queue alone works on the Free plan.