How do you turn a TV into a digital menu board for a café or restaurant?
Plug a smart TV or a small HDMI stick into your screen, pick a menu board layout that shows your categories and prices at a glance, and add a few promo slides (combo, happy hour, dish of the day). Schedule a playlist for each time of day, keep prices synced with your digital menu, and put a QR code on screen so customers can play, follow you or order.
Why a TV menu board sells more than a printed one
A printed menu board is out of date the day a price changes, and it cannot move. A screen can show the full menu, then highlight one product with a big photo, then a combo, all in the few seconds a customer spends deciding at the counter. Movement catches the eye: a slide that gently animates gets noticed far more than a static poster. And you change a price in a minute instead of reprinting.
Choose the right layout for your business
- Coffee shop: a full board with hot drinks, cold drinks, pastries and snacks, plus one featured drink
- Bakery: bread and pastries with prices, and a slide for cakes to order
- Restaurant: starters, mains and desserts, with a dish of the day slide at lunch
- Photo grid: 6–8 best sellers with photos when your products sell on looks
- Keep text large: a customer 3 metres away must read the price in one second
Promos and dayparting: the right message at the right hour
The same screen should not say the same thing all day. Build a playlist per time slot: breakfast combo in the morning, dish of the day at lunch, happy hour in the late afternoon, desserts in the evening, special menus during Ramadan. Between menu slides, rotate one or two promos and a "follow us" or "review us" slide. Short and specific beats clever: one offer, one price, one reason to act now.
How Dawwerni Screens does it
With Dawwerni Screens, any smart TV becomes a menu board fed by your Dawwerni digital menu: change a price in the menu and the screen follows. You choose from 13 menu board styles (coffee shop, bakery, restaurant, chalkboard, neon…), 5 product styles and more than 16 promo templates, animated like reels, then schedule playlists by time of day or start from a ready pack for your business type. A QR code on screen lets customers scan, play a short game and win a reward for their next visit, then leave an honest, optional Google review; each player joins your customer list. The playlist keeps playing if the connection drops.
Mistakes to avoid
- Too much text: if it needs reading glasses, it will not be read
- Slides that change every 3 seconds: give customers 8–12 seconds per slide
- Prices on the screen that differ from the till: sync them with your menu
- A screen facing the wrong way: place it where people queue or wait
- Forgetting the QR code: a screen that cannot be scanned is only a poster
FAQ
What do I need to run a digital menu board?
A TV with a browser (a smart TV) or a small HDMI stick, an internet connection to update it, and a menu board app. With Dawwerni Screens the playlist is saved on the screen, so it keeps playing even offline.
Can a TV menu board show different menus at different times?
Yes. Scheduled playlists (dayparting) switch automatically, for example breakfast items in the morning, lunch dishes at noon and a happy hour promo in the late afternoon.
Is a digital menu board worth it for a small café?
Usually, if you change prices or promos often or want to push higher-margin items. It saves reprinting and makes each promo visible at the moment customers decide, which a printed board cannot do.
Turn visits into reviews, repeat visits and sales
Try Dawwerni free for 7 days. Setup takes about 10 minutes.