QR-first digital menu
A table QR code opens the live web menu directly, with no special hardware or mobile application required.
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Digital QR Menu & Cafe Platform
Personal Project
Featured Project
Cafe IN
A near-production bilingual digital QR menu and cafe-management platform with dynamic content and protected administration.
Status
In Progress
Year
2026
My Role
Full-stack Laravel Developer
Duration
Final pre-production stage
Project Overview
Cafe IN is a custom digital menu and cafe-management web application developed for Coffee Bar IN. The product combines a public cafe website, a bilingual database-driven drinks menu, dynamic daily offers, table-ready QR access, contact functionality, and a protected administration panel in one system. The core application is functional and the project is in its final pre-production stage.
The Problem
The application was designed around practical limitations of a traditional printed cafe menu. Prices and products need to change, new drinks and categories need to be introduced, temporary offers need prominent placement, and customers need fast mobile access in Macedonian or English.
The requirement was not merely to build a cafe presentation website. Cafe IN needed one maintainable system where customers can scan a table QR code and see current menu content while administrators update that content without editing source code or replacing the QR code.
The Solution
I designed and developed Cafe IN as two connected experiences. The public side is centered on fast QR-to-menu access, category browsing, menu search, drink prices and availability, daily offers, Macedonian and English localization, cafe presentation, and contact information.
The protected administration system provides a dashboard plus management for drinks, categories, daily offers, gallery content, contact messages, public preview, the generated QR menu card, cafe settings, and account security. This makes Cafe IN a maintainable business application rather than a static cafe website.
Key Features
Bilingual menu experience
Customers can switch between Macedonian and English across the public cafe experience and localized menu content.
Dynamic drinks and categories
Database-managed categories, drinks, prices, serving sizes, availability, images, and publication states keep the menu maintainable.
Daily offers
Temporary combinations can present included drinks, localized descriptions, images, current pricing, previous pricing, and publication windows.
Operational administration
A protected dashboard and management screens cover drinks, categories, offers, gallery media, messages, QR access, and cafe settings.
Contact and cafe information
The public site presents configured location, contact details, opening hours, and a message form stored for admin review.
Development Process
I started with the business requirements and menu structure, then modeled localized categories, drinks, publication states, availability, daily offers, cafe settings, gallery media, and contact messages. I developed the public cafe experience and menu separately from the protected administration workflows, while keeping both connected to the same database-driven content.
The real-world QR path shaped the responsive work: a guest sits at a table, scans the code, opens the live web menu, chooses Macedonian or English, searches or browses categories, and sees current drinks, prices, and offers. Administration can preview, print, download, or share the generated menu QR and can change content without changing that code.
The verified implementation uses Laravel 12, PHP, MySQL, Blade, Tailwind CSS, Vite, JavaScript, and BaconQrCode for SVG QR generation. The main functionality is essentially complete; remaining work is final visual and content refinement, production configuration, hosting, deployment, and final production verification.
Engineering Challenges
Designing for QR-first use
Challenge
The menu is frequently opened from a cafe table, so the first meaningful interaction often happens on a phone.
Approach
I prioritized direct menu access, simple navigation, category discovery, search, and responsive layouts.
Result
Customers can move quickly from scanning the code to useful menu content.
Dynamic menu maintenance
Challenge
Drinks, prices, categories, availability, and images need to change without rebuilding templates or reprinting menus.
Approach
I modeled menu content in the database and exposed controlled editing and publication workflows through administration.
Result
The same QR code can keep pointing to current content as the menu evolves.
Bilingual content consistency
Challenge
The same menu needs to remain understandable for local and international customers.
Approach
I implemented application-level Macedonian and English fields with locale-aware public rendering and language controls.
Result
One web menu can serve both audiences without machine translation.
Temporary offer publishing
Challenge
Promotional combinations need their own content, pricing, timing, and publication control.
Approach
I built a dedicated Daily Offers workflow with included drinks, promotional and previous prices, images, date windows, and draft/published states.
Result
Current promotions can be changed independently from the permanent menu.
Public simplicity and admin depth
Challenge
Customers need a focused browsing experience while administrators need detailed operational controls.
Approach
I separated the public cafe and menu journeys from protected management screens while keeping them connected to the same data.
Result
The product remains simple to use in the cafe and practical to maintain behind the scenes.
Project Gallery
Results
Cafe IN has evolved into a near-production digital menu platform that combines the cafe online presence, bilingual menu, dynamic categories, daily offers, QR access, contact workflow, and administration tools in one system. Once deployed, customers will be able to scan a QR code at their table and access the current menu directly from their phone, while the cafe maintains its content through administration. Hosting and production deployment are still pending.
Lessons Learned
Cafe IN taught me how to turn a familiar physical menu into a maintainable digital product built around a real QR and mobile use case. I strengthened my approach to database-driven content, bilingual data, publication workflows, and the separation between a very simple customer journey and detailed administration. It also reinforced how everyday business operations should shape responsive product decisions.
Have a similar idea?
I’m open to discussing web applications, business platforms, admin systems, and custom digital products.
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