Tabern

Build your menu

Get your first menu into Tabern, by hand or by scanning an existing one.

Video walkthrough coming soonThe written steps below cover everything in the meantime.

Two ways to build

Your menu lives in Menu Manager. It's organized in three levels: menus (Lunch, Dinner, Drinks), categories inside each menu (Starters, Mains), and items inside each category. Some guides call categories “sections”; they're the same thing.

  • Scan an existing menu: upload photos or PDFs of your current menu and the AI menu scanner pulls out menus, categories, items, and prices for you to review. The fastest path if you already have a printed menu. Part of the paid plan. See Menu scanner.
  • Add items by hand: create menus, categories, and items yourself. Works on every plan, and is best for new menus or small changes. See Sections & items.

Quick path: scan your menu

  1. Open Menu Manager from the dashboard sidebar and click Scan Menu.

  2. Drop in photos or PDFs of your menu (PDF, JPG, or PNG, up to 10 MB each). You can add several files at once.

  3. Click Scan Menu (or Scan 2 Files, and so on) and wait while Tabern reads your menu. It groups what it finds into menus using the menu names printed on the page, or splits it into menus like Food and Drinks when there are none.

  4. Review the result: rename each menu, move a category to a different menu, or click Add menu to make a new one.

  5. Click Import to add the items (the button shows how many), then check names, prices, and photos in the table.

The scanner also picks up dietary tags (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, spicy, and more), including symbol legends like “V” or “GF” printed on your menu.

Quick path: manual entry

  1. Open Menu Manager and click Add Menu. Enter a Menu name, such as Dinner.

  2. Open the category dropdown in the table toolbar and choose Add Category. Enter a Category name, such as Starters.

  3. Click Add Item. Enter the Item name, Description, Category, Portion (like 12 oz), and Price.

  4. Optionally upload an Item Image (JPG, PNG, or WebP up to 5 MB).

  5. Leave Active switched on to show the item on your site, or switch it to Draft to hide it for now.

Each item saves when you submit it. You don't need to click anything else before you publish.

Dietary info, photos, and pricing

Items show their photo, price, and portion on your public menu. Dietary tags come from the menu scanner; the Add Item form doesn't have a dietary field. Items imported by the scanner can also carry several sizes with their own prices. Details in Sections & items.

Next steps