Mobile App Development for Restaurant Digital Menu
Digital menu is not PDF on screen. It's an app that replaces laminated cards and updates instantly: steak price changed, item out due to missing ingredient, new seasonal section added — all without reprinting or waiting for delivery of new cards.
Key Implementation Requirements
Offline Operation. Restaurant is not best place for stable Wi-Fi on every tablet. App must work fully offline: menu stored locally, updates on connection. For Flutter — Hive or Drift for local storage, background sync via WorkManager-equivalent (workmanager package).
Instant Start. Guest sits at table, takes tablet. App shows menu instantly — no 3-second splash screen and no spinner. Cached data → instant render → background update.
Dish Photos. Heaviest to render. 80–120 items with photos — cached_network_image with disk cache, WebP on server, lazy loading via SliverList. On dish card screen — full-screen photo with Hero animation.
CMS Panel Functionality
All menu managed via admin web panel: categories, items, photos, descriptions, prices, allergens, macros, "new" / "hit" / "out of stock" flags. Toggle "out of stock" — single tap, no item editing.
Multi-language menu (if restaurant gets tourists) — via Laravel Translatable, switch language in panel and enter translation.
Stack: Flutter 3.x for tablet app (optimized for landscape and touch on large screen), Laravel 10 + PostgreSQL, S3 for media, React admin panel.
QR-menu as alternative channel: generate QR code with web-menu link — guest scans with smartphone, sees same menu in browser without installation.
Timeline
Tablet digital menu app with offline and CMS panel — 5 to 8 weeks. Pricing is calculated individually.







