Digital menu board software for every screen above the counter
Build the board from the Digital Menu Board app, a spreadsheet or the PDF you already print, day-part it by the hour, and change a price or hide a sold-out dish on every screen at once.
What is digital menu board software?
Digital menu board software is the system that runs the screens above a counter. It holds the items, prices, images, offers and dietary tags, decides which menu each screen shows at which hour, and publishes a change to one board or to every outlet from a browser. The screen itself is an ordinary television or commercial display with a player attached; the software is what makes it a menu board rather than a slideshow.
There are three ways to build the board, and they suit different kitchens. The Digital Menu Board app is the structured route: items, prices and tags in a branded theme, with day-part scheduling and animated highlights. The Data Plugin is the spreadsheet route: the menu stays in the Google Sheet or CSV where it already lives and the board renders it. The PDF, Media Library and Canva apps are the show-it-as-it-is route: the menu you already print, on the TV, in an afternoon. A single café can start with the third and move to the first once the menu changes more often than the printer keeps up.
Once the board is on the wall, four things decide whether it works. It has to read from the back of the queue: big type, high contrast and no more than three columns. It has to switch menus by the hour without a member of staff at the screen. A sold-out item has to disappear from every board the moment it is hidden, and a price change has to reach all of them together, whether that is three screens above one counter or one screen in each of thirty outlets. DigiSign does those four on Android TV, Windows or a supported browser, with the boards grouped so that a change to the group lands on every panel at once.
Every counter, from a single café to a food court
The same board, shaped to how each kitchen serves.
QSR & fast-food chains
Three-panel counter boards with the combos and limited-time offers in the same place in every outlet, prices set per region, and a day-part change that lands in all of them at the same minute.
Cafés & bakeries
One board for the drinks list and the pastry case, seasonal specials swapped in without a reprint, and a portrait screen in the window showing the menu to the pavement.
Restaurants & bars
A specials board that changes with the market, a dessert and drinks screen near the tables, and a tap or cocktail list that follows what is actually behind the bar.
Canteens & cafeterias
The week's menu from a spreadsheet, a different board for each counter, Monday-to-Friday day-parts, and a corporate, hospital or campus canteen that no longer prints a menu sheet.
Cloud kitchens & takeaway counters
A board per brand when several labels share one kitchen, a pickup-counter menu with a QR code to order, and an order-ready strip for riders and walk-ins.
Food courts & multi-counter venues
Each counter owns its own board and prices, the operator pushes a court-wide offer to every screen, and a sold-out item comes off one counter without touching the rest.
What the board has to do
Six jobs, from the layout to the last sold-out dish.
A layout that reads from the queue
Category first, then item, then price; one price per line; photographs only on the dishes you want to sell; a hero combo top-left where the eye lands. The built-in menu app ships branded themes, and the canvas is there when you want your own.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and the weekend
Each menu is a playlist with a start and an end time. Day-parts switch on schedule, weekend and holiday menus follow their own repeats, and no one at the counter touches a screen at changeover.
Price changes that land everywhere
Change a price once and every board in the group follows over a live connection. Schedule the change for opening time on the day it applies, or keep prices in a sheet and let the Data Plugin render the board from it.
Sold-out items that disappear
Hide the dish once and it comes off every board that carries it. Quick Post covers the one-off announcement — a special that has run out, a counter closing early — on top of whatever is playing.
Several screens, one counter
Group the three screens above a counter, give each panel its section of the menu, and publish to the group so a price change or a day-part switch reaches all three together. Live status and on-demand screenshots show what each panel is showing right now.
The PDF or image menu you already have
The PDF app shows the printed menu page by page, the Media Library shows a JPEG or PNG as its own item, and a Canva design displays from its published link. It is the quickest route to a menu on a TV and a fair way to start.
One change, every panel
A hidden dish or a corrected price reaches every screen in the group over a live connection, so the board above the counter and the one in the window do not disagree.
The right menu at the right hour
Day-parts run on the schedule you set once, so breakfast gives way to lunch at the same minute in every outlet, whether the shift is quiet or slammed.
Start with the menu you already have
A PDF, an image or a spreadsheet gets a board live during the trial. Move to the structured menu app when the menu changes more often than the file does.
Popular apps for menu boards
Drop these onto any screen — no setup required.
- Digital Menu Board
- Data Plugin — sheet-driven menus
- PDF — menu pages as a slideshow
- Canva — designed menus
- Media Library — dish photos & video
- Text — today's specials
- YouTube — promo video between menus
TV menu board questions, answered
Yes, and it is the quickest way to start. Upload the PDF and the PDF app shows it page by page or as one scrollable page; upload a JPEG or PNG to the Media Library and it plays as its own item; paste a published Canva link and the design displays as it is. Pair the TV with an Android TV stick, a Windows PC or a supported browser, add the file to a playlist and publish. Check the type size from the back of the queue before you rely on it.
Put the three screens in one screen group, build a playlist per panel for its section of the menu — drinks on the left, mains in the middle, combos on the right — and schedule the three playlists on the same day-parts. A price change reaches every panel over a live connection, and the group is what you target when the whole counter changes. Live status shows whether each player is online, and an on-demand screenshot confirms what each panel is displaying.
Yes. Group screens by outlet, city or region and target a board at one group or all of them, so the chain-wide menu and the regional price list are separate items. Where prices live in a spreadsheet, point the Data Plugin at a sheet per region and each board renders its own. Role-based access lets an outlet manager change a local special without being able to edit the chain menu.
Large type, high contrast and no more than three columns, because the board is read from a few metres away by someone in a queue. Order it the way people decide — category, then item, then price — keep one price per line, put sizes and add-ons in the same place every time, and use photographs for the few dishes you most want to sell rather than for everything. Use motion for one item, not five. Where customers read Hindi as easily as English, show both on the items that matter most.
No. The Digital Menu Board app comes with branded themes, so a board is a matter of entering items, prices and tags and choosing a look. For a promo panel or a festive board, describe it to the AI Studio in English or Hindi and pick from the gallery it composes, then refine it in a chat and save it as a template for next time. If you already have a designer working in Canva, their published link displays as it is.
Per screen, per month. Ignite is ₹249 per screen (introductory, then ₹349) and includes the Digital Menu Board app, the Data Plugin, PDF and Canva, day-part scheduling, real-time broadcast, monitoring and the AI Studio, which is everything a menu board needs. Command at ₹699 per screen (then ₹999) adds the premium live-data apps, audit logs and an SLA. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial and needs no card. Read the India digital signage cost guide.
Keep reading
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Restaurant digital signage beyond the board
Window screens, queue displays and crew-room boards on the same account as the menu.
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Digital menu board layout and day-parting guide
Day-parting, layout, motion and pricing psychology — the guide behind the advice on this page.
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Screen setup and player compatibility
Which player to use, how to pair a screen, and what to test before adding outlets.
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Per-screen pricing
What Ignite, Command and Infinite cost, and which apps land in which plan.
Before a rollout, use the screen setup and player compatibility guide to test your device, embedded pages, network recovery and scheduling. Source sites must allow embedding; live content needs its source connection. Use signage alongside your established emergency communication channels.
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