Digital menu board · Munich
The menu on the wall, animated and run from a phone.
I build digital menu boards for restaurants: animated menus on the screens in the room, a machine of your own instead of USB sticks, switched over from a phone. No monthly licence per screen. Design, animation, software and setup come from the same person.
What is already running
At Shawarmery, a fast food franchise in Munich, seven screens hang in two locations: three landscape above the counter, four portrait on the wall. Running without a break since June 2026.
- Seven screens, two shopsAnimated menus in 4K, one Linux machine in the rack instead of seven USB sticks, order and advertising through a dashboard.
- A dedicated app for the Samsung displaysFor the commercial devices in the second location I wrote a Tizen app, licensed it through the device IDs and pushed it to the screens.
- Packaging and window graphicsThe same visual language on boxes and windows, so the room and the screens do not fall apart.
- Customer app with a points systemWhat runs on the screen leads somewhere: an app for regulars, connected to the till.
The same setup sits on one screen as well as on seven, in a takeaway, a bakery or a waiting room.
All the work for Shawarmery on one page Have your website checked for free Web design for restaurantsWhat a menu board has to do
Changed in two minutes
Adjust a price, swap a dish, switch on the lunch offer. From a phone, without anyone walking to the TV with a stick.
A different menu at lunch and at night
The day menu and the evening menu sit side by side and swap at the hour you set. At night the screens go to sleep and wake up again in the morning.
Lay the deal of the day over the menu
An offer for today goes over the running menu as an overlay and is gone by the evening. Ads for other people run between the menus the same way, if you want to sell the space.
Portrait and landscape are two designs
Above the counter the menu lies flat, on the wall it stands up. Each one is set on its own instead of squeezing a video into the wrong format.
One machine instead of many sticks
A Linux machine of your own in the rack, wired to the screens, behind a firewall. It plays out and it carries the dashboard.
Commercial displays included
Samsung displays running Tizen will not play a video from the side. I wrote an app for them and licensed it through the device IDs.
Motion that sells
The animation is my own work in After Effects, the dishes are photographed and filmed by me. No template, no stock.
No licence per screen
The software belongs to the project, not to a subscription. What stays is power, internet and upkeep from 29 € a month, however many screens you have.
How it runs
- 01A visit to the roomI come by and look at where the screens hang, how the light falls and from which spot anyone can actually read the menu.
- 02A quote by phaseDesign, animation, technology and setup are listed separately, so you can decide what happens now and what comes later.
- 03Design, animate, set upUsually a photo day, then the menu is set again, then animated. After that the machine is set up, the displays licensed and mounted.
- 04Handover on a phoneI walk you through the dashboard. Switching the menu, playing an ad, changing the order is something your team does itself.
What it costs
Prices net, as a starting point. What you really need belongs in the quote. Screens and mounts come on top, you buy those yourselves.
- Board start1,290 €
- Board animatedfrom 2,400 €
- Upkeep basic29 € a month
- Upkeep with animation89 € a month
- New animation or scenefrom 190 € per scene
What restaurant owners ask
Can we change the menu ourselves?
Yes, and that is the point. Through the dashboard you switch the menu from a phone, change the order and play an ad. A new dish is an upload, not an appointment with me.
Do we need special screens?
No. Ordinary TVs work, commercial displays work too. For Samsung devices running Tizen I have an app of my own, because they will not play a video off a stick. Whatever you already have on the wall, I look at it first.
What does it cost per month?
No licence per screen. Upkeep costs 29 € net a month however many screens you have: prices, text, order and ads you change yourselves, I keep the system running. Upkeep at 89 € adds one smaller change to the animations every month. Power and internet come on top, since the machine stands in your own room.
See all pricesWhy not just a USB stick?
Because that is exactly where the first version failed in 2025. The sticks were overloaded, playback was unreliable, and every change meant walking up to the device. A machine in the rack ended that.
How many screens are possible?
At Shawarmery it is seven across two locations on one machine. How many make sense in your case depends on the format and the length of the videos, and I say that after the visit.
Can we show different prices at lunch and at night?
Yes. There is a day menu and an evening menu, and the switch runs automatically by the clock. At Shawarmery it is set to eleven and to five. Switching by hand still works any time.
Do the screens run all night?
Only if you want them to. There is a night mode with a sleep time and a wake time, so the devices turn themselves off and come back in the morning. That saves power and it is easier on the displays.
Can we rent the space out to others?
Yes, and some do. An ad runs as its own entry between the menus, with its own duration. In a busy location the screen can pay for itself that way.
Is this not done by an AI?
No. The menus are designed and animated, the dishes photographed and filmed by me. From three metres away you can tell the difference between a built menu and an image a generator spat out.