Digital Menu Board Software vs DIY: 7 Questions Restaurant Owners Should Ask
If you run a restaurant or cafe, the idea behind a digital menu board is simple: change a price once and every screen updates. The hard part is choosing how. Some owners use a TV with a USB stick or a slideshow. Others pay for digital menu board software. Owners who have tried the DIY route often describe the same problems.
This guide lists what to check. The owner comments mentioned here come from a small number of forum threads, so use them as color, not data.
What owners say about DIY menu boards
In one Square Community thread, an owner said every commercial system they saw combined expensive hardware with a monthly fee, while the DIY route had "a lot of moving parts and things that can fail." Another warned against becoming "the permanent IT guy" for your own menu boards. On a POS forum, a user running a TV from a USB stick said they had to update the images on the stick by hand every time.
DIY is cheap and can work for a menu that almost never changes. It gets painful when prices, specials or daypart menus change often.
7 questions to ask before you choose
- How do I change a price? Can a manager do it from a phone in a couple of minutes, without a designer?
- Can menus change by time of day? Breakfast, lunch and dinner should switch on their own.
- What happens when the internet drops? Ask what keeps playing.
- What is the all-in cost per screen? Software, player and add-ons, per month and one-time.
- Can I use the TV I already have? Check supported devices before buying anything.
- What if I open a second location? Look for grouping and per-location control.
- Who do I call when a screen goes dark during service? Ask about support channels and response times.
How DigitalSigns.ai approaches menu boards
DigitalSigns.ai is built so a non-technical team can get a menu on screen quickly:
- Create or upload your menu and schedule menus by daypart, with instant price updates across screens.
- Run it on Android TV, Fire TV, the Amazon Signage Stick or any web browser, in landscape or portrait.
- Group screens by tag for multiple locations.
- Free plan with 2 screens and unlimited uploads. Pro is $5 per screen per month billed annually ($6 monthly), with advanced scheduling, user roles and proof-of-play reports.
Browse menu board templates, or read our restaurant digital menu board guide and the QSR menu board guide for design advice.
When DIY is fine
If you have one screen and a menu that changes a few times a year, a slideshow can be enough. Once you update prices or specials monthly, or run more than one screen, the time you spend on updates usually costs more than the software.
Bottom line
Choose on how fast you can update a price, what happens when something breaks, and the total monthly cost. Try it with your real menu: start free on two screens, no credit card.
