Menu sources
A menu source is where Roman reads a restaurant's menu from. Every restaurant can have up to three sources, e.g. the food menu, the wine list and a lunch menu.
Link
A link to a menu page, a PDF or a photo of the menu. This is the default, and it's free.
- A direct link to a PDF of the menu works best — if the restaurant offers one.
- A web page has to show the menu as text. Pages that draw the menu with a script (JavaScript) can't be read yet — use a link to a PDF or upload files instead.
- When several restaurants (or several Roman users) track the same menu, Roman reads it once and everyone sees the same price history.
Uploaded files
PDF, JPEG, PNG or WebP — up to 20 files and 50 MB at a time. Several photos are consecutive pages of one menu, in the order you give them.
- An uploaded menu is only visible to your team.
- Roman can't check by itself whether an uploaded menu has changed. When the restaurant changes its menu, use Upload new version on the restaurant's page.
- Take photos straight on, with the whole page in the frame and the prices readable.
Find the menu on their website
A premium feature: Roman looks through the restaurant's website itself and suggests the menus it finds. More.
Menu states
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Up to date | The menu was read at the last check. |
| Waiting | The menu is waiting in the queue. |
| Reading | The menu is being read — usually in under a minute. |
| Delayed | We're busy; the menu will be read shortly. |
| Failing | The last attempt to read the menu failed — the reason is shown next to it. |
When a menu won't read
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| The page wasn't found | Check the link — the restaurant may have moved its menu. |
| The website blocked us | Some websites block automated reading. A direct link to a PDF usually works. |
| The website asked us to slow down / had an error | Nothing to do — we'll try again soon. |
| We couldn't reach the website | Check the link. |
| The file is too large | Use a smaller file, or upload the menu as photos. |
| We can't read this kind of file | Use a PDF, an image or a web page. |
| The page shows no menu text | The menu is probably drawn by a script. Use a link to a PDF or upload files. |
| We found no dishes with prices | There's no priced menu at that link. Try a link to a PDF or a photo of the menu. |
| Reading failed on our side | Try again. |
| The uploaded files are missing | Upload the menu again. |
A failing menu shows up in the Overview under "Menus needing attention", and in Compare its restaurant is marked "menu not updating".