# How to Update Seasonal Menus and Sold-Out Items Without Reprinting

> New season, new dishes, an ingredient that ran out at eight o’clock. Here is how to keep a digital menu accurate all year without reprinting anything or changing the QR codes on your tables.

Operations · June 30, 2026 · https://qrcodemenu.co.uk/blog/update-seasonal-menu-without-reprinting/

Printed menus age quickly. A seasonal dish arrives, a supplier raises a price, the fish runs out halfway through service, and suddenly the card on the table is telling guests something that is no longer true. Reprinting every time is expensive and slow, so many places live with a slightly wrong menu. A digital menu removes that compromise, as long as you have a simple routine for keeping it current.

## Plan seasonal changes in advance

A menu change goes smoothly when the new dishes are ready before switch day. Create the products a week or two early, with photos, descriptions, prices, portions and extras, and keep them hidden. On the day itself you only change their visibility. If you manage many items, a CSV export lets you review names and prices in a spreadsheet such as Excel or Google Sheets and import the changes in one go.

1. List what is leaving, what is staying and what is new.
2. Create the new products early and keep them hidden.
3. Check prices, portions and allergen notes against the kitchen’s recipes.
4. On switch day, show the new items and hide the old ones in one sitting.

## Hide items instead of deleting them

When a dish leaves the menu, hiding it is almost always better than deleting it. Past orders still refer to it, your reports stay consistent, and if the dish comes back next year you already have the photo, the description and the options. Deleting means rebuilding from scratch. The same goes for items that sell out during service: hide the product or mark it out of stock, so nobody can order something the kitchen cannot make.

In QR Menu Manager, product visibility can be set per branch, so a dish can be off at one location and available at another. Because the products are WooCommerce products, stock status works the way you already know.

## Daily specials without the chaos

Daily specials work best as a small category you update every morning. Keep a few reusable special products and change their name, photo and price instead of creating new ones each day. Put the category near the top so regulars find it straight away.

## Keep photos and prices honest

- Retake a photo when the plating changes, so the screen matches the plate.
- Update prices in one place and check them on a phone before service.
- Remove seasonal wording such as “summer” from items that stay all year.
- Make one person responsible for the menu, so changes do not get lost between shifts.

## The same QR codes all year

The best part is that none of this touches your tables. Each table keeps its permanent QR link, and that link always opens the current menu. You change the menu, not the stickers.

> Before each service, scan a table code with your own phone and look through the menu. Two minutes of checking saves a lot of apologising.

Pick a fixed moment each week to review the menu, and handle sold-out items in real time during service. With that small habit, the menu guests see is always the menu you can actually serve.