Menu design for Dubai restaurants
تصميم قوائم طعام ثنائية اللغة وجاهزة للطباعة
A menu is the only piece of design every single guest holds. In Dubai it also has to work in two languages, price in dirhams, and come back from the printer at exactly the size you asked for. QaiMa does all three, and lets you change a price without commissioning a redesign.
The problem is not the first design. It is the fourth revision.
Most Dubai restaurants get their first menu from an agency or a freelance graphic designer, and the result is usually good. What goes wrong is everything after: suppliers move, a dish is dropped, VAT display changes, Ramadan arrives, a branch opens with different pricing. Each of those is a new round-trip, a new invoice, and a week of waiting — because the menu exists only as a flattened artwork file that nobody but the designer can open.
QaiMa treats the menu as data instead of artwork. Categories, dishes, prices, translations and allergen tags are stored as structured content, and the design is a layer over the top. Change the price once and every output — the A4 dine-in card, the DL drinks list, the QR menu — updates together. Switch template and the whole menu re-flows into a different design without retyping a single dish.
Both languages, properly typeset
Arabic is not English with different glyphs. It runs right-to-left, it pairs badly with most Latin display faces, and a menu that simply mirrors the layout tends to break where prices and numerals meet the text. Each QaiMa template ships with an Arabic face chosen to sit alongside its Latin one — Amiri where the template is classical, Tajawal where it is modern — and the layout is rebuilt for right-to-left rather than flipped.
You can run a menu in English only, Arabic only, or both together on the same card. Read more in the guide to Arabic menu design.
Print-ready means print-ready
“Print-ready” is used loosely. Concretely, what a Dubai print shop wants from you is a PDF at the true trim size, with bleed if anything runs to the edge, crop marks so they know where to cut, colour already separated to CMYK, and type that cannot re-flow on their machine. The press export is PDF/X-1a:2003: CMYK, a FOGRA39 output intent, outlined type, TrimBox and BleedBox declared.
| Format | Trim size | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm | Main dine-in menu, multi-page |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm | Café menus, bound booklets, room service |
| DL | 99 × 210 mm | Drinks lists, counter cards, table talkers |
| Square | 210 × 210 mm | Brunch and tasting menus |
| Trifold | 297 × 210 mm, 3 panels | Takeaway and delivery menus |
The trifold is imposed for roll folding, not just divided into thirds — the outside sheet carries the tuck flap, back cover and front cover in the order they need to be so the card reads correctly once folded. Full specifications are in the menu printing guide.
Built for the local rules
- Calorie display. Dubai Municipality’s calorie guidance asks for a value against each item on the menu. The mandatory phase was postponed after it was announced in 2019, but mall operators and inspectors increasingly expect it. Calories are a per-menu toggle, so you can switch them on where you need them.
- VAT-inclusive pricing. UAE VAT is 5%, and the Federal Tax Authority requires displayed prices to include it. Showing prices without VAT can bring a fine of AED 15,000. A VAT note can be printed in the footer in either language.
- Allergen and dietary tags. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, nuts and spice tags render as icons on the card, and the print view can add a full allergen guide page generated from the tags you have already set.
How it works
- Pick a template. Fifteen designs across six genuinely different page structures — flowing lists, framed cards, ticket stubs, side rails, zigzag columns and arched headers.
- Enter your menu once. Categories, dishes, descriptions, prices, tags. Paste an existing menu in and it is parsed into structured content.
- Make it yours. Colours, fonts, spacing, your logo, per-category layouts, decorative stickers. Or leave the template alone — it is already designed.
- Export and print. Print-ready PDF for the printer, QR code for the table. Come back next month, change three prices, re-export.
Questions Dubai restaurants ask
How much does menu design cost in Dubai?
Design studios and freelancers in Dubai typically quote a few hundred to a few thousand dirhams for a menu, and most price revisions as extra work. The cost that catches restaurants out is not the first design — it is the fourth price change of the year. QaiMa is free to use right now: you design the menu yourself and re-export whenever prices move, at no additional cost.
Will a Dubai print shop accept the PDF?
Yes. The press export is PDF/X-1a:2003 — sized in exact millimetres for the format you chose, CMYK with a FOGRA39 output intent, type converted to outlines, and the trim and bleed boxes declared, with optional 3 mm bleed and crop marks. That is the file Dubai print shops ask for, and it needs no colour conversion on their side. An RGB PDF with live text is there too, for emailing a proof around before the run.
Can the menu be in both Arabic and English?
Yes, and it is built for that rather than bolted on. Choose English only, Arabic only, or both together. Arabic runs right-to-left with its own curated typeface paired to each template, so the Arabic side is typeset rather than pasted in.
Do I need to show calories on my menu in Dubai?
Dubai Municipality announced calorie display on menus in 2019, first for food businesses with more than five branches and then for all restaurants and cafés, and then postponed the mandatory phase. Its guidance still expects a calorie value against each item, and inspectors, mall operators and health consultants increasingly ask for it. Calorie display is a per-menu toggle in QaiMa. Confirm your current obligation with the Municipality or your licensing consultant before you print.
What sizes can I print?
A4 and A5 for dine-in menus, DL (99 × 210 mm) for counter and drinks cards, a 210 mm square, and a three-panel A4 trifold that is imposed for roll folding so the panels land in the right order once folded.
Can I use it for a QR menu as well as print?
The same menu data drives both. Publishing gives you a mobile web menu and a QR code to print on the card, table talker or window. Change a price once and the printed export and the QR menu both reflect it.
Full plans and a cost comparison against agencies and freelancers are on the pricing page.
Design your menu now — pick a template and see your own dishes in it within a few minutes.