Importing an existing menu

Menu Import lets you bring your existing menu into MenuSquared without retyping everything. Take a photo, upload a PDF, or paste the text, and the AI extracts your sections, items, prices, and descriptions into a structured menu you can edit.

It's available in two places: the Create New Menu modal on your dashboard, and during onboarding when you first set up your account.

The upload screen gives you three ways to provide your menu content:

• Photo or image: Take a photo with your phone's camera or upload an image file. You can add multiple pages. For best results, use good lighting and capture the full menu without glare.
• PDF: Upload a PDF of your menu. The AI extracts text directly, or for scanned PDFs, converts pages to images and reads them visually.
• Paste text: Copy your menu text from any source and paste it in. This works well if you have your menu in a document, email, or website.

After the AI processes your upload, you'll see a review screen with everything it extracted. This is your chance to verify and fix anything before creating the menu.

• Summary banner: Shows the total number of sections and items found.
• Inline editing: Click any item name, description, or price to edit it directly.
• Add or remove items: Use the buttons within each section to add missing items or remove incorrect ones.
• Add sections: If the AI missed a section, add it at the bottom of the list.
• Confidence indicators: Items the AI is less certain about are marked so you can verify them first.

Once you're satisfied, confirm to create your menu. You'll land in the editor with all your content ready to style.

Many existing menus don't include descriptions for every item. After import, the review screen can detect items that are missing descriptions and offer to generate them with Sous Chef:

1. Check the suggestion card below the section list. If items are missing descriptions, it will show a count and offer to fill them in.
2. Click "Generate Descriptions": The AI writes descriptions for all items that need them, using your restaurant's cuisine type and style for context.
3. Review the results: Generated descriptions appear inline. Edit any that need adjustment before confirming.