I Built a Free QR Menu SaaS with Laravel 12 & React — Here's What I Learned

A developer built a free QR Menu Builder SaaS using Laravel 12, React, Inertia.js, and Tailwind CSS to help restaurant owners manage menus online and generate QR codes. The project focused on a simple, modular database design, SVG QR codes, clean slug-based URLs, and mobile-first responsive layouts. The developer emphasized that fewer features can create a better product for restaurant owners who just need to update prices, add dishes, and print QR codes.

A few weeks ago, I challenged myself to build another micro SaaS. Instead of creating another AI-powered tool, I wanted to solve a simple, real-world problem. Restaurant owners still spend time and money printing menus every time prices change or new dishes are added. The solution seemed straightforward: build a QR Menu Builder that lets restaurants manage their menu online and generate a QR code for customers. The idea was simple. Building it wasn't. In this article, I'll share some of the architectural decisions, challenges, and lessons I learned while building it with Laravel 12, React, Inertia.js, and Tailwind CSS. The Tech Stack I wanted a stack that I already trusted. Laravel 12 PHP 8.4 MySQL React Inertia.js Tailwind CSS Vite Laravel remains my first choice because it allows me to move quickly without sacrificing code organization. React + Inertia gives me a modern SPA experience without maintaining separate frontend and backend applications. For a solo developer building multiple micro SaaS products, this combination has been extremely productive. Designing the Database One mistake I've made in previous projects was coupling everything together. This time I kept the database simple and modular. restaurants ├── categories │ └── menu items │ ├── qr codes │ └── scans The relationships are straightforward. Restaurant hasMany Categories Category hasMany MenuItems Restaurant hasMany Scans Keeping the hierarchy shallow made queries easier and reduced unnecessary joins. Why I Didn't Store Everything in JSON It can be tempting to store the entire menu in a JSON column. Something like this: { "categories": { "name": "Starters", "items": ... } } While this works for small applications, it quickly becomes difficult when you need: search analytics ordering filtering reporting Using proper relational tables makes future features much easier to implement. Generating QR Codes QR generation turned out to be one of the easiest parts. Using Laravel packages, generating a QR code is surprisingly simple. $url = route 'restaurant.menu', $restaurant- slug ; QrCode::format 'svg' - size 300 - generate $url ; I chose SVG instead of PNG because: smaller file size scales perfectly looks sharper when printed easier to embed Routing the Public Menu One decision I made early was separating the public menu from the dashboard. Instead of URLs like /restaurant/25/menu I switched to /menu/the-coffee-house Using slugs provides cleaner URLs and is much better for SEO. Laravel makes route model binding with slugs incredibly easy. Route::get '/menu/{restaurant:slug}', ... ; Building the Dashboard The dashboard only has a few sections. Restaurant Categories Menu Items QR Code Settings Analytics I intentionally avoided adding dozens of menus and settings. Restaurant owners don't want complicated software. They just want to: update prices add dishes hide unavailable items print their QR code Sometimes fewer features create a better product. Mobile First One lesson I've learned from previous SaaS projects: Never treat mobile as an afterthought. Restaurant owners often update their menu from their phones. Every page was designed to work comfortably on smaller screens. Tailwind CSS made responsive layouts much easier than my previous Bootstrap projects. Performance Considerations Even a simple menu can contain hundreds of items. To keep loading fast, I: eager loaded relationships optimized database indexes cached public menus optimized images lazy loaded admin components The public menu should feel almost instant because customers scan it while sitting at a table. SEO Matters More Than I Expected Initially, I treated this like a typical SaaS landing page. Then I realized most restaurant owners search for phrases like: Free QR Menu QR Menu Builder Digital Restaurant Menu Restaurant QR Code Menu So I spent time improving: semantic HTML structured headings FAQs landing page content internal linking metadata Good SEO takes longer than building features—but it's worth the investment. What I'd Do Differently If I started again, I'd probably build: multi-language menus from day one menu templates earlier image optimization pipeline analytics dashboard sooner Building real software teaches you things that planning never will. What's Next? Some features I'm currently working on include: 📊 Scan analytics 📱 WhatsApp ordering 🍽️ Multiple menu templates 🌍 Multi-language support 📅 Pre-order menus ⭐ Featured dishes I'm trying to keep the product simple while solving genuine problems for restaurant owners. Final Thoughts Building small SaaS products has become one of my favorite ways to learn. Every project forces me to think about architecture, UX, SEO, performance, and deployment—not just writing code. This QR Menu Builder started as a weekend idea and has grown into a practical project where I can experiment with Laravel, React, and product development. If you're building your own micro SaaS, I'd love to hear how you structure your projects and what stack you're using. You can also check out the project here: 👉 https://www.smarteyeapps.com/qr-menu https://www.smarteyeapps.com/qr-menu Tags: