Which dishes to put in 3D on your menu (and which to keep as photo or text)

Five criteria for choosing

A dish deserves a 3D model when at least two of the criteria below are true:

1. It’s a star dish: you recommend it to everyone and want it ordered often.
2. It has a special presentation: layers, height, garnish, a distinctive plate.
3. Portion size matters: platters, big burgers, sharing portions — guests want to know how much they get.
4. It’s unfamiliar to guests: traditional dishes for tourists, signature recipes, exotic cuisines.
5. It has a good margin but sells little: better presentation can bring it out of the shadows (see menu engineering).

Examples by restaurant type

Items that don’t need 3D

Standard items that guests know without seeing them — still water, an espresso, a portion of fries — gain nothing from a 3D model. Packaged drinks also present well with a photo or just the name. Put the effort where seeing the dish changes the decision.

Some dishes are also technically hard to scan: clear soups, drinks in transparent glasses, very glossy sauces. For those, a good photo is often the better choice. What scans easily and what doesn’t is covered in the guide to 3D scanning food.

How many dishes in 3D to start

Start with 3–5 dishes. That’s enough for the menu to have “moments” that catch the eye and for you to see how guests react. Then add two or three dishes a month, based on questions from the floor and on sales. Menu3D plans have a limit on active 3D dishes, while items with a photo or text are unlimited, so you can rotate 3D dishes with the seasons.

Real scan or AI

You have two routes to a 3D model: a real scan with your phone, which shows exactly your dish, or a model created with AI from a photo or a description, useful as a quick preview. For star dishes a real scan is always worth it: guests get exactly what they saw. The AI model can fill the slot until you scan. The full comparison is in photo, 3D or AI.

How to check you chose well

• compare the dish’s sales over three or four weeks before and after it got a 3D model;
• ask waiters whether guests mention the dish or show their phone;
• watch which dishes are opened most often in the menu;
• replace 3D dishes that don’t seem to matter with others from your candidate list.

The same principle for products

If you also run a shop — for example you sell your house sauces, gift boxes or pastries online — the same criteria apply to products. For online stores there are 3D and AR product models created with a phone, which customers rotate right on the product page.

A starter list in five minutes

If you want to decide quickly, take the menu and note for each dish how many of the five criteria it meets. Dishes with three or more ticks are the first candidates. Among them, pick those that scan easily (clear volume, no glass or clear liquids) and that the kitchen can plate identically every time.

Then check the balance: ideally, the first 3D dishes cover different categories — a main, a dessert, a platter — so every guest meets at least one 3D dish whatever they browse. As you add new 3D dishes, keep the candidate list up to date and move forward the dishes guests ask about most often.

What to do with dishes that didn’t make it into 3D

Dishes that stay with a photo or text aren’t second-class. For them, a concrete description and a photo taken in natural light, on the same matte table you scan on, make the menu feel consistent. Avoid catalogue photos that don’t look like the real portion: a gap between image and plate undoes the trust your 3D dishes earn.