How to make a digital menu board
Last updated September 23, 2026
A digital menu board is a TV that shows your menu from a small media player, so a new price or a sold-out dish is a quick edit instead of a reprint. The fastest way to make one is to start from a menu template, replace the sample dishes and prices with your own, and send it to the screen. Signage software then keeps the menu up all day and can switch between breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus on its own.
With Screenbird, for example, you open the Menu Board template in the Designer, type in your dishes and prices, and send the menu to your screen. After that, every change you make reaches the screen by itself. Typing your dishes takes the most time; the rest takes a few minutes.
The end result, live on your TV.
What you need
- A TV or monitor with an HDMI input, hung in landscape or portrait
- A media player: Amazon's Signage Stick and the Fire TV Stick 4K are the simplest plug-and-play options; smart TVs and Windows, Mac, or Linux devices work just as well
- A Screenbird account (free trial, then $18 per screen per month)
- A computer to build the menu on, and your dishes, prices, and a photo or two
Can't I just put a photo of the menu on a USB stick?
Plenty of places start that way. Each of these works until the menu starts changing:
A USB stick in the TV costs nothing extra, but every price change means a new image carried to every TV, and the TV has no idea whether it is breakfast or dinner.
Casting from a phone or laptop is quick to set up, but the menu disappears as soon as that device sleeps, runs out of battery, or goes home with a colleague.
A printed menu or a chalkboard needs no screen at all, but every change is a reprint or a rewrite, and a sold-out dish stays up until someone gets to it.
Signage software handles what those options can't: you change a dish in your browser and every screen follows. On a dedicated player like Amazon's Signage Stick, the menu comes back on its own after a power outage, and a schedule swaps breakfast for lunch without anyone touching the TV.
Step-by-step with Screenbird
For the full click-by-click walkthrough, see the Screenbird Knowledge Base.
Create your free account
Sign up for Screenbird in your browser. Nothing to install on your computer, and the trial starts right away.
Pair your screen
Install the Screenbird player on your TV or stick. It shows a 6-character pairing code. Enter that code in your dashboard to connect the screen.
Start from the Menu Board template
On a computer, go to Files, click New, and choose New design. Give the design a name, choose Landscape or Portrait to match how your screen hangs, leave Resolution on HD, click Hospitality, and pick Menu Board. Click Create design, and the Designer opens with the sample menu.
Type in your own dishes and prices
Double-click any dish, description, or price and type over it. Each dish name, description, and price is its own text, so you can move it or restyle it in the panel on the right. To add a dish, duplicate an existing dish's name, description, and price in Layers and drag the copies into place. To use your own photo, select the picture and choose Replace image.
Let the menu save itself
You don't need to save anything. The Designer saves as you go: the status at the top shows Saving... and then Saved. Press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac) if you want to save right away.
Send it to your screen
If your TV hangs in portrait, first open the screen's settings and set Orientation to Rotate 90° or Rotate 270°. Then click Send to screen, choose your screen, and click Send. The menu appears within seconds, and from then on every change you save reaches the screen by itself. Want to try something out first? Duplicate the design in Files and edit the copy.
Switch menus by time of day (optional)
Make a second design for breakfast, the same way as steps 3 to 5. Then go to Schedules, click New, choose New schedule, name it, and click Save. Add an event: your breakfast menu from 07:00 to 11:00, repeating Daily. Click the gear icon, set your first menu as the Default item so it shows the rest of the day, and send the schedule to your screen.
The result
Your menu is on the screen. When a dish sells out or a price changes, edit it in the Designer; the screen follows within seconds.
Cafés and coffee bars
Coffee and pastries in the morning, sandwiches from noon, switched over by a schedule.
Restaurants
Starters, mains, and desserts on a landscape screen, updated when the menu changes with the season.
Takeout counters
The full menu on a portrait screen above the counter, and today's special on a second one.