Why Generic Writing Apps Don’t Work for Restaurant Menus

 

As guests, we experience menus as simple documents: a list of dishes, prices and descriptions. However, for operators, menus are the most complex documents in the business. They sit at the intersection of culinary art, language, pricing, operations, marketing and technology.

Because menu creation consists of many different tasks, each conducted using a different generic tool, you end up with a fragmented process spread across a dozen software platforms. You write the draft in one place, communicate in another, and handle design in a third. This disconnected workflow doesn't just cause frustration, it makes menu creation slow and expensive.

At Correctify, we believe that the hospitality industry needs an all-in-one menu creation platform. To build, we started with the fundamentals: our own Menu Editor, a powerful space to draft content without the limitations of legacy writing apps like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

The core innovation of our Menu Editor is its block-based architecture. By treating every dish as a block of data rather than just strings of text, we unlock powerful new possibilities. Since blocks store structured information for each dish (like the title and price), the content can easily be transformed into print designs, online menus or get synced with POS systems and delivery platforms, creating a single source of truth for the entire company.

But why are traditional writing apps not good enough?

 

Restaurant menus are databases, not plain text

Traditional writing tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs were built for essays, reports and letters. In contrast, menus feel much more like a database than plain text. Think about it: a single dish isn't just descriptive text. It’s a collection of linked data points:

• A name, a description and a price
• A set of allergens and tags
• A corresponding entry in your POS system
• A digital version on your website or third-party delivery apps
• Another language version

In traditional writing apps, all of this collapses into a chaotic wall of text. As a result, you cannot connect and sync your dishes with the rest of your systems. Someone has to manually copy-paste the entire text in the online menu app, the POS system, the delivery platforms, the website and even the smallest change requires additional manual work.

 

How Correctify solves this:

Correctify’s specialized Menu Editor works differently. Every entry is a block, rich with metadata and information. There are all sorts of blocks to choose from, from classic ones like plain text and headings, to hospitality-specific ones like menu items and collections.

Menu items are a game-changing type of block, used to insert menu dishes. Each menu item consists of sub-blocks like the dish title, the description, price, quantity and tags. Stack multiple menu items under a heading and you get a collection, another special block used for organizing menu categories.

You can easily drag blocks to a new position, save them for reuse and soon, add comments tied to specific dishes. This way, every dish is neatly organized in a clear, visually appealing way, making menus easier to read and edit.

With each dish (menu item block) holding all necessary information, you unlock capabilities no other writing tool has.

As incredible as it sounds, you can use Design Studio right inside the Menu Editor to convert your text into menu designs in minutes based on your chosen size, style and branding. Or you can instantly publish your text as an online menu with its own QR code and link. Thus, every time you have to make a small change, your online menu and print design are automatically updated. More importantly, soon you will be able to sync your menu with your POS systems and delivery platforms. Finally, you can have a central menu management system where you update information once, and sync everywhere.

Making the switch to Correctify is super easy. You can use the AI Import feature to instantly categorize your existing text into menu items.

 

Proofreading restaurant menus is a domain problem

The hospitality industry has its own unique language. A menu often consists of ingredients from all over the world, terms referring to culinary techniques, brands, and wines. As a result, LLMs (like ChatGPT) and spellcheckers found inside generic writing tools don’t understand:

• Culinary terms (like Portarlington mussels)
• Foreign dish names (like pa amb tomàquet)
• Brand names (like VulaViti Vodka)
• All the thousand wines and vineyards around the world

 

How Correctify solves this:

Text inside Correctify’s Menu Editor is proofread by SmartChef, a proofreading model trained specifically on restaurant menus. Actually, thousands of them. It speaks the chef’s language and understands semantic meaning. This means it knows that a DESERT has no place inside a menu and what you meant was DESSERT. It can also save you from embarrassing mistakes like chocolate mouse instead of chocolate mousse. Needless to say, this level of accuracy is only possible with a model that was built with the hospitality industry in mind. SmartChef works unnoticed in the background, highlighting mistakes as soon as you finish typing.

 

Communication and collaboration are all over the place

Undeniably, the menu creation process is a multi-party endeavor. Often chefs, F&B managers, marketers, designers, translators, restaurant managers, directors and IT departments all must collaborate for a single menu to go live.

Using existing text editors means communication quickly descends into chaos. Feedback is scattered across email threads, Microsoft Teams messages and sticky notes on PDFs. You have multiple versions of each document named something like ‘’menu_final_final_6_comments’’ with copies scattered across various devices and folders. This lack of centralization turns what should be a creative process into endless "email tennis," leaving everyone struggling to stay up to date.

 

How Correctify solves this:

Correctify is built for collaboration with shared workspaces called Organizations, in which members can have different permissions like Viewer, Editor or Admin. Team members can work on the same document in real-time and access all the company’s menus in a single dashboard.

In addition, the block-based system works wonders for exchanging comments on specific blocks or menu items and tracking when a change was made and by whom. This approach makes Correctify a single source of truth and a system of record for your entire organization for everything related to restaurant menus.

 

The future: One central place for all your menu work

Correctify’s mission is to become a place where you can perform all menu-related tasks easily and quickly, with the help of specialized AI models. Our block-based menu editor is the foundation for future capabilities that extend far beyond writing.

At the moment, you can easily transform your text into an online menu with its own QR code and link or use Design Studio to convert your text into beautiful print-ready menu designs. Design Studio is a first-of-its-kind AI designer that generates menu designs from your text in minutes, based on your chosen size, style, and branding.

 

Coming soon: Team comments, version history, integrations and recipe costing

Our upcoming roadmap includes POS and delivery platform integrations, allowing you to manage every dish across all channels from one central place.

To further empower your team, we’re introducing block-specific comments, approval workflows, and full version history, ensuring that collaboration is documented, transparent and organized.

Finally, we’re bringing financial clarity to your menu. New recipe costing capabilities will make sure that all your menu-related data is stored in one single place.