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Restaurant menu photography guidelines

Welcome to the Uber Eats restaurant photography guide for all of the dishes on your menu! You can follow these tips to create and maintain consistent, high-quality photos to feature on your Uber Eats menu. Since these photos will be seen by potentially thousands of nearby Uber Eats users searching for something to eat, you’ll want to make sure they showcase your food in its best light. We’re here to help!

Menu photography dos

Find natural light

If possible, set up the food on a table with indirect, natural sunlight coming from a window. Natural lighting can make food look fresh and appetizing! However, be careful to avoid very bright, direct sunlight as it can cast harsh shadows.

Angles are everything

It’s up to you if you’d like to shoot your dishes top-down or at a 45-degree angle. Top-down angles are better for plates of food or bowls, so that the customer can clearly see the ingredients or items; 45-degree angles (shot from the side) are better for burgers, sandwiches, or taller items.

Show what’s inside

In the case of burgers, sandwiches, wraps, and burritos, it can be helpful to cut the item and stack the 2 halves so that the customer can see what’s inside.

Make it pop with color

Even the most delicious dish can sometimes look a bit bland or flat. Wherever possible, add a garnish to create a splash of color. Just be sure your photo is still a true representation of the dish.

Get it while it’s hot

Food that’s been sitting around can start looking limp and lifeless after just a few minutes. Once food is plated by you or your chef, photograph it as quickly as possible.

Add your flair

Your style is part of what makes your restaurant special. Try to capture the essence of your location by using a variety of surfaces, plateware, glassware, napkins, and silverware. However, remember that the food is still the focus.

Great photo examples

This is a nice top-down shot. It’s got great color and the focus is on the food. The napkin, silverware, and flatbread add context and give a flavor to the restaurant.

Here is a good example of cropping, and zooming in on the dish. This salad would look too small if the camera were zoomed out to incorporate the entire plate. Zooming in shows off the crisp texture of the salad as well.

This shot of the sandwich is nice because it’s possible to see the ingredients inside. It can be good to give customers an idea of what they’re getting by positioning burgers, sandwiches, and wraps with a view of what they can expect inside.

Like sandwiches, burritos are some of the most difficult dishes to shoot. It can be helpful to slice them in half and experiment with arrangement, showing off the ingredients inside.

The chopsticks in this shot give customers an idea of the size of the salad. Customers can easily see that it’s a rather small starter or side dish. If they’re hungry, they might opt to order more.

Menu photography don’ts

Too close

Don’t get too close where it’s impossible to tell what the ingredients and portion size are.

No fluorescent

Don’t shoot food under bad fluorescent lighting. Please find an indirect natural light source.

Angles

Be mindful of your camera angles; from this angle it’s very hard to see the ingredients and get a sense for the portion size.

Uploading your photos

Once you’ve finished taking your photos, you can use the Menu Maker tool in your Uber Eats Manager account to upload them.

Open Menu Maker.

Navigate to the Items tab in Menu Maker, and click into the item you wish to upload a photo for.

At the top of the Item detail page you will see a Photo section where you can either drag and drop or upload your desired photo. Note: First-time users will be prompted to accept the Terms and Conditions before proceeding.

Once you’ve uploaded your photo, click the Save button in the top right to submit the photo for approval.

Once you’ve requested approval, the item detail page will be locked, and no further edits will be allowed until the photo is approved.

In the Items tab, you'll be able to see the status of all of your uploaded photos. A status indicator icon next to each menu item lets you know whether a photo is still in review or has been rejected.

If your photo is approved, you'll see the photo, which will no longer be grayed out, next to the menu item in the Items tab. The photo will also be visible on the item detail page. If your photo is rejected, you'll see the reason(s) for rejection on the item detail page and receive an email from our team with further instructions.