July 1, 2026 HORECA Menu Rules and QR Menus

As of July 18, 2026, the July 1 development often described publicly as a “Ministry of Trade menu regulation” actually comes directly from Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Its basis is the Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Labelling and Provision of Information to Consumers and Articles 41 and 47 of its guidance document, updated on March 10, 2026.

The Ministry of Trade’s Price Label Regulation is a separate, complementary track. It covers displaying prices at entrances and tables, using QR codes at tables, providing a price list separately upon request, and the ban on mandatory service, table, or cover charges. HORECA businesses therefore manage two regulatory goals on the same menu: price transparency and transparency about food ingredients and energy.

July 1, 2026 was the compliance date for food-service establishments operating as national chains. These businesses must provide easy-to-see and readable information about the ingredients and energy value of food offered to consumers before the ordering decision.

The information does not have to appear only on a printed menu. The guidance explicitly recognizes menus, boards, brochures, QR codes, digital screens, and similar tools. July 1 does not mean smaller independent businesses are excluded; it marks the first threshold in a phased transition.

The term “mass catering establishment” in the guidance is not limited to major restaurant brands. The broad framework can include restaurants, local eateries, cafes, patisseries, hotel food-and-beverage units, canteens, cafeterias, catering businesses, and mobile or fixed points where food is prepared for consumption and offered to the final consumer.

Local chains with three or more branches only within the same province must fully comply with the ingredient and energy information requirements in Article 41 by December 31, 2026. For all other single-location or smaller independent mass catering establishments, the ingredient-disclosure deadline is December 31, 2026, while the energy-disclosure deadline is December 31, 2027.

The conclusion is clear: “we are not a national chain, so this does not concern us” is not accurate. For non-national businesses, the difference is a transition period rather than an exemption. A business operating in more than one province but unsure of its classification should confirm how “national chain” applies to it with the relevant Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry.

Article 41.3 of the guidance requires consumers to be informed about the ingredients and energy value of the food offered to them. Article 41.5 requires allergens, alcohol, and pork-derived ingredients, when present, to be shown with the food name and clearly distinguished from the remainder of the ingredient information through typography, style, background color, or a similar method.

Allergen disclosure is not an entirely new concept for Turkish HORECA businesses; providing allergen information in mass catering establishments has been part of the framework since 2020. The new phased structure also puts the full ingredient information and energy value at the center of menu operations. Product names, standardized recipes, ingredients used, supplier labels, portions, and energy calculations therefore need to remain consistent.

The critical task is not merely adding a “calories” field to a screen. Values should be based on the current recipe and portion served, the menu should change when an ingredient changes, and allergen cross-contact risks should be managed separately through the business’s own food-safety procedures.

The ingredient and energy timetable from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry does not replace the Ministry of Trade’s price-list rules. Restaurants, cafes, patisseries, and similar businesses must include every offered product in the price list and keep that list easy to see and read at every entrance and on tables where service is provided.

A table price list may be presented through a QR code, but the business must provide the price list separately if a consumer asks. Following the January 30, 2026 amendment, businesses also cannot demand a mandatory additional payment under labels such as service, table, cover, or similar charges. The digital-menu price, entrance list, and amount charged should therefore be governed by the same data discipline.

A printed menu can quickly become inadequate when it must keep product names, prices, long ingredient lists, prominent allergen notices, energy values, variants, and translations current on the same surface. Reprinting after every recipe or price change is costly, while obsolete copies remaining on tables create a separate risk.

Sunuyoruz Biz QR Menu treats a menu as a structured digital publishing surface with categories and product details instead of a single PDF. Detailed product information, centrally managed content, fast mobile access, and multilingual use give independent businesses a more accessible way to build the content discipline already available to large chains as the ingredient and energy deadlines approach.

A QR menu does not provide “automatic legal compliance” by itself. The business must produce, verify, and maintain correct recipe and energy data. It does, however, provide the infrastructure through which verified information can be published quickly, readably, and consistently. In a changing regulatory environment, the core value lies less in the QR graphic than in the manageable data model behind it.

No. While allowing ingredient and energy information to be provided through a QR code, the guidance requires visible written notice that consumers can reach the information by QR and that anyone without a device capable of scanning it will receive the information upon request. For price lists, the Ministry of Trade also requires the list to be provided separately when requested.

A sound setup therefore has three parts: a working table QR code that opens the relevant menu directly, an accessible alternative for guests facing device or connectivity issues, and a current entrance price list. A broken link, forced account creation, unreadable PDF, or outdated physical menu weakens the compliance chain.

Building a menu inventory now is safer than waiting for December 31. The recipe and portion standard for every product should be documented; labels for supplied ingredients should be collected; allergens, alcohol, and pork-derived ingredients should be marked; and the energy-calculation method should be verified with a food engineer or another relevant professional.

Those verified records should then become the single publishing source for the QR menu and any printed alternative. Price changes and recipe changes may follow different approval paths, but the final version shown to guests should keep the product name, price, ingredients, and energy data consistent.

The phased timetable makes the policy direction visible: national chains first, then local chains and ingredient information for every business by the end of 2026, followed by energy information for all other mass catering establishments by the end of 2027. This is less a temporary campaign than a lasting expansion of the consumer’s right to information before ordering.

In the next stage, it will become more valuable for price, ingredient, allergen, and energy information to come from the same product record, remain consistent across branches and languages, and preserve who changed what and when. An independent business that establishes its digital menu today will do more than meet a deadline; it will build an operation ready for tomorrow’s more detailed and auditable menu expectations.

The competitive effect points in the same direction. Transparent ingredients, readable product details, and a fast mobile experience are not merely regulatory overhead. They are trust signals for guests with allergies, specific dietary preferences, or a simple desire to know what they consume. With accurate underlying data, QR Menu can turn that trust into a visible advantage for small and midsize HORECA businesses.

This article was prepared on July 18, 2026 using the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Trade sources below. The rules may produce different results depending on a business’s branch structure, products, and operating model. This is general information and does not replace binding legal or technical advice on compliance.