What must legally appear on a restaurant menu in France?

How should prices be displayed?

Prices shown on a French menu are generally expected to be inclusive of tax and service, so the figure printed matches what the guest actually pays. This applies to the menu used in the dining room and to any other display showing prices around the venue.

Display outside or near the entrance is also generally expected, so a prospective guest can see at least part of the offer and its prices before sitting down or ordering. The exact requirements depend on the type and layout of the venue, so this is worth checking directly against official sources rather than copying what a nearby venue does.

Where several supports coexist — a printed menu, a chalkboard, window signage, a digital menu opened from a QR code — keeping them consistent becomes its own task. A price corrected on one support and missed on another creates a mismatch a guest can notice as soon as they order.

What must be said about meat origin and a 'home-made' claim?

The origin of certain meats is among the mentions generally expected on a French menu, with the exact requirement depending on the type of meat and how the dish is presented. A 'home-made' claim, where it is used, is also subject to specific conditions that are worth checking before it is applied to a dish.

A frozen or previously frozen product can also require a specific mention depending on the situation. These points vary enough from one case to another that a direct check against official sources, rather than a general assumption, is the safer approach before publishing.

A change of supplier or recipe can make one of these mentions inaccurate without anyone deciding that on purpose. That is why checking them is best tied to every menu update rather than to a single yearly review.

Where does allergen information fit?

Allergen information is expected in writing and needs to stay easy to access at the point of ordering, whether it sits directly on the menu or in a register provided on request. A verbal answer from staff can add to this written information, but should not replace it.

The subject is detailed enough to deserve separate treatment: see the dedicated guide to restaurant allergens and the practical method for displaying them on a menu.

This information follows the same logic as the other mentions in this guide: it only holds value if it matches exactly what is actually served at the time of any check, which means updating it with every ingredient or recipe change.

Do drink serving sizes need to be shown?

Drinks listed on a menu are generally expected to show their serving size, particularly for alcoholic drinks sold by the glass. This lets the guest compare prices and makes it easier to check that what is served in the dining room matches what the menu describes.

This point is sometimes left until last when a menu is put together, even though it directly affects how clearly the guest understands the offer. A missing or approximate serving size can cause confusion at the moment the drink is served.

What checklist should you run before publishing a menu?

• Prices inclusive of tax and service, identical across every format in use.
• Outside or entrance display up to date with the menu actually served.
• Meat origin stated for every dish where it applies.
• A 'home-made' claim used only where the conditions have been checked.
• Frozen or previously frozen products flagged where the situation requires it.
• Allergen information available in writing and accessible without delay.
• Serving sizes shown for the drinks concerned.
• The date of the last check recorded in an internal log.

How do you keep these mentions accurate as the menu changes?

These mentions are not a one-off check completed at opening: any change to the menu, a supplier or a recipe can make one of them out of date. Naming someone responsible for this check, ahead of every publication, limits the risk of a gap between what is displayed and what is actually served.

This matters particularly for a venue run by a foreign operator without daily access to a French legal adviser: a written internal process, reviewed at fixed intervals, is a more reliable safeguard than relying on memory of the rules from when the venue first opened.

A digital menu can support this by centralising price, origin and allergen fields on the same product record, checked at the moment of each edit rather than reconstructed from memory. See SimplyRestau's menu-management features for how product records are structured.

This guide sets out a method for organising these checks; it does not replace a review specific to your own venue and its actual menu. Consult the official sources listed below, and a qualified professional if in doubt.

Frequently asked questions