# Digital signage for cafés and coffee shops Running café and coffee shop menu boards, specials, loyalty and opening hours on a TV played from its own browser, drafted by AI from an existing menu and edited from a phone. Source: https://channelos.tv/industries/cafes-and-coffee-shops ## What runs it ChannelOS plays as a web page in the browser the screen already has: Android TV, Google TV, webOS, Fire TV, a Chromebox, or a laptop in kiosk mode on the HDMI port. There is also a native Android TV app, downloaded as an APK from channelos.tv rather than from Google Play. There is no media player box to buy and no per-device licence. ## What goes on the screen - **The menu board above the counter.** Hand over the PDF you already print from, or describe the menu in a sentence, and the AI drafts the whole multi-slide board. What comes back is editable, not a flat export. - **Today's specials and the bake.** The thing that changes every morning, changed in under a minute from a phone while the grinder warms up. - **Sold out, without retyping anything.** Mark a line sold out and it stays on the board, struck through, with the price intact for the morning. - **Breakfast, lunch and afternoon.** Three boards on one channel, each on its own hours, so the screen swaps service period without anybody touching it. ## When ChannelOS is the wrong answer ChannelOS does not integrate with a till or an ordering platform. There is no sync with Square, Toast, Lightspeed, Zettle, Deliveroo or Uber Eats, so prices are typed and a change made on the till will not reach the screen. It is not a self-order kiosk and takes no payments. If the board has to be generated from the POS menu, buy a hospitality signage product with that integration. ChannelOS is faster when the job is getting a good-looking, current board onto the screen above the counter and keeping it that way from a phone. ## Questions ### What is digital signage for a café? It means running the menu board, specials and opening hours on a TV instead of a chalkboard or a printed poster. In ChannelOS the board is a real editable show, every item and price is its own element, and the browser already in the TV is what plays it, so correcting a price is an edit from your phone rather than a reprint. ### Can AI build the menu board from my existing menu? Yes. You can hand over the PDF you already print from, or describe the menu in a sentence, and the assistant drafts the whole multi-slide board with sections, items, prices and photos. What comes back is a real editable show rather than a flat image, so you can change any line of it afterwards, and the assistant stays available to reword or restyle it by chat. ### How do I get the board onto the actual TV? Open the player URL in the TV's own browser, and it shows a pairing code you scan with your phone. That is the whole pairing step, and it is the one most people stall on rather than find difficult. Android TV, Google TV, webOS and Fire TV all have a usable browser, there is a native Android TV app downloaded as an APK from our own site, and an older TV takes any cheap HDMI stick. ### Can the board change between breakfast and lunch on its own? Yes. Boards sit on a channel's daily timeline, so the breakfast board holds the morning, the lunch board the middle of the day and the afternoon board the rest, and the TV follows its own clock. Weekday and weekend plans can differ, and once it is set nobody needs to be in the café for the switch. ### Does it connect to my POS? No. There is no integration with Square, Toast, Lightspeed, Zettle or the delivery platforms, so the menu on the screen is one you maintain. It is also not a self-order kiosk and it takes no payments. ### What does one café screen cost? Nothing for the first screen, forever, with no card. A free screen shows a ChannelOS banner that opens into a full ChannelOS slide about every two minutes; any paid plan removes both, at the per screen per month rates on the pricing page. There is no player box to buy. ## Related - [Café board maker](https://channelos.tv/tools/menu-board-maker/cafe): Type a menu, watch it render, download the PNG. No account, no email, no watermark. - [AI menu generator](https://channelos.tv/blog/ai-menu-generator): What the assistant does with a PDF menu, and what it gets wrong. - [Digital menu boards](https://channelos.tv/digital-menu-boards): The whole menu wall, priced once and updated everywhere. - [How to make a menu board](https://channelos.tv/blog/how-to-make-a-digital-menu-board): Start to finish, including the walk to the television.