July 24, 2025 • CalorieCalc Product Team
CalorieCalc reads CSV files because they're universal, lightweight and 100% compatible with our AI calorie engine.
Below is a friendly, step-by-step guide to convert your menu—whatever form it's in—into a ready-to-upload CSV.
Download Our Free CSV Templates
Each template already contains the column names CalorieCalc expects:
| item_name | description | price | category | allergens (optional) |
|---|
Simply paste your dishes under the headers.
1. Export Directly From Delivery Platforms (Easiest)
Uber Eats, Deliveroo & Just Eat
- Sign in to your merchant portal.
- Go to Menu → Export / Download.
- Choose CSV (not PDF).
- Save the file – you're done!
Screenshot description: "Deliveroo dashboard highlighting the Export menu dropdown with CSV selected."
Tip: Combine multiple CSVs in Excel/Sheets by copying rows beneath the last dish.
2. Export From Modern POS Systems
Square, Lightspeed, Toast, Clover
- Open Back-office → Items / Catalog.
- Select Export → choose Comma-separated (.csv).
- Remove columns you don't need (inventory, tax, modifiers) to keep the file tidy.
Screenshot description: "Square Dashboard showing the Items list and Export button with CSV option."
3. Convert a Word Document or PDF
- Copy all dish names, descriptions and prices.
- Paste into Excel (one column per field).
- Use Save As → CSV (Comma delimited).
Screenshot description: "Word menu side-by-side with Excel – dish names in Column A, prices in Column C."
Pro tip: Press Alt + Enter inside an Excel cell to keep line breaks in long descriptions.
4. Turn an Existing Excel / Google Sheet into CSV (One Click)
- File → Download → Comma-Separated Values (.csv) in Google Sheets or
- File → Save As → CSV in Excel.
- Verify columns match our template, then upload.
Screenshot description: "Google Sheets download menu with CSV highlighted."
5. From a Hand-Written or Image Menu (Manual Entry)
- Snap clear photos of each page.
- Open our Basic CSV Template.
- Type dish names and prices row by row.
Screenshot description: "Phone photo of chalkboard menu next to laptop with template CSV open."
Time-saving hack: Use free online OCR such as copytext.ai to extract text from images, then paste into the template.
FAQ
Q1: Do I need the 'allergens' column?
No – leave it blank or delete it. CalorieCalc focuses on calories; you can add allergens later.
Q2: What if my menu changes weekly?
Keep the CSV on your computer. Each time you update, overwrite the file and re-upload—takes 30 seconds.
Q3: My file says ".xls" not ".csv" – is that okay?
Just open it in Excel/Sheets and use Save As → CSV. The content stays the same.
Ready? Upload Your CSV in Seconds
- Visit calorieready.com/#how-it-works.
- Drag-and-drop your CSV or click Browse.
- Preview calorie results instantly.
Need help? Email support@calorieready.com – we'll convert your first menu free of charge.
Happy compliance!
— CalorieCalc Team