Make a shop poster with free ChatGPT, from menu photo to test print
A customer walking past your window needs to understand the offer before they reach the door. A beautiful food picture helps, but the useful parts are the item, the price, what comes with it and how to order. Start with those details, then choose the design.
Promptpan prepares an image prompt from the fields you fill in. You copy that prompt into ChatGPT with your own photo to make the poster. This guide uses a fictional neighborhood chicken shop and US-dollar prices as examples; replace every detail with your actual menu and local currency.
Free ChatGPT includes image uploads and image creation, with separate usage limits for those tools. Follow the notice in your account if you reach a limit; there is no fixed number of posters promised here. OpenAI's Free Tier FAQ
Choose a card for the job your sign has to do
For a food offer with a visible selling price, open the Store Chicken Poster card. Its layout puts the food, menu name and price at the center of an in-store sign. Despite the wording in its URL, you can use it for a counter, window or wall poster; check the fields rather than guessing from the address.
If your shop sells Korean street food, the Tteokbokki Event Poster card adds an offer and its dates. It is useful for a rice-cake promotion when that is genuinely on your menu. Its sample sides and prices need replacing just like those on any other card.
A coffee shop announcing a weekend opening may prefer the giant type poster card. A word such as COFFEE frames the scene, with a smaller information line beside it. That is a different job from explaining the contents of a meal deal. Pick the card that makes the customer's next step clear.
Write the offer from your menu, not from the sample fields
For our fictional chicken shop, the main offer is an eight-piece takeout box for $18.90. The price includes the listed sides and packaging; any applicable sales tax needs to be described consistently with the shop's real pricing. This is a writing example, not a suggested selling price.
| Card field | Example to replace | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Store name | Maple Street Chicken | Same spelling as your storefront and listing |
| Menu name | Eight-piece fried chicken box | Same product as the uploaded photo |
| Selling price | $18.90 | The correct price for this order type, with clear tax treatment |
| Serving unit | One eight-piece box | Pieces, size or quantity are explicit |
| Included sides | One slaw and one dipping sauce | No drink or extra side implied unless included |
| How to order | Order at the counter | A customer can follow it without guessing |
Fill in opening hours and location only when you have checked them. A useful local address or cross street is better than leaving a sample address in place. Replace any example contact with your shop's published contact details, or leave an unnecessary field empty.
Treat an offer and its conditions as a pair. If you really run a $2 discount on pickup orders, say which box qualifies, how to claim it and when it ends. The benefit field does not automatically subtract the discount from the large selling price. Decide what the displayed price represents, and make sure the poster cannot be read as a different deal.
Use dates that are easy to read, such as โOctober 16โ18, 2026,โ instead of an ambiguous string of numbers. Keep dine-in, counter pickup and delivery-app prices separate if they differ. A short headline should not erase the condition that makes the price accurate.
Send your own food photo with the completed prompt
Use a photo you took or have permission to use. Show the portion you actually hand to a customer: the chicken pieces, the container and the included sides. A stock image of a larger meal can make a modest box look like something you do not sell.
Before you send the message:
- Complete the required fields and the optional details your customer needs.
- Choose an available size or ratio suited to the sign's placement.
- Copy the completed prompt using the card's copy control.
- Open a ChatGPT conversation, attach the menu photo and paste the prompt into the same message.
- Check that both the photo and the full prompt are present, then send it.
If automatic copying fails, use the full prompt shown on the card. You do not need to shorten the instructions just because they look long. If the conversation already contains several photos, identify the one to use: โUse only the chicken-box photo attached to this message.โ
For a US Letter print, select 8.5 ร 11 inches in your print settings and inspect the preview. The card's available image ratio may not match that sheet exactly, so check the fit and margins before printing. For a social post, make a separate version at a suitable ratio rather than shrinking a detailed window sign until nobody can read the conditions.
Compare the result with the information you entered
Read the price first, digit by digit. Then check the menu name, quantity, shop name, offer dates, contact details and redemption conditions. A generated picture can look finished while a decimal point or a date is wrong.
Compare the food with the source photo as well. Count the pieces. Check that a drink has not appeared, the slaw has not doubled and the container has not become much larger. Remove invented logos, endorsements or claims you did not provide. The poster should describe the actual order, not an AI-improved version of it.
These are example correction requests, not records of generated results:
Change only the price to "$18.90 per eight-piece box". Keep the food photo and layout.
Remove the drink. The offer includes only the chicken, slaw and dipping sauce shown in my photo.
Restore the pickup-only condition and the end date I entered. Make both readable below the price.
Check the whole offer again after each revision. Correcting one number does not verify the rest. If important text keeps coming out wrong, finish the exact lettering in a design editor. OpenAI's guidance recommends reviewing every word in designs with dense or critical text and using a design tool when needed. OpenAI image-generation guide
Put one printed copy where the customer will see it
Print a test on the paper you plan to use. Look at it through the window glass, under the shop's lighting and from a customer's approach. The item and price should be readable first; the offer conditions should still be legible when someone stops to look.
Keep the original image and your final offer details together. Set a reminder to remove a dated promotion. When the photo, wording and checkout price agree, you have a poster you can use with confidence.