Bolt Food Photo Specs in Czech Republic: What to Shoot and Upload

What Bolt Food actually publishes about image specs

Bolt Food has no published pixel dimensions, aspect ratio or maximum file size for restaurant photos in the Czech Republic. Any figure you see quoted online, including a specific square size or megabyte limit, is not an official Bolt Food requirement. Treat such numbers as guesswork until you see them on your own upload screen.

That means the practical rule is to check the upload screen in your Bolt Food merchant dashboard. It is the only place where a current limit, if there is one, will appear for your account. If the dashboard shows a recommended size or a file size warning, follow it; if it shows nothing, upload a large, clean JPEG and let the platform handle resizing.

• No official pixel specs published for Czech Republic listings
• No official aspect ratio or file size rule published
• Check the upload screen in the merchant dashboard for any live limit
• Never shrink a master file to a number you cannot verify

Build one master file that survives any crop

Shoot in landscape orientation and keep the whole dish, rim included, inside a centred square. If the app crops to a square or a tall card on a phone, the food stays intact because the important content already sits in the middle. Leave breathing room of roughly 10 percent of the frame width on each side so a tighter crop does not clip the plate.

Export a large JPEG from that master, not a screenshot and not a compressed copy from a chat app. A JPEG of at least 2000 pixels on the long edge gives the platform room to resize down without softening texture. Keep the master file and export smaller versions from it rather than upscaling a small file.

Light it once, well. Daylight from a window at roughly 45 degrees to the plate, with a white card or a sheet of baking paper on the shadow side, gives even coverage without a second light. Avoid direct overhead flash, which flattens sauces and leaves a hard shadow under the rim.

• Landscape capture, dish centred inside a square safe zone
• About 10 percent empty margin on each side
• Export JPEG at 2000px or more on the long edge
• Shoot at 45 degrees for texture, add one straight-down frame for flat dishes

Matching the photo to a Czech-language menu

Bolt Food menus in the Czech Republic are written in Czech. The photo has to agree with the Czech dish name and description, because a mismatch reads as a mistake or a bait-and-switch. If the listing says vepřo knedlo zelo, the photo must show pork, dumplings and cabbage together, not a pork steak with a side salad.

Write the Czech name first, then shoot to it. For composite plates, arrange the components the way the kitchen actually serves them, with the dumplings visible and the cabbage not hidden under the meat. If a dish has a variant, such as a smaller portion or a lunch-size version, photograph the portion the customer will receive at that price.

Keep garnishes honest. A sprig of parsley that is not served is a small lie that shows up in complaints. If the kitchen sends a lemon wedge, put the lemon wedge in the frame.

• Czech dish name and photo must describe the same plate
• Show the actual portion sold at that price
• Include only garnishes and sides the kitchen sends
• Photograph composite plates with every component visible

Czech dishes that are hard to photograph

Czech cooking is heavy on brown, beige and cream, which merges into a flat mass on a phone screen. Svickova na smetane is the classic problem: pale sauce, dark beef, white dumplings and a red cranberry garnish. Build contrast deliberately. Use a dark plate for the pale sauce, place the cranberries where they catch light, and slice the dumplings so the cut face reads as a shape rather than a white block.

Fried cheese, smazeny syr, is another risk. It is a flat, uniform golden slab that can look like a frozen product. Shoot it slightly off-axis at about 30 degrees so the crust edge and the melting cheese are visible, and include the tartar sauce and potatoes the dish is served with.

Goulash and svickova both sit in liquid that reflects the room. Kill reflections by placing a black card behind the camera and shooting from a slightly higher angle, around 60 degrees, so the surface reads as sauce rather than a mirror. For bread dumplings, separate the slices slightly so the edges cast small shadows and the shape is legible.

• Svickova: dark plate, sliced dumplings, cranberries catching light
• Smazeny syr: 30-degree angle to show crust and melt
• Goulash: black card behind camera, 60-degree angle to cut reflections
• Utopenci and pickled dishes: pat off excess brine so the plate stays clean

Allergen information, described honestly

Under EU Regulation 1169/2011, allergen information for the 14 regulated allergens must be available for food sold without packaging, and for distance selling including delivery apps, the mandatory information must be available before the purchase is concluded. In practice, that means your Bolt Food listing needs the allergen details somewhere the customer sees them before paying, not only in a photo caption.

A photo never replaces that information and should not suggest ingredients the dish does not contain. If the kitchen can leave out an allergen on request, do not photograph a version with it and describe one without. Keep the photo and the allergen text describing the same plate.

This matters most for dishes where an allergen hides in a component: breadcrumbs on smazeny syr, flour in dumplings, dairy in cream sauces, mustard in a dressing. Photograph the plate as served and let the written information carry the detail.

• Allergen details must be visible before the order is concluded
• Photos support the listing but never replace allergen text
• Do not show an ingredient the kitchen cannot guarantee
• Check breaded, creamed and dumpling dishes against your allergen list

Pre-upload checklist and where FoodPhoto fits

Run the same routine for every dish so the menu looks consistent: one light setup, one plate style per category, one export size. Consistency across a menu reads as competence faster than any single hero shot.

FoodPhoto takes a real photo of the restaurant's own dish and improves light, background and crop for menus, delivery apps and social, keeping the food as it is, and every photo comes as a kit of sizes. Use it for your own channels such as the website menu, Instagram, Google Business Profile, a QR menu and print, and upload your own real photo directly to Bolt Food.