Just Eat Bulgaria: Status and Menu Photo Guide

What Just Eat's photo rules actually say, and why they no longer apply here

Just Eat's partner documentation is still online, and it is worth reading for the craft even though you cannot use it in Bulgaria. The platform asks for landscape item and header photos, with the header photo in a 3:2 ratio. Its guide also says a dish should be shown as it is served, in its takeaway container or on a plate, and centred in the frame.

The composition rule is the useful part: if a dish normally comes with a side such as sauce or chips, include it, but leave out items that are sold separately. Just Eat also states that photos are reviewed before going live, with its guide quoting 3 to 5 working days, and that item photos go through Partner Hub while a single header photo goes through the photo uploader.

Note that Just Eat publishes pixel specifications only partially. Its public guidance covers orientation and the header ratio, not a full resolution table, so any specific pixel number you see quoted for Just Eat should be checked against the upload screen itself rather than trusted from a third-party page. None of this is an upload route for a Bulgarian restaurant today.

• Landscape orientation for item photos
• Header photo at 3:2
• Dish centred, as served, in its container or on a plate
• Included sides in the frame, separately sold items out
• Review before publishing, quoted at 3 to 5 working days

Where Bulgarian restaurants publish food photos now

Glovo is the delivery marketplace operating in Bulgaria among the platforms covered here, and it has its own image requirements that are separate from anything Just Eat ever published. Our Glovo Bulgaria photo spec page walks through the sizing and framing it asks for, and it is the page to read if Glovo is your delivery channel.

Your own channels matter just as much, and you control the specs entirely. That means your website menu, a QR menu for tables and takeaway bags, Instagram, and your Google Business Profile. Each of these has a different crop and a different viewing distance, which is why the master-file approach below is worth the extra ten minutes per dish.

Build one master file that survives every crop

Shoot every dish in landscape orientation, slightly wider than you think you need, and keep the plate or container inside a centred square that you can imagine drawn on the frame. Landscape gives you the 3:2 and 16:9 crops that headers and social posts want; the centred square protects the 1:1 crops that most delivery apps and profile images use. If you frame tightly in camera, one of those crops will always cut the rim of the plate.

Light the dish from one side at roughly 45 degrees to the camera axis, with a white card or a sheet of foam board on the opposite side to lift the shadows. Daylight from a window works if you turn off overhead ceiling lights, which cast a yellow-green cast on sauces and salads. Shoot at about 45 degrees above the table for a natural portion view, and drop to a near-overhead angle only for flat dishes like a shopska salad or a pizza.

Export one large JPEG per dish, quality around 90, and keep the unedited original. From that master you can produce a square crop, a landscape crop and a vertical crop without reshooting, and you avoid the softness that comes from enlarging a small file. Keep the background simple and consistent across the menu: a plain board, a neutral cloth or the actual table surface, so the menu reads as one set rather than a scrapbook.

• Landscape frame, dish inside a centred square
• One soft light source at about 45 degrees, white card on the shadow side
• Camera at roughly 45 degrees above the table, overhead only for flat dishes
• Export a large JPEG at quality around 90 and archive the original
• Same background and same angle across the whole menu

Prepare the menu for Bulgarian diners and for the rules

Menus in Bulgaria are commonly written in Bulgarian, so write dish names in Bulgarian and make sure the name on the photo matches the name on the menu and on the app listing. A photo of a chicken dish filed under a pork name is the fastest way to get an order cancelled and a complaint logged. If you also list English names for tourists, keep the two versions aligned line by line.

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. A photo never replaces that information, and the photo should not suggest ingredients the dish does not contain: do not garnish with walnuts if the dish has none, and do not stage a side of bread that is not included.

A pre-upload check before anything goes live

Run the same five-minute check on every image before it reaches Glovo, your website or a printed menu. Most rejections and most customer complaints come from a mismatch between the photo and what arrives in the bag, not from technical file problems.

FoodPhoto takes a real photo of your own dish and improves the light, background and crop for menus, delivery apps and social while keeping the food as it is, and every photo comes back as a kit of sizes. Use it for your own channels: website menu, Instagram, Google Business Profile, QR menu and print.