Rappi Food Photography: A Practical Shooting and Upload Plan

What Rappi actually publishes about photo specs

Rappi does not publish pixel dimensions, aspect ratios, file-size caps, or accepted file formats in its public materials. Any number you see elsewhere, including a 1000 x 1000 px minimum or a 5 MB limit, is not confirmed by Rappi and should not be treated as a requirement. Treat the upload screen in the merchant portal as the only source of truth, and check it each time you add or replace an image, because interface guidance can change.

That uncertainty is manageable. If you shoot at a high resolution and keep a square master file, you can export whatever the uploader asks for without reshooting. A practical approach: capture at the highest resolution your phone allows, keep one square 1:1 master per dish, and export a JPG copy at a sensible size when you upload. If the form rejects the file, the error message will tell you whether size, format, or dimensions are the problem.

• Check the upload screen before every batch of new photos, not once a year.
• Keep a square 1:1 master of every dish so you can re-export to any spec later.
• Save uploads as JPG unless the form states otherwise; keep the original file.
• Write down the limits you see on screen so the next person on your team does not guess.

A shooting plan built for Rappi's thumbnail-first browsing

Diners scroll a list of small cards, so the photo has to work at roughly the size of a postage stamp before it works large. Shoot each dish on its own, not as part of a table spread, and fill most of the frame with the food. A 45-degree angle shows both the surface and the height of the dish, which suits bowls, burgers, and plated mains. Shoot flat from directly above (90 degrees) for pizzas, sushi platters, and anything where the topping pattern is the selling point.

Light is the difference between a photo that reads and one that looks gray. Put the dish near a window with daylight coming from the side, and turn off overhead ceiling lights, which cast hard shadows and yellow color. If you shoot at night, use a single diffused source, such as a lamp with a white sheet or diffusion panel in front, placed to the side and slightly above the plate. Keep the camera steady: rest your elbows on the counter or use a cheap tripod, and tap the screen to lock focus on the food rather than the plate rim.

Dress the dish the way it will actually arrive. Wipe the plate rim, remove stray crumbs, and use the real portion size. Rappi customers compare the photo to what is delivered, and a mismatch produces complaints that no lighting fix can solve. If a dish photographs poorly, such as a pale soup or a brown stew, add a garnish that is actually served with it rather than props that never reach the customer.

• One dish per frame, food filling about 70 to 80 percent of the image.
• Shoot at 45 degrees for height, 90 degrees overhead for pattern.
• Side daylight, overhead lights off, camera braced and focus locked on the food.
• Real portions, clean plate rims, no props that are not served.

Crops, backgrounds, and the details that survive compression

Because Rappi's exact crop is not published, compose so the dish sits in the center of a square frame with margin on all four sides. That way, if the app crops to a different ratio, the food stays in view. Leave at least a small border of background around the plate instead of letting the plate touch the frame edge. If you also post the same photo to Instagram in 4:5 or 16:9, the square master is the source you crop from, not the other way around.

Backgrounds should be quiet. A plain wood board, a neutral countertop, or a clean white surface keeps attention on the food. Busy tablecloths, branded packaging, and cluttered kitchen counters compete with the dish at small sizes. Remove text overlays, logos, watermarks, and price stickers from the image itself; those belong in the listing fields, and text becomes unreadable once the platform compresses the file.

Check sharpness after compression, not before. View the exported file at phone size and at full size. If the food looks soft or the colors look dull at phone size, increase contrast slightly and reshoot rather than over-editing. Avoid heavy filters that change the color of the food, since a dish that looks brighter than it arrives is a customer-service problem waiting to happen.

What gets listings sent back, and how to avoid it

Rappi does not publish a photo review checklist, so the safest standard is accuracy plus technical cleanliness. The recurring problems in delivery listings are photos that show a different dish or a larger portion than is sold, images with text or watermarks baked in, low-resolution files that blur at thumbnail size, and photos borrowed from a supplier or another restaurant. Each of these creates a mismatch between the listing and the delivery, which is the complaint most likely to affect your rating.

Build a small internal check before you upload. Match every photo to its menu item name and description, confirm the portion shown is the portion sold, and keep a folder of original files so you can prove ownership if a platform asks. If you change a recipe or a portion, reshoot rather than reuse the old image. For multi-location restaurants, use the same shooting setup at every branch so the brand looks consistent across the listing.

• One photo per menu item, matched to the item name.
• No text, logos, or watermarks inside the image.
• Original files archived and dated.
• Reshoot when the recipe, portion, or plating changes.

Where else your Rappi photos can work

The same square master that goes into your Rappi listing can serve your own channels: the website menu, a QR menu at the table, Instagram posts and stories, and your Google Business Profile. Each of those has its own crop, and a square master converts cleanly to 4:5 for Instagram feeds and 16:9 for a website banner. Shooting once and exporting several sizes saves a second photoshoot and keeps the dish looking the same everywhere a customer finds you.

FoodPhoto takes a real photo of your own dish and improves the 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. It cannot guarantee approval by any platform, so always check the Rappi upload screen yourself before publishing.