# Food photos for GrabFood and foodpanda menus

> What GrabFood and foodpanda ask of a menu photo, the angle for each dish, window light instead of flash, and one shot that crops for both apps.

**In short:** Shoot each dish by a window with no flash, plated simply and centred with space around it: from above for rice meals and bowls, straight on for burgers, cakes and drinks. From that one shot, crop a square of at least 750 × 750 pixels for GrabFood and a landscape version for foodpanda, with no hands, utensils or text in either.

A Stensa guide, updated 2026-11-05. The page: https://trystensa.com/guides/food-delivery-app-photos

## Why the photos matter

On a delivery app, the photo is the dish. People choose from a grid of thumbnails, often in a few seconds, and a menu item without a photo is easy to scroll past.

The platforms' own numbers point the same way. Grab says its data shows the average order is [up to 35% higher](https://www.grab.com/sg/inside-grab/stories/grab-merchant-app-order-digital-growth/) when 75% of a menu has photos. DoorDash says that photos on at least half of a menu [can raise sales by 13% on average](https://merchants.doordash.com/en-us/learning-center/menu-quality-tips-to-improve-restaurant-ranking). Both are the platforms' own figures, without the method published, so read them as a direction rather than a promise.

## What GrabFood and foodpanda ask for

This is what each platform's pages said in November 2026.

| | GrabFood | foodpanda |
|---|---|---|
| Item photo | Square, 1:1, at least 750 × 750 px ([Grab](https://help.grab.com/merchant/en-ph/360043592211-Request-to-edit-menuphotoprice)) | No size published for the Philippines |
| Store cover | Two: one 1:1, one 9:5 at 540 × 300 px ([Grab](https://help.grab.com/merchant/en-ph/360027910411-Getting-the-best-photos-for-my-store)) | Not published |
| In the frame | The dish centred and fully visible; plain plates, simple backgrounds; no hands or utensils | Not published for the Philippines |
| Review | 3 to 5 working days | 2 to 5 working days ([foodpanda](https://partner.foodpanda.ph/en)) |
| File name | The menu item's name | Not published |

A few honest notes:

- **foodpanda's detailed rules aren't public in the Philippines.** Its partner page only says to upload menus and dish photos. The most detailed version found is an [older Malaysian requirements document](https://www.scribd.com/document/495668199/foodpanda-s-menu-requirements), hosted by a third party: landscape photos, shot from straight above or straight on, no white background, no watermarks or collages. Treat it as a hint of what foodpanda's reviewers look for, not as the rule.
- **Grab doesn't list file types or a size limit** on its Philippine pages. A large JPG straight from the phone, cropped square, is the safe choice.
- **Plan for the review.** Changes are checked before they go live, so upload photos for a new menu a week before it starts.

### One shot for both apps

GrabFood wants a square; foodpanda's older guidance points to landscape. Shoot wider than you need: the dish in the middle, with clear space on every side. From that one photo you can crop a square for GrabFood and a landscape version for foodpanda. Deliveroo gives the same advice for the same reason: [its app crops item photos to a square](https://help.deliveroo.com/en/articles/3295699-how-to-upload-your-own-photos-in-menu-manager), so the dish has to survive the crop.

## The angle for each dish

Shoot each dish from the angle that shows what makes it good. Grab's own guide names three:

| The dish | The angle | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rice meals, silog plates, bowls, pizza, platters | From straight above | The whole plate reads at a glance, and every topping shows |
| Burgers, sandwiches, cakes, drinks | Straight on | The layers and the height are the point |
| A dish with a top and some height | About 45°, background soft | Shows the top and the side together |

Uber Eats, [in its own photo guide](https://merchants.ubereats.com/us/en/restaurant-submitted-photos/), adds a trick for wraps and sandwiches: cut them and stack the halves, so the filling shows.

> Photo: A bowl of noodle soup with meat and vegetables, seen from straight above on a wooden table. From straight above, a bowl reads at a glance: the whole dish centred, nothing else in the shot, on wood it stands out from. Photo by Nancy Ingersoll on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/a-bowl-filled-with-noodles-meat-and-vegetables-J1W-4H9OrH8).

At 45°, a phone held close bends the plate. [Digital Photography School](https://digital-photography-school.com/smartphone-food-photography-for-social-media/) warns that phone shots at this angle rarely work for that reason. Step back and switch to 2x instead, the same advice as in [the drink guide](https://trystensa.com/guides/drink-photography#the-angle-depends-on-the-glass).

## Light: a window, not the kitchen

- **Use a window.** Uber Eats asks for indirect daylight from a window and warns against direct sun. [foodpanda's own tips](https://magazine.foodpanda.hk/blog/partner-photography-hacks-to-make-your-dishes-pop-on-foodpanda/) say the same: soft window light, and no harsh overhead lights.
- **No flash.** [Adobe's food photographers](https://www.adobe.com/au/creativecloud/photography/hub/guides/food-photography-basics-camera-settings-and-editing-tips.html) note that a flash makes food look greasy and unappetising.
- **Turn the kitchen lights off.** Household bulbs [add an orange or yellow cast](https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/type/food-photography.html) that makes rice look old and greens look dull. One kind of light, from the window.
- **Light from the side or behind.** DPS recommends side or back light for food: it shows texture and makes sauces shine. Soften direct sun with a white curtain.

## Plate it simply

- **Plain plates, a simple background.** Grab asks for both. Wood, ceramic or marble works; a busy tablecloth doesn't.
- **Make the dish stand out.** Grab's guide says the food shouldn't blend into the background. White rice on a white plate on a white table disappears; on dark wood it reads.
- **One dish, the whole dish.** Show the full plate, centred, with space around it. Grab asks you to avoid close-ups and cropping.
- **No hands, no utensils, no text.** Grab rules out hands and utensils; DoorDash and Deliveroo reject text and watermarks.
- **The dish as you serve it.** Grab asks for natural presentation, and Uber Eats for a true representation. Garnish it the way it leaves the kitchen, at the portion you sell.

## Shoot it while it's fresh

Food changes fast. Uber Eats warns that it can start to look limp and lifeless after just a few minutes.

1. **Set up with an empty plate.** Get the light, the background and the framing right before the food arrives.
2. **Plate it last and shoot straight away.** Steam, gloss and fresh herbs fade within minutes.
3. **Keep cold things cold** until the moment you shoot, and add fresh garnish at the end, as [DPS's styling guide](https://digital-photography-school.com/10-tips-to-improve-your-food-photography-styling/) suggests.

## One look for the whole menu

A menu reads as one restaurant when every photo matches: the same background, the same plate, the same angle for the same kind of dish, the same window. foodpanda's tips name an inconsistent style as a common mistake, and over-filtered photos as another. The method is the same as for a product catalogue: see [making a catalogue look consistent](https://trystensa.com/guides/consistent-product-photos).

Name each file after its menu item, as Grab asks. It makes uploading a whole menu quicker and mistakes easy to spot.

## Real photos only

Every platform that publishes rules asks for the real dish. [DoorDash rejects stock photos](https://help.doordash.com/en-us/merchants/article/common-rejection-reasons) and asks for a photo of each item. Deliveroo doesn't allow AI-generated images. A photo that oversells the dish leads to disappointed customers, complaints and refunds.

## Before you upload

- [ ] A square crop for GrabFood, at least 750 × 750 px, the whole dish with space around it
- [ ] A landscape crop for foodpanda from the same shot
- [ ] No hands, utensils, text or watermarks
- [ ] Shot by a window, with no flash and the kitchen lights off
- [ ] The dish as you serve it, on a background it stands out from
- [ ] Each file named after its menu item

## Doing it in Stensa

**Hero Center** sets one dish dead centre with room around it, in a square: the shot GrabFood asks for. **Merienda Spread** puts a plate in the middle with a drink and a small bowl in the corners, from above, and **Two Plates** sets a meal for two on a diagonal. Stensa recognises plates, bowls and cups, shows when the phone is flat for an overhead shot, and exports a square Shop photo ready to crop for the app.

## Sources

- [Getting the best photos for my store](https://help.grab.com/merchant/en-ph/360027910411-Getting-the-best-photos-for-my-store), Grab Merchant Help Centre (PH)
- [Request to edit menu, photo or price](https://help.grab.com/merchant/en-ph/360043592211-Request-to-edit-menuphotoprice), Grab Merchant Help Centre (PH)
- [How the Grab merchant app helps grow orders](https://www.grab.com/sg/inside-grab/stories/grab-merchant-app-order-digital-growth/), Grab
- [Become a partner](https://partner.foodpanda.ph/en), foodpanda Philippines
- [Photography hacks to make your dishes pop](https://magazine.foodpanda.hk/blog/partner-photography-hacks-to-make-your-dishes-pop-on-foodpanda/), foodpanda magazine
- [Restaurant-submitted photos](https://merchants.ubereats.com/us/en/restaurant-submitted-photos/), Uber Eats
- [How to upload your own photos in Menu Manager](https://help.deliveroo.com/en/articles/3295699-how-to-upload-your-own-photos-in-menu-manager), Deliveroo
- [Common rejection reasons](https://help.doordash.com/en-us/merchants/article/common-rejection-reasons), DoorDash
- [Food photography basics](https://www.adobe.com/au/creativecloud/photography/hub/guides/food-photography-basics-camera-settings-and-editing-tips.html), Adobe
- [Smartphone food photography for social media](https://digital-photography-school.com/smartphone-food-photography-for-social-media/), Digital Photography School