DoorDash menu photos: 1400x800, 16:9, unedited. Use AI elsewhere

DoorDash menu photos must be landscape 16:9, at least 1400 x 800 pixels, no larger than 2 MB, and unedited. DoorDash's own help page says photos "must be clean and unedited" and should appear exactly as photographed, so the safe plan is to shoot the real dish, upload it as it is, and keep AI generation and AI editing out of the menu slot. What AI is good for is everything around the menu: the promo clip, the story, the ad.

This post reads DoorDash's Common photo issues explained page on 2026-10-02. That page does not mention AI-generated images at all; it does say to upload photos you took yourself or images you fully own the rights to, and it rules out stock photos and images copied from websites.

What does DoorDash require for a menu photo?

The page lists size, ratio, edits, people and rights in separate sections. The table below keeps only the numbers and the rules that decide whether an AI step is allowed.

Can I use an AI image or an AI-edited photo on DoorDash?

The page never says "AI", so nobody can promise you a ruling from it. Read the edit rule literally: a photo that was generated, relit, cleaned up or recomposed is not "exactly as photographed". If you want an answer for a specific tool, ask DoorDash merchant support before you upload, because a rejected photo costs you a review cycle.

Even a plain crop to 16:9 is best done at capture time: frame the shot wide on your phone or camera, with the dish at the center and the background simple. That keeps the file honest and meets the landscape rule without any editing step.

What can Sume do with the same dish photo?

Use the real photo as the reference for the places where edits are normal: an Instagram Reel, a Google Business Profile post, a printed table card, a paid social ad. Sume's Image API takes up to 10 public HTTPS reference images through input_references and an aspect_ratio, and its video API takes a first frame for image-to-video. The Image API answers 200 with the image URL when it finishes inside 30 seconds and 202 with a job envelope when it does not, so handle both.

The sample below turns your own photo into a 9:16 promo still. Run it on the photo you took, then pick the best result by eye and compare it to the plate before you post: portion size and toppings on the promo must match what the kitchen serves.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.sume.com/v1/images",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUME_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "model": "sume/auto",
        "prompt": "Same dish on a dark wooden table, soft window light, steam, plenty of empty space at the top for text. Keep the food exactly as in the reference.",
        "input_references": [
            {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "https://example.com/menu/ramen.jpg"}}
        ],
        "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
    },
    timeout=60,
)
body = r.json()
if r.status_code == 200:
    print(body["data"][0]["url"])
else:  # 202: poll the job
    print(body["data"]["status_url"])

A short checklist before you upload

Keep this next to the menu editor.

• Shoot landscape, 16:9, with the item filling the frame on a simple background.
• Export at 1400 x 800 or larger and under 2 MB; do not add text, borders or a watermark.
• Keep hands out of the frame, or out of focus and to the side.
• Send AI-made promo assets to social, ads and your own site, and label them as your own marketing, not the menu photo.
• Re-read the DoorDash page before each menu refresh; rules can change and this one was read on 2026-10-02.