Forty-eight nations. Ten million international visitors. Six weeks.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup starts June 11 in the United States — the first time the country has hosted the tournament since 1994. This version is double the scale: 104 matches across 11 US cities, compared to 52 matches in 9 cities three decades ago. Over half a billion ticket requests have already been submitted. The top requesting countries after the US, Mexico, and Canada? Colombia, England, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and France.
Most of these fans don't speak English as a first language. And research consistently shows that when a customer can't read your menu, they leave.
This isn't a hospitality nicety. It's a revenue decision — one that restaurant owners in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Kansas City, and every other host city need to make before June.
Read those numbers together. According to CSA Research, four out of ten international visitors will not order from your restaurant if they can't read your menu. According to Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, the ones who do stay and order in their own language spend 26% more on average. And roughly a quarter of all international travelers actively avoid destinations and businesses where they expect a language barrier.
Now apply that to the 2026 World Cup. Of the projected $556 million in US host city visitor spending, $280 million — half — goes to food and beverage. That's the largest single category. If your restaurant is in a host city and 40% of the international foot traffic walks past because your menu is English-only, the math is straightforward: you're leaving revenue on the sidewalk.
Not every host city faces the same linguistic mix. The most-requested matches reveal where fans are traveling — and what languages they'll be speaking when they arrive. Here's the breakdown based on FIFA ticket request data and scheduled matchups:
| Host City | Primary Languages Needed | Key Fan Origins |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas | Spanish (heavy), English | Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina |
| Houston | Spanish, English | Mexico, Colombia |
| Miami | Spanish, Portuguese | Colombia, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina |
| Kansas City | Spanish | Argentina, Mexico |
| New York / NJ | Portuguese, French, German, English | Brazil, France, Germany, England, Scotland |
| Los Angeles | Spanish, Korean, English | Mexico, Korea, USA |
| Seattle | English, French | USA, England, Scotland, France |
| Atlanta | Spanish, English | Colombia, USA |
Miami is hosting Colombia vs Portugal on June 27 — the single most-requested match globally. That means massive simultaneous Colombian (Spanish) and Portuguese fan populations converging on the same city for the same match. A restaurant in Miami serving match-day dinner in English only is invisible to the majority of the crowd walking by its door.
Dallas and Houston — between them hosting 16 matches — will see the heaviest Spanish-language concentration of any host cities. Kansas City, despite being the smallest host market, draws Argentina on June 16, meaning a concentrated, high-spending wave of Spanish-speaking fans in a city that may not be built for that.
The NYC Hospitality Alliance surveyed more than 130 restaurants and bars after the 2022 World Cup. While 75% reported increased revenue, 25% saw no meaningful benefit — despite the same fan traffic flowing through their neighborhoods.
The common factor among the underperformers: they weren't visibly set up for international visitors. No visible match viewing. No multilingual signage. No communication that said "we welcome you — in your language."
The 2026 World Cup will be the largest international event the US has ever hosted. The restaurants that capture the multilingual opportunity aren't necessarily the biggest or best-located. They're the ones where a Colombian fan, a Brazilian supporter, or an Argentine family walks in, sees a menu they can read, and stays.
A digital table tent displaying menu content. In a multilingual configuration, the same unit rotates between languages automatically — or a staff member switches it in seconds.
The traditional solution to language barriers is printing translated menus. It works — partially. But it breaks down during a World Cup for specific reasons:
During a 39-day tournament with matches every day and different fan demographics arriving for each match, the static approach doesn't scale. On June 16, Kansas City serves Argentine fans needing Spanish. On June 25, New York serves Ecuadorian fans needing Spanish and German fans needing — well, most will manage in English, but the point stands: the language mix shifts match by match, sometimes day by day.
A digital table tent solves this by making language a content variable, not a physical inventory problem. The restaurant owner or manager switches the language from a dashboard. Every table updates simultaneously. No reprinting, no staff sorting through stacks of laminated menus.
According to KCTV5 News (February 2026), the Missouri Restaurant Association launched "Lingo Eats" — an AI-powered multilingual menu translation app built specifically for World Cup 2026. It supports 28 languages and was created to help restaurants in Kansas City (a host city with 6 matches, including Argentina on June 16) serve international visitors.
This is significant for three reasons:
Lingo Eats solves translation. It doesn't solve display. A translated menu still needs to reach the customer at the table, at the right moment, in the right language for the specific fan group seated there. That's where the digital table tent fills the gap: it's the delivery mechanism for multilingual content, updated in real time, at every table simultaneously.
One of the underappreciated advantages of the World Cup for restaurant operators: the schedule is known. Every match, every team, every city — published months in advance. That means you can plan your multilingual content rotation before the first ball is kicked:
With a managed digital signage system like SeenLabs, this entire calendar can be pre-loaded. Templates go in once. The schedule drives the switching. Staff involvement on match day is minimal — if anything, a single tap to confirm the language for today's crowd.
Start with your city's primary fan languages. For Dallas and Houston, Spanish is the highest-impact addition. For Miami, Spanish and Portuguese. For New York/NJ, Portuguese and French cover the largest international contingents. Most restaurants will see 80%+ of their international visitors covered by adding just one or two languages to English.
At minimum, translate your top 15–20 items and any specials. International visitors don't need every modifier explained — they need enough to order confidently. A digital menu system lets you start with core items and expand over time without reprinting anything.
Translation tools convert your menu text into other languages. A digital menu system — like a table tent — delivers that translated content to customers at the table, in real time, and lets you switch languages, update specials, and run promotions without staff intervention. One handles language; the other handles delivery. Both are needed for a complete solution.
Yes. The 2026 World Cup is a catalyst, but multilingual menus have permanent value. The US has 42 million native Spanish speakers. International tourism continues year-round in cities like Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. Cornell Hospitality's +26% spend increase with multilingual menus applies beyond tournament season — it's a permanent revenue lever.
Now. The Missouri Restaurant Association launched Lingo Eats in February 2026 — four months before the tournament — because translation, content setup, and staff training take time. Digital signage hardware procurement and installation typically takes 2–4 weeks. If you're planning for a June 11 start, orders placed by late April give you a reasonable setup runway.
SeenLabs Digital Table Tent — Switch languages in seconds, update every table at once
SeenLabs deploys and manages digital table tent systems with multilingual content switching. Tell us about your restaurant and we'll build a multilingual content plan for your city's World Cup matches.
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