For many people dining out at a restaurant was all about taking a break from the busy routines of their day to day lives. For many people it was chance to have a gala time with their near and dear ones away from the cacophony of mobile technology that has occupied most of our lives. Nowadays we all are so engrossed with our smart phones that we even tend to have our meals while staring at our phones. However, with the advent of the coronavirus disease the dependence on mobile technology has now become more of a necessity than an act of bad habit / addiction.
The COVID–19 / coronavirus pandemic has made the social distancing mandatory at all levels.Now this unprecedented guideline is very difficult to be followed, especially for the dine–in only restaurants since most part of the services in these restaurants are actually dependent on human to human interactions. The restaurants with online delivery options are somewhat better off since they anyways do not need much human to human interaction. The restaurants with only dine–in facilities can hardly function without human interactions but the QR Code Ordering System is the only frugal option we have right now. Nowadays plastic shields and mask clad faces are a familiar site everywhere one goes but still the chances of getting infected doesn’t get any less. This is primarily due to the cross contamination from the frequently touched items like menu cards. The solution thus lies in mobile technologies, something that would let the customers enjoy their dine-in experience with minimal human to human interactions and touches.
This is exactly why the QR Codes are now seeing a resurgence in its usage. It is by far the best and the most frugal way to completely eliminate the need to use shared physical menu cards / the printed menu cards which can actually act as the spreader of the virus. The virus can get transmitted when an unaffected person touches a menu card that has previously been touched by an affected person. This will not only ruin the entire dining experience but also will force the customers to stop themselves from going out to the restaurants.
How do QR code menus work?
The QR Codes are scan able design of black and white squares that most of us have seen at many places and have been widely used since the mid-2010s. The QR Codes, when scanned by a user with their smart phone’s camera, will generally take them to a link / website that has already been fed into the QR Code. In case of restaurants they can use the QR Codes to redirect the users to the restaurant’s webpage or to their online ordering menu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors and many health care professionals have warned the eateries, bars and restaurants against the use of disposable or printed paper menus. These menus can actually be a huge source of spreading the COVID-19 virus. The restaurants also seem to have understood the gravity of the situation and started taking this advice seriously. Slowly but surely the restaurants are trying to adapt to this new technology, from a simple laminated stand with a QR Code in it and QR Codes printed on tables to mobilizing an entire contactless QR Code Ordering System. The restaurants have definitely come a long way. The QR Code Menus have now become the new normal when it comes to dining at restaurants in this new pandemic hit new – normal world.
In fact in USA the head of marketing of the Titan Hospitality Group, Scott Selman, said the collection of restaurants in the Washington D.C. area are currently using QR Codes even on their table coasters. According to Selman the group was already looking into innovating and experimenting further with the touch less menu technology even before the pandemic had actually struck, mainly to cut down on unnecessary operational costs.
The digital menus using QR Code technology are way more flexible than the traditional paper menu cards. This is because a restaurant staffer could easily update the digital menu to add new dishes, make changes to the prices of the existing items, reflect when a dish gets sold-out dish and a lot more of such minor functions that are impossible in case of the traditional menu cards. In fact, to top it all, some of the integrated QR Menus even lets the restaurants track and analyze the menu data. The QR Code Menus also lets the restaurant authorities add / remove visuals or graphics from the menu, implement discount / coupon codes etc. This can be beneficial in reducing both the costs and wastages that the restaurant would otherwise had to bear to do the above mentioned changes.
Where had the QR Codes been all this while, before the pandemic struck?
Even though the QR Technology isn’t something very new in the technology markets but still, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t being used much before this pandemic struck. Unlike few countries like China, where QR codes are used for almost everything from cashless payments to tombstones, the other countries have been a bit slow in adopting this technology. Even technologically advanced countries like the U.S.A. also has been way slower in adopting the QR Code technology.
A major part of this delay has been due to certain technical shortcomings in the initial stages of the development and usage of this technology. Initially, the smart phones were not as smart as they are nowadays. At the initial stages, the users had to download third-party apps to scan QR codes and access the information. This was particularly more problematic for the phones using very highly protective and volatile operating systems like Apple and Google. Even till a few years ago none of the operating systems / smart phones allowed the codes to be scanned or read directly through the smart phone’s camera. All these hurdles forced the users as well as the businesses from abstaining from the usage of this QR Code technology.
In fact, a recent study from Blue Bite team, has brought to light that there has been a 26% increase in the number of QR Code usages within the time span of 2018 to 2019 in the North American and European markets. Interestingly, according to some independent researches carried out recently, the same percentage has shot up to 52% in 2020, in the post pandemic world. This latest data clearly shows the amount of impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had in accelerating the implementation of the QR Code technology, particularly in the restaurant industries.
However the QR Code Ordering Systems do still face some minor hurdles. Like for example, people over 65 years of age are less likely to have smart phones with the QR Code scanning functionalities. In some cases, even after having smart phones capable of scanning the QR Codes, they are either not familiar with how to use them or are reluctant to use this technology. Somehow, those over the age of 50 years seem to be less likely to use QR Code Ordering Menus and still prefer to place their orders directly to the attendants.
Another minor yet majorly problematic drawback of QR Code Menus is the fact that they require access to the internet. Apart from that the landing page orientation and design must be flexible enough to be compatible with different phones and operating systems.
What is the future of the QR Code Ordering Systems going to be like?
The popularity of the humble QR codes have definitely exploded, especially in the last one year or so. The COVID-19 pandemic has made both the customers and business owners much more responsible and equally concerned regarding the proper sanitation of their surroundings. Many restaurant owners and experts thus feel that the physical menu / the printed paper menu cards are not going to be back anytime soon. The ease of use and the sense of safety provided by the touch less digital, QR Menu seems likely to be the new normal henceforth.