QR Menus: The Clean and Quick Way

Reopening or restructuring your restaurant during COVID-19?

Now more than ever people are hyper-aware of what they are touching and how many other people have touched that same item. QR and online menus solve a lot of problems presented by the current state of affairs, but they are also beneficial long term. With a QR menu, it is all confined to a smartphone. No printing costs, no reprints when menu prices change, and no cleaning or disinfecting between every table turnover. It’s simple and inexpensive; if you are in our Cash Discount program, you could even get them for free! There is no need for customers to download any apps, they simply aim their camera and click the link hosted online. This gives you the option to manage multiple orders, see table wait times, and use customer data to find out when is popular and manage supply.

Marketing is also greatly streamlined with these tools. You can easily add banners to promote specials, or add-ons like extra sauces and desserts.

You can also utilize online menus for online ordering. If hosted through your site, take deliveries, and to-go orders, and greatly increase your reach and revenue.

Your online footprint is also affected by the amount of traffic your site sees. The more access to your online content a consumer has the more likely it is for them to visit other media of yours. Connect your social media, and really capitalize on all the benefits of the online format.

Traditional restaurant menus tend to be much dirtier than you would think. According to a cleanliness study, a restaurant menu can contain 185,000 germs per square centimeter. For reference, a public toilet has about 500-1,000 germs per square centimeter. People touching the menu, then their mouths to eat, then their drink, it’s not pleasant to think about. It also takes time and effort from employees to clean these and customers in this current climate would prefer to not touch anything shared at all.

While it’s true our touchscreen phones can be dirty too, the germs are not shared between people handling food, the customer, and others as easily as with a traditional laminated menu.

Reprinting menus if there is ever a price change is inconvenient and expensive. If you plan to change or list new ingredients it can be unsightly to simply cross out directly on a paper menu. In this case, there is really no good solution. You want to keep the brand of your company strong with quality materials while also not paying a fortune yearly. QR in essence solves this problem. It is a one-time cost, if there is a cost at all, and they are customizable forever.

QR codes can’t solve every problem.

There may be a need for both menu types depending on the restaurant type, and the clientele. You don’t want a customer with a dead phone to be unable to order in your restaurant. This hybrid model is also very viable in this day and age. You can have paper menus with QR codes at the register, or on the paper materials you send out as marketing materials. They can be as small as 1×1 inch, or as large as a phone camera can reasonably accommodate. Don’t let old menus hold you back from expanding clientele, and keeping loyal customers, around for fear of sanitary conditions.

Affordable and contactless customer experiences are now the difference between success and failure. It doesn’t matter what type of restaurant you are, the benefits of QR menus far outweigh the short-lived inconvenience when switching over.