The world has fundamentally changed since the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, whether you believe it or not. Today the question is not about what will happen, but when? The rise in the questions regarding social and physical contact is driving the discussion surrounding the operations of restaurants.

The debate has gained the public imagination so much so that the California Department of Public Health had to issue a safety advisory:

Provide disposable menus to guests and make menus available digitally
so that customers can view on a personal electronic device, if possible. If
disposable menus cannot be provided, properly disinfect menus before
and after customer use. Consider options for customers to order ahead of
time.

If the world has changed, then shouldn’t you also change with it? How can you transform your regular menus into digital ones, do you need to? The answer to these questions is an old yet trusted technology of QR codes, and we are here to tell you everything about it!

What Are QR Codes?

To better understand all the rage behind QR codes-enabled restaurant menus, we must first familiarize ourselves with what QR codes are in actuality. QR is a short abbreviation for “Quick Response” that describes an optical label that contains information that can only be read by a machine.

QR codes are most commonly known for their distinct black strips of varying breaths shaped in a grid-pattern over a white square background. The most common occurrence of QR codes is in large-scale warehouses or supermarkets, where you need an interface to interact with individual products for storage and mobility.

QR codes show information that has been pre-programmed into them previously and can be updated from time to time. The information a QR code can store varies from website URLs, images, texts, payment gateways, login credentials, and much more.

What Makes QR Code Restaurant Menus So Special?

QR codes are amazing not only because they can drastically improve and reduce the clutter in information transmission, but also because they are constantly evolving. The QR codes we are talking about today are not the traditional one-dimensional QR codes, better known as barcodes you find in supermarkets.

The QR code in the focus today is a two-dimensional QR code that can be checked by a common mobile device. Its data is encoded side-to-side and up-and-down. That implies it’s easy for mobile device cameras to read into QR code.

Truth be told, basically all mobile devices today presently can scan QR codes with their cameras. You don’t need to create a sophisticated application that individuals can download to use your QR code-driven infrastructure.

The Benefits Of QR Codes Replace Your Traditional Restaurant Menus

Now that we understand what makes QR codes so special, what benefit do you as the restaurant have in using them? While they are a technological leap into the future, is it enough to encourage them to make the shift? Therefore here are a few quintessential benefits of using QR code enabled menus instead of traditional menus:

#1 Completely Contactless

The newfound focus on social distancing is what is driving the modern post-COVID19 world. You being the owner of a restaurant are in a rather complicated predicament, as your business revolves around social contact. That is where ‘contactless’ QR code enabled menus to come into play, as they fill the void between mobile ordering and traditional paper menus.

An average traditional restaurant paper menu can contain up to 185,000 germs per square centimeter. This data point should be sufficient to make you realize how big of a threat traditional menus are in the post-COVID19 world.

QR code-enabled menus completely circumvent this problem by connecting two already existing technologies. QR codes and smart mobile devices that can work together to provide a seamless user experience. If contactless is a new reality, then QR codes are the name of the game.

#2 Increased Ease of Accessibility

QR codes enable you to give your customers unprecedented convenience with their unparalleled ease of access. The majority of customers that visit your establishment will have a mobile device, and with a QR code, you give them instant access to your menu.

Once they have the menu scanned, they never need to do it again as now they have a portable go-to menu with them always.

With such a portable menu available to them at all times, it is extremely easy for them to order at their discretion. They can if they want to decide to order directly from their mobile devices without having to interact with another third-person to maintain social distance.

#3 Highly Engaging For Customers

Your QR menu is connected to your mobile-optimized restaurant website menu through a URL. Hence it is your website your customers are accessing and not a mere prince of paper. That enables you to have no restriction on the amount of content you can show.

Furthermore, your menu content never gets old as you can constantly keep it updated. Now you don’t need to haphazardly scratch names of food items you have removed from your menu, you can do it with just a click.

Because your new menu is integrated with your website your customers will find it more engaging compared to a mere piece of paper. The QR code-enabled menu is also easier to navigate and understand.

QR Code Menu Hacks To Boost Your Restaurant Sales!

Now that you have amply understood the benefits of having QR codes as your restaurant menu, it’s time to hack them! How can you use them in a way that can guarantee the most boost to your restaurant’s sales and customer satisfaction? Here are the fundamental hacks that enable you to do just that:

#1 Use CTAs To Drive Engagement

QR codes are an alien-looking thing to many customers who have not experienced anything like it beforehand. For many, the only recollection of having seen a QR code might be from a supermarket, hence it is necessary to educate your customers about how to use the QR codes in front of them.

This is where a CTA or Call To Action comes into play, where you loudly describe to your customer about what needs to be done with the QR code. Therefore make sure to add graphical elements to your QR codes to communicate the fact that they need to be scanned by the customer’s mobile device.

#2 Tables Integrated QR Codes

Even though our world has fundamentally changed due to COVID19, the majority of the average everyday person still doesn’t have a cognizance of the matter. When you replace your menus with QR codes you want your customers to use them, hence you need to sign it throughout your restaurant establishment.

QR codes at the table are the authoritative and appropriate approaches to replace traditional menus. That guarantees a smooth and contactless dining experience. You can print your QR code and strategically integrate them onto the table itself or a wall nearby.

#3 QR Codes Optimized For Mobile Use

You must realize that the individual customers using your QR code menus will be utilizing mobile devices. Therefore the content that you convey to them employing your QR code ought to be intended for consumption on mobile devices.

We would have to write multiple articles to accurately describe the frequency we have seen people use QR codes to lead to a badly designed and developed website. The content is bad, the menu structure collides with each other.

From the perspective of the user what should have felt like a basic, the wonderfully current operation gets turned upside down. Hence QR code content must always be optimized for mobile use.

Our Take

In the post-COVID19 world contactless and socially distant are the words to abide by if businesses want to thrive. QR codes have come in and transformed the way businesses provide and customers access information.

Therefore by deploying a QR code-based menu a restaurant correctly positions itself to ride the tide of resurgence within the hospitality industry in time. If you’re an owner of a bar or a restaurant, now is the time to wake up to new realities and embrace the world that has changed forever!