The QR Backlash Has Won. Restaurants Are Ditching Them for Good.
wsj.com
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I will never return to that restaurant. If a restaurant wants to require this sort of impersonal ordering, it should at least provide its own equipment that is hooked to the proper network - like a stand-up kiosk (some sandwich counters in gas stations do this) or a wireless at-table device (Olive Garden and Chili's.) If I ever go to another restaurant and they tell me to order on my phone, I will just leave.
As much as Restaurants moan and complain about raising prices, having to reprint menus isn't 0 cost whenever they want to add a new menu item, or change the prices.
And then you have to pay your servers to clean them from time to time.
As much as people hate this QR stuff, it's generally better, provided it works. Paper is always reliable, but if you can figure out a static CDN website, and create a QR code for it, it's going to be better for a restaurant that wants to change their menus on a semi frequent basis.
I can see it being better for the restaurant. I don't see how it's better for the customers, even if it works.
On your smartphone? I'm not talking about looking at a menu from home, I'm talking about ordering at the table.
In any case, not being a fan of the Cheesecake Factory, I can't remember the last time that I saw a restaurant menu that spanned more than two pages. I don't think finding what you want on such a short menu is particularly problematic.
However, this may point out a critical difference: what sort of restaurant you prefer. Ones with novel-length menus may indeed present different issues.
Regardless, my experience with online-only menus and/or ordering when I'm sitting at the table has been nothing but horrible. My solution is to not go to restaurants that do this. It's better for my blood pressure that way.
Yes, and so am I. If I'm feeling like chicken, it'd be easy to Ctrl+F (or "Find in page" if you want to be specific about the phone function) to look for chicken.
> I don't think finding what you want on such a short menu is particularly problematic.
It generally isn't that bad, but it was a quick off the dome example that comes up particularly in physical documents vs. electronic documents. Some more specific restaurant examples might be to filter out specific allergens or preferences out of dishes: dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, etc. Make a smaller menu for people that can't or won't have particular things, without having to print those menus.
> Regardless, my experience with online-only menus and/or ordering when I'm sitting at the table has been nothing but horrible.
The worst one I had was a restaurant that was a bit outside of town that had poor cell reception. I've never personally had many issues with using my phone except poor signal.
But that's just me, not a criticism of such systems per se.
The ideal, I think, is for restaurants to have both. Printed menus for people like me (the advantage to the restaurant is that they won't lose me as a customer) as well as some sort of online thing for others who prefer that.
Don't get me wrong, I prefer paper menus. But I see why so many restaurants want to do QR code.
My gut says the paper is going to win every time. There are also substantial opportunities to improve the experience for your customers with servers being attentive to their tables.
The table top tablets are convenient. They go a long way to allowing a customer to have agency in improving their experience. Back in my college days, my friends and I frequented a pub where each booth had a button that would light up an indicator above our table letting servers know we needed more beer. It was far and above our favorite place to go hang out on weekends. I'm sure it was more useful than just a beer signal LOL but for our use case it was perfect.
There's a reason why pretty much all states use paper ballots instead of electronic-only voting. In both elections and retaurants, paper just works. It has minimal outside dependencies, has few failure modes, and we have processes in place to deal with corner cases.
Sure, electronics are flashier and more efficient, but I think HN can more than appreciate the truth that software and computers are brittle.
Pretty much all states in the USA. In my country (Brazil), all states use electronic-only voting (it's actually a single system, managed by the federal government). Of course, in the rare cases in which it fails (and the replacement device also fails), the paper backup (traditional paper ballots with a canvas box) is still available.
> It has minimal outside dependencies
That's actually the main issue. As the initial comment said, "[...] it should at least provide its own equipment that is hooked to the proper network [...]", and I would add that it should depend only on a local server, so that it works perfectly even if the WAN connection is misbehaving.
(The Brazilian electronic ballot box is completely offline, it has no network connection at all; voting setup and results are stored into a removable memory card, and also printed into paper through a built-in printer as a backup. Its only outside dependency is power, and it has both a built-in battery and connection ports for an external battery.)
As an exercise, we were asked to come up with a solution to help people navigate campus. There were so many suggestions for apps or interactive touch screens. Someone suggested installing terminals where you type where you want to go, and then the floor lights up with directions. Someone else did the same, only it would launch a drone for you to follow.
I suggested hanging printed paper maps on the walls with "you are here" stickers.
&thumbsup;
I would install direction indicators, like the ones on the roads.
Yours is a good supplement, whichever method is otherwise used. I'm partial to cheap, analog solutions. Though, installing quality signage on a large campus can quickly become more expensive than a simple app.
I think somebody must have made a bundle selling this kind of system to restaurants during COVID, and during an extreme situation like that, it may have seemed like a solution. But afterwards, it's just a strike against the restaurant. To me at least.
You must be young
True. But when you’re already drunk and stoned, it’s a personal challenge.
100%
Those systems are actively hostile to customers. There are three restaurants (that I've been to) in my town that starting doing this, and I won't go back to them as long as they keep it up. Which might mean forever, as I don't think I'd know if they stop using them in future.
One circumstance where I do love QR code menus is with a big casual group at a brewery type place that has unique QRs per table so you can just order straight from the menu, pay, and have things come out. This is a great experience that solves a bunch of annoying issues when the gathering is not specifically a meal but instead involves people coming early or late and ordering disparate items. It improves a lot over the longstanding “order at the counter and take a stick with a number” model.
The smartphone-required world is a dystopia. Build on open protocols so people can write whatever software they want on top of them. UI should be personal preference, not dictated. I prefer to control my life from Emacs, but wouldn't dream of forcing everyone else to. Please return the courtesy.
Sometimes I pretend I don't have a phone and ask the restaurant to bring me a menu anyway, on the principle of the thing. Of course printed menus offer a much better experience anyway.
> Not that long ago, QR code menus were the go-to fix for restaurants looking to speed up service without hiring more servers. Then the diners staged a revolt.
No, QR codes is one possible solution to the problem of changing menus, and having to reprint all the time. Also, QR code menus (at least where I am) became mandatory during the pandemic together with mandated contact-less payments, and that's when it really became popular around here.
Besides, thinking that QR codes can replace servers seems to indicate to me that the article author has literally no idea what they're writing about, if they don't even understand the basic function of servers...
Or maybe in the US there is indeed a distinction being kept between "runners" vs. "servers", but truth be told I've never seen it in place here in Europe.
I've lived my entire life in the US and I've never heard of this distinction either. But I've also never heard the term "runners" in this context either, so perhaps the commenter is talking about a different sort of restaurant than I go to or something.
And because QR codes can be used like that that prevents how that restaurant try to use it for what the article said?
If you read the other comments here then it definitely happened like the article said.
That's like saying companies don't use Excel as a database application because it's a spreadsheet.
It just said QR code menus can speed up service, not replace servers. Seems logical to me that if servers are spending time bringing out food rather than standing around waiting for guests to tell them what they want and writing it down that service will generally be speedier.
Anyway back to my 10 hours of staring at a bigger death screen all day ;)
And, most importantly, they are doing the work versus me fumbling with their QR code and payment site instead of relaxing and chatting.
What I don't mind though are tabletop POS systems, wherein the swipe and sign is local and straightforward.
I disagree that it's better, and especially if you have to set up an online account to do it.
But I also short-circuit the back-and-forth thing by handing the server my card at the same time as I'm telling them I want the check. Then there's only one trip involved.
How can that work? Do you also give the server your card's PIN?
There is no pin involved.
At some places, the server has a card reader in hand and just runs the card then and there in front of me.
How can they finalize the transaction without your PIN? (Unless it's a low-value NFC proximity transaction, and even then, in my experience sometimes it still asks for the PIN).
> At some places, the server has a card reader in hand and just runs the card then and there in front of me.
That's my experience in every restaurant in which you pay at the desk (instead of while leaving or while ordering). Though I usually eat at self-service per-kilogram restaurants, in which you weigh your food at a scale before eating, and pay at a dedicated cashier station near the exit door.
By running it as a credit card transaction? I don't know the details beyond that your signature is the equivalent of your pin (I think PINs were invented basically as a substitute for signatures). I only know that this is how it's worked for my whole life, from well before the internet existed.
> Though I usually eat at self-service per-kilogram restaurants, in which you weigh your food at a scale before eating
I've never heard of such a thing before. That's an interesting concept. But it raises an interesting point: I'm in the US, and it sounds like you're not. I bet there's a cultural difference in play here.
Edit: to clarify - i mean the QR codes would be fine if the place they lead to was well designed.
Most bizarrely of all, the restaurant was only opened in 2018.
There's a finite number of menus and waiters, qrs help alleviate that problem.
Having to fill out a bunch of form fields and manually type out credit card numbers on your phone is so much worse than just handing someone your card and walking in.
Hell, I never understood why restaurants don't have a simple little unobtrusive light on the edge of a table that you can just push a button to turn on to indicate that you need the attention of a waiter! but even that's too much to do correctly.
The button you speak of was implemented in the Bubba Gump Shrimp chain, albeit in analog form.
Whenever I see one of them it just upsets me and reminds me how much better life was before.
Ideally the menu also has photos on it. Many don't take the time or maybe Toast (which seems to be by far the main player) charges too much for the feature (but I suspect it's more about laziness). This makes them a big upgrade over paper menus, which can only fit so much.
Typical HN cynicism in the comments. No signs of being able to appreciate the nicer bits. It's not perfect, but it seems fine. I do want paper menus to be available, want other affordances around, and it has a nice qualia to it, but the practicality of the digitized experience is wonderful. And we should be tuning & enhancing it, rather than turning back.
I just can't think of any nicer bits.
I acknowledge the things you've stated as being advantages, of course, but those aren't advantages to me.
So: why not both (though at least I don't need a QR to go to the website, it's normally easy to find based on the restaurant name and on Maps)
Almost all of these apparent "contradictions" stem from the fact that generations as a cohesive single-minded group is a total illusion.
- Can’t load menu because of bad internet connection
- Small text/bad formatting
- Outdated/inaccurate menu
- Scrolling on a phone to see the back side of the PDF menu worse experience than flipping over a paper menu
- Navigating to a different website to see drinks menu worse experience than two paper menus
- Impersonal