The Surprising Impact of QR Code Menus on Diminishing Customer Loyalty (sciencedirect.com) 144
Abstract of a paper published on Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management:The adoption of digital menus accessed through quick response (QR) codes has witnessed a notable upsurge. Despite potential benefits for restaurant operators, the nuanced effects of QR code menus on customer behavior and experience remain relatively unknown. This research investigates the influence of menu presentation (QR code vs. traditional) on customer loyalty. In two studies, we find that QR code menus diminish customer loyalty (compared to traditional menus) due to perceived inconvenience. This effect is further moderated by customers' need for interaction. Our work is timely in highlighting the negative impact of perceptions of inconvenience on technology adoption.
qr world (Score:5, Insightful)
what the "restaurants" seem to want, is a vending experience.
if you are looking for a restaurant, move on, if you are looking for a vending machine, yay you found it.
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A vending machine experience would be a step up. One of the things that restaurant owners have done to make the most of these on-line systems is that they don't just tell you what there is and record your selection, they relentlessly up-sell you, making the experience not just complicated, but from the customer standpoint *unnecessarily* complicated.
Re:qr world (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, you don't have to tip a vending machine, complete with the guilt trip if you don't tip excessively. The prices are shown up-front and if you put that much in, you get your selection without comment.
The standard used to be 10%. Now it's 20% and some are trying to push it to 30% (yes, really!).
Re:qr world (Score:5, Informative)
Also, you don't have to tip a vending machine, complete with the guilt trip if you don't tip excessively. The prices are shown up-front and if you put that much in, you get your selection without comment.
The standard used to be 10%. Now it's 20% and some are trying to push it to 30% (yes, really!).
This is pushed by the restaurant owner's associations because if they can get the "standard" tip up to thirty percent, they can drop pay by that much legally. They don't have to pay minimum wage. They have to pay minimum wage minus "standard" tip expectation for wait staff. It's scummy shit to begin with, but the way they're blatantly trying to escape paying their staff by pushing it into the tip is ridiculously stupid. And some wait staff don't think it through and applaud the attempt to raise tipping standards thinking somehow that will lead to more money in their own pockets. Only on the short-term, guys. They're trying to fuck you. Never think the owners have your interests at heart. It's about their profits, and their profits only.
We need to do-away with the dropped legal requirements on wait staff. That'd see tipping culture reigned back in to reasonable standards. And I'm a guy that's always tipped well for decent service because I know waiting is a shit job that I wouldn't want to do. But I don't want what used to be my "above and beyond" tip rate to become the default expectation. That would be absolutely stupid.
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They have to pay minimum wage minus "standard" tip expectation for wait staff.
The final paycheck has to meet minimum wage. They start with hours worked and the basic wage, supplement it with reported tips (credit cards have been a big boost here), and then see if it meets the minimum. If not, they have to cover the gap.
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The final paycheck has to meet minimum wage.
Some tipped employees have to themselves tip other employees. For example, wait staff may have to tip kitchen staff. These tips come out of their paycheck. Effectively, they can be working for significantly less than minimum wage.
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Incorrect, the final paycheck does not have to meet minimum wage. If you are working 'sub minimum' because you work for tips there is no employer requirement to fill the gap. This was exhaustively covered just recently on Last Week Tonight's most recent episode I believe.
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They have to pay minimum wage minus "standard" tip expectation for wait staff.
The final paycheck has to meet minimum wage. They start with hours worked and the basic wage, supplement it with reported tips (credit cards have been a big boost here), and then see if it meets the minimum. If not, they have to cover the gap.
That used to be the case. It no longer is the case, at least not legally. Some employers that aren't rat-bastard assholes may do so, but it's not a legal requirement.
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All tipping does is make decent people feel guilty, while letting people who are travelling and not intending to return get a discount by refusing to tip.
Up front pricing would be much better and fairer for all. You wouldn't be paying any more and staff wouldn't be earning any less, it would just be up front and fair.
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It's already gotten stupid. I don't mind tipping a waitperson at a sit-down restaurant, but I object to the POS hitting me up for a tip for someone who takes a muffin and stuffs it in a bag and (possibly) points me to where I can get myself a napkin.
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This is so not true. Minimum wage is minimum wage.
Many US states have a lower "tipped minimum wage". The Federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 per hour.
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That's not true either. The correct answer is that it varies by state and in some states it is perfectly legal to pay employees below minimum wage who work in jobs where tipping is common with the idea that the tips make up the difference.
And yes, this is total bullshit.
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That's not true either. The correct answer is that it varies by state and in some states it is perfectly legal to pay employees below minimum wage who work in jobs where tipping is common with the idea that the tips make up the difference.
And yes, this is total bullshit.
It is never legal to pay below the federal minimum wage, period, because that's a federal law. States don't have the authority to override the FLSA.
The confusion here is that most states do not require that tipped workers reach the higher state minimum wage limits, which means restaurants that require tipping can potentially pay wages that otherwise would not be legal at the state level.
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they can drop pay by that much legally. They don't have to pay minimum wage. They have to pay minimum wage minus "standard" tip expectation for wait staff.
This is so not true. Minimum wage is minimum wage.
Not in a job where tips are expected.
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Nope, there's a thing called "sub minimum" wage. Last Week Tonight just recently covered how this works. Minimum wage is definitely NOT the minimum, which is crazy.
Legally speaking, they can pay below the state minimum if the state allows it, but the sum of wages plus tips must exceed the federal minimum, or they are violating the FLSA, and if they get caught, that's a huge fine just waiting to happen.
But yes, that means that up to $5.12 per hour of tips can effectively be stolen from workers and used to reduce their base pay, and yes it sucks that this is allowed.
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The cool thing about percentages is that they scale. I'm not sure the percentages have changed, high end places always pushed a 15-20% suggested or even mandatory tip.
I'm curious about the tipping practices of others. I consider 10% to be standard but I start each meal intending 15%... with the menu pricing in mind the amount. If something disappoints but is also a common disappointment [slow drink refills] then I drop to 10% if service is exceptional I'll up to 20% or even higher letting laziness on tip ca
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I do 15%, scaling up if our party is difficult for the server or if we take a long time at the table.
I don't scale *down* except for really egregious misbehavior. I don't scale down for minor defects in the service or pet peeves, because it's someones living we're talking about and someone who isn't exactly raking in the dough. Maybe I'd dock the waiter for subpar service in a fine dining establishment where the waiters can make a thousand dollars a night I might, but I'd really hesitate to withhold some
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Flirting with your wife gets a tipped zeroed? Hells, I'd have bumped 'em five percent for giving my gal a thrill and making her feel more attractive.
Re: qr world (Score:2)
Re: qr world (Score:2)
Re: qr world (Score:2)
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I don't enjoy someone else giving my wife a thrill or trying to pull a power move by attempting right in front of me.
Heh. I find it hysterically funny you think a waiter flirting is a power move. It also speaks to some form of inferiority complex and a complete lack of trust in your spouse.
Hint: Wait staff flirting is almost universally just sucking up to the customer so long as it doesn't get physical or weirdly specific about body parts. Seeing it as a threat strikes me as really strange at the very least, and possibly a sign of some relationship issues at the worst.
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I'm curious about the tipping practices of others.
20%, +/- to get to an even dollar value because I'm too lazy to math, at a sit-down. 10-15% at counter-service.
If an unforgivable offense is committed like giving my wife the check or flirting with her the server gets an automatic 0%.
Good lord. An "unforgivable offense" is "flirting" with your wife? Or, GASP, handing her the check? You crack me up, dude.
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10% (Score:2)
>The standard used to be 10%.
and even that was a change upwards from prior norms.
The earliest guides said as high as 10% in the specific case of restaurants in the fanciest of hotels.
And the more desirable tipped "jobs", like coat check counters, were things that people paid to be allowed to do!
hawk
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Many, maybe most restaurants in Japan have either vending machines or some form of digital menu - either a tablet at every table, or QR codes. The vending machines are mostly so that they don't need extra staff to handle money. The tablets are arguably more convenient, because as well as being able to assemble your order and review it yourself, you can order any extra stuff whenever you like without having to attract the attention of a waiter. With the tablets you still pay at the counter, although now they
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Tablets at the table are a little different than qr codes for my experience. I don't mind interacting with a screen, but my phone is just too small for me to relax and order, requires more focus. I'm going to a restaurant sometimes just for convenience, but usually so I can shut off a little. It's also a hassle with the kids who don't have a phone but can read.
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Re:qr world Ditto for Kiosks (Score:2)
The same is true for QSRs forcing usage of kiosks. They became break room vending machines.
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Apparently you all eat with phones in your hands. Your whole party.
Why would I eat with my phone in my hand? Do you eat while holding the menu? Your post makes absolutely no sense in the context of the discussion. You didn't dedicate even one braincell to making your point, and all you got was an insult. Forget "singleton" the word "simpleton" better describes whatever lack of thought process just went through your fingers.
Be a better person.
Qrs (Score:5, Insightful)
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I go to restaurants to get away from my phone. If a restaurant can't even be bothered to print menus than it makes me wonder what else they are cheaping out on. Probably not quality food.
I'm not sure if that's worse, or the ones that have done away with physical menus in favor of an iPad or other tablet sitting on the table that forces you to play some form of weird finger-training exercise just to look at the available food and drink options. Like our lives aren't filled enough with electronics. Good grief.
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I do not have a smartphone, so I usually only visit the QR-code restaurants once.
It really has to have good food (and low prices) for me to look at the menu at home and then remember what to order or put put with the tablet or whatever the waiter brings instead of a proper menu.
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I go to restaurants to get away from my phone.
Do you eat with your menu in your hands? If not why would the phone make any difference? Place your order and put it away. If you have a nervous addiction to hold it in your hands when you're near it, maybe get that compulsion addressed.
We walked out (Score:5, Informative)
Wife and I went into a restaurant while traveling and were seated. No menus. When we asked for one, we were shown the QR code. Asked for a hardcopy menu. They didn't have them, so we said "Thank you" and left. The place next door had menus.
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I think it greatly depends on the venue.
Big national chain where the menu doesn't change for years, they can do physical menus
Small local place where the menus could change on a week to week basis, they'll need a FTE just to redo the menu if they want physical copies.
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Maybe but I have been to a restaurant where they change the menu weekly and they just used B&W laser printouts put into those clear menu holders, I was surprised I don't see this more often. Looked like a standard MS Word template (and they still had the QR code on it). I never asked but I assumed they just printed them out themselves.
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They need a cheap Brother laser printer, a computer they already have, and 20 minutes a week to stuff those menus into the 20-30 plastic slip covers. (They're updating the menu anyway, regardless of whether it's online or printed, so I'm omitting the time changing the menu from the calculation.)
It's not hard. How do you think they did it before smartphones? Or before, for that matter, cheap Brother laser printers and PCs?
I wouldn't dream of using a restaurant that forces me to squint at a 5" screen to figur
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Small local place where the menus could change on a week to week basis, they'll need a FTE just to redo the menu if they want physical copies.
Or they use a chalkboard.
Yeah, that ancient Chalk Board Tech... (Score:2)
Small local place where the menus could change on a week to week basis, they'll need a FTE just to redo the menu if they want physical copies.
Super hard and expensive to buy a chalk board for daily and/or weekly specials. Indeed.
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Good for you. Personally I judge restaurants by their food and atmosphere not by the method of ordering. The best restaurant I've ever eaten at by a long shot had a menu with no pictures and no English text. To this day I don't know what I ate, but I do remember going back there the day after and eating the same thing again.
I've done the same (Score:2)
One place reluctantly brought out a paper menu, the other didn't so I left.
I'm also highly inclined to abandon my cart every time a self-checkout stand calls for an attendant. I can understand if it happens once or twice a year, but every single time I'm in the store? That's defective technology and I want no part of it and I will not reward companies that devalue their employees while wasting my time.
'Perceptions of inconvenience' (Score:4, Informative)
Otherwise known as actual inconvenience. You're adding steps to access the menu for absolutely no benefit to your customer.
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no benefit to your customer
Not having to wave down a waiter, not having to wait for menus, not having to sort out a bill... there are plenty of benefits to the customer. I'm at a restaurant to eat, not to build a long term relationship with the staff.
Now if my local bar started requiring a QR code to get a pint then you'd be on to something.
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The local bar by me has a QR code to see the full beerlist because they have a lot of rotation (and around 25 taps). They still keep paper menus with a subset of the beers which they always have available which I think is a great compromise
old people thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe its a generational thing, but providing a menu you can hold vs something else is the difference between McDonalds and a "nice" restaurant. I've also had issues accessing the bar codes when traveling internationally. Thirdly, I don't want one more thing tracking me. Also, get off my lawn!
Re: old people thing? (Score:3)
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I let kids play on my lawn and I still hate QR codes for menus. If a restaurant can't make a minimal effort to attract me as a customer I'll go somewhere else.
Careful. Letting kids play on your lawn in step one in getting accused of being a pedophile. If you provide lawn toys for them, forget it. Foregone conclusion.
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even *that* wouldn't be conclusive.
It would be just as plausible that you were a with trying to get them in range of your oven.
Just saying . . . :)
hawk
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Modern social culture. (Score:2)
If you enter any food establishment and it sounds like a cafeteria, it is NOT a restaurant.
This is easy (Score:3)
1) No free wifi? I'm not using QR codes (I am in Texas, metal roofs, poor cellular coverage and the absolute worst back-end oversubscription ever means I'm frustrated as it is, don't make it worse)
2) Your website is slow, broken or renders poorly? I'm not using QR codes
3) Your website does not display accurate prices? I'm not using QR codes
4) Your website does not allow basic substitutions? I'm not using QR codes
5) Your website doesn't do anything that benefits my experience? I'm not using QR codes.
Most places have figured this out a year or two ago and have backed off.
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Also: If I do use QR codes, I'm not tipping.
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then just eat someplace else then, don't show up to a place take an issue with the management (or corporate) then fuck over the wait staff
Good idea! They can go eat somewhere else, then that restaurant can go out of business because people don't go there and the wait staff can be really fucked with no job!
Wait, what?
or just wear a shirt that says "ladies, i am a walking red flag"
That's the person that expects employees to work for less than a living wage, and beg the customers to make up the difference.
Tipping started as a way for rich people to show how rich they were, expecting everyone to do it is officially some cuck bullshit.
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0) No mobile phone. I have no way to use your QR codes.
This was my situation the last time I encountered a restaurant that did this while travelling in the US (it does not seem to have become a thing here in Canada). The only reason I have one now is because our university switched to 2FFA.
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Most places have figured this out a year or two ago and have backed off.
My experience is most places have figured this out a year or two ago and have adapted to all your complaints with their QR code system.
fun when it doesn't work (Score:2)
I hate the "pass the phone around of the person who got the menu to load" game. For something so simple, they fail too often.
perceived inconvenience.... (Score:4)
how about ACTUAL inconvenience... nothing annoys me more than a company demanding I use MY phone for their bullshit.
Fuck digital coupons, and double fuck digital menus.
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My dad asked me about this a while back. The local grocery store (chain) implemented sales which only applied if you use their digital coupon. He asked what I do, since I shop more than he does, if they require the digital coupon to get the better price and I told him, I don't buy it. It's not my problem if the item goes unsold.
I know I'm in the minority, but I don't care. My lack of sales by not using their digital coupon at their stores is my protest.
There are not just annoying or inconvenient (Score:5, Insightful)
The other reality, that QR code is a form of digital molestation because the second I load your web menu, you're almost certainly grabbing telemetry, which means I have to accept violation before ordering. If your goal to violate customers, be honest, ask an attractive woman to expose her tits, so you can admire them. If you doubt that's acceptable, then fuck off with the QR menu.
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Every single QR menu I have ever seen, just gives you a URL which links to a web version of the menu. That's great, so now instead of a full easy to read menu, I have to use the web menu, which is almost always broken, mis-rendered, or cumbersome.
I've come across that once, while travelling. Back home I live in a country which was very technology happy in the first place. I can't say I've ever been dropped off to a web version of a menu as much as I've been dropped into an online store complete with quick and easy payment options that doesn't even require me to reach for a credit card.
Also why would a QR code be the only option with a broken menu? That doesn't make sense, a restaurant would legitimately notice that customers aren't ordering somethin
Re:There are not just annoying or inconvenient (Score:5, Insightful)
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I use adblock for Samsung and have never had a menu not load. You're not blocking trackers, you're blocking most things that make the modern internet function, and for what? So some random person can't assign you a random code entry in a database that you drank a coke?
how the hell can I read it on my phone? The phone is objectively too small
Why would the menu be too small on the phone? It's not an A4 sheet scaled down. It's usually something resembling an online store. Shopping from your phone is something 100s of millions of people do daily without having issues reading.
Let's assume you have dietary restriction, which my wife does, sometimes the notes about the restrictions are at the bottom of the menu,
It sound
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Or worse, it just links to the PDF file of the menu they couldn't be bothered to print.
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Every single QR menu I have ever seen, just gives you a URL which links to a web version of the menu. That's great, so now instead of a full easy to read menu, I have to use the web menu, which is almost always broken, mis-rendered, or cumbersome. If you hate your customers and don't want them to easily order, go ahead and use a QR code. If you want that customer to come back, give them a menu, my phone is not a suitable alternative for a large format menu, even if I brought a tablet, it would still be too small.
The other reality, that QR code is a form of digital molestation because the second I load your web menu, you're almost certainly grabbing telemetry, which means I have to accept violation before ordering. If your goal to violate customers, be honest, ask an attractive woman to expose her tits, so you can admire them. If you doubt that's acceptable, then fuck off with the QR menu.
Exactly. Why can't they have a human-readable link that says "for our menu, go to www.thisrestaurant.com/menu"? Instead they have to do this obfuscation bullshit. It also means that if you brought a laptop instead of a smartphone (work lunch?) then you're out of luck.
Digital menus are untrustworthy (Score:4, Interesting)
They're ripe for exploitation due to surge pricing. Digital means they can change on the fly for whatever reason.
So no, thank you, I'll take the printed menu with the consistent pricing.
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Places which employ dynamic pricing also have multiple menus and you will be handed one accordingly. You're delusional if you think you can escape it by shunning technology.
Security nightmare (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact it is so trivial to print out a custom QR code with god knows what encoded in it, and slap it over any public facing QR code should be enough to make anyone second guess scanning one.
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Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!! I have no clue WHY in what is supposed to be a security-aware world, QR codes became popular. Who knows WTF they actually point to?
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A few years ago I may have paid a few dollars to have some QR code stickers printed with links to a website discussing how insecure scanning a QR code in the wild is. I may also have put them over the top of a few "scan here for X" things I found in the wild.
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bUt YoU cAn SeE tHe dEsTiNaTiOn
bit.ly/hopefully-rickroll-not-goatse
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No one mentions the hellish security nightmare QR codes are.
Because they aren't. QR codes are just a link. The internet is just a set of links. You're no more at risk scanning a QR code then you are clicking on a result in Google.
Actually less so. No one is going to put effort into phishing (or quishing because the IT industry loves stupid names) a restaurant, some place where it will be immediately obvious for the first customer that doesn't get their meal that their QR code was fake, and a place where you will almost certainly be on camera when putting down your f
The hidden downside (Score:5, Insightful)
One commenter already mentioned tracking as a reason not to be suckered into QR menus. The logical extension of this is "customizing" the price based on:
-- user metrics
-- time of day
-- remaining food levels and expiry dates
-- menu items and pricing at local competitors
-- trialling new menu items where only a percentage of patrons get access to the new item - keeps stock levels lower
I'm sure there are other (mis)uses for QR menus as well - I just haven't thought of them. And I don't care; like others here, if a QR code is my only access to a menu, then the restaurant has just given up its only access to me as a customer. My phone is not a part of your fucking restaurant's infrastructure, and my privacy is not a currency I'm willing to part with in order to eat a meal. So sod off with your fucking QR codes!
Also, if I were to go through the hassle of using my phone to display your menu, only to discover an item I want isn't available, I'd be REALLY pissed instead of merely annoyed. "Oh", you say, "if we're out of it then it won't show on the QR menu!". Well here's a thought, you fucking geniuses - if it's not on the menu this time, how will I know to come to YOUR establishment the next time I'm craving that specific dish?
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One commenter already mentioned tracking as a reason not to be suckered into QR menus. The logical extension of this is "customizing" the price based on:
-- user metrics
-- time of day
-- remaining food levels and expiry dates
-- menu items and pricing at local competitors
-- trialling new menu items where only a percentage of patrons get access to the new item - keeps stock levels lower
Restaurants already do that, lunch and dinner menus, one for the two weeks a big event is in town, happy hour specials, etc. Whiteout or sharpy over discontinued items, cheap printed handout/insert for specials and new items.
Those are all completely valid reasons for a digital menu. I don't want to see a different price than the guy sitting at another booth, well, aside from senior discount, or military appreciation or whatever. Or the loyalty card punches he racked up. Aside from thaaaaAat we should see th
I refuse to use any service... (Score:5, Insightful)
...that requires a smartphone
I live my digital life on a desktop computer with a 32" 4K display, mouse and keyboard
A smartphone screen is far too tiny to see without special glasses and the tiny touch keyboard is unusable
Yes, I can ineptly fumble through using one, but only in the most dire of emergencies
"Perceived inconvenience" = ACTUAL inconvience (Score:3)
The mere fact they call it perceived rather than just inconveince is why they suck.
Not everyone has the same phone - different radio services, different screen sizes, different speeds. Some people have vision problems.
Forcing your customers to use their own phones is horrible service.
Yes I realize it lets you update the menus. Paper and printers are not that expensive.
Real menus equals real service. I would rather pick up my own food from a counter than use a QR code menu.
"Surprising"? They need to do "research" about it? (Score:3)
Well, I'm surprised that they needed to do a research and write a paper about something so obvious. Of course I don't want to need a phone and scan a stupid QR code to just read a menu. Who wants that? Who asked for it?
A useful research could be to find out why some restaurants go that route. Were they just convinced by some marketing? Do they think it looks cool and trendy? Do they think it reduces their costs?
An idea (Score:4, Interesting)
-- Create a web page that succinctly explains why QR code menus are bad - data harvesting, price hikes based on your identity, potential phishing scams, etc. Tell the viewer they should insist on a traditional paper menu. And make sure it renders well on a phone screen.
-- Generate a QR code for the page and print it out on pieces of paper
-- The next time you're at a restaurant that uses QR code menus, quietly replace the restaurant's QR code with yours.
Now, when the next customer who sits at that table scans your QR code, they will get a page teaching them why QR codes are bad. If enough people did this, maybe the public will start to reject these digital menus. Though the cynic in me says restaurants will just switch to some other horrible practice.
qr menu (Score:2)
Privacy hell (Score:2)
If I walk into a restaurant I want to be able to order and pay without creating any online accounts, giving up my personal details, installing any apps or adding payment details. Walk in, order, say thank you, tap and go. That's it.
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Re: Privacy hell (Score:2)
How so? Standard payment processing crypto.
The only surprise is how unsurprising it is (Score:2)
I’m not sure how this is “surprising” given that most people either loathe QR menus, or are at best neutral.
In the abstract I lean neutral, like a restaurant with a QR menu is going to have an up to date menu online which makes it easier to decide what to have in advance of going. In “the real world” I’m negative since frequently whatever little underpowered server the is hanging onto the menus tends to be slow to cough it up, or maybe the restaurants “hosting pr
I fucking hate QR codes (Score:2)
And I have stopped going to beloved restaurants that switched to QR codes and apps. A local Thai place. A couple local breweries. No menu offered when I go to sit down? Don't make me ask. Pay in an app? OMFG. You can have a QR code. You can have an app. Don't ask me to use them though.
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Usually you pay when you order.
I don't go back (Score:2)
If I go to a food spot which requires a QR code to see the menu and to order, I just don't go back to that place.
one problem with QR code menus is (Score:2)
...That most restaurants started with QR codes that linked to link shortners or tracking sites, which would forward you to the actual restaurant's menu pages.
When you add the required step to scan QR codes with your phone's AV software before connecting, its just too much of a pain.
QR codes to pay (Score:2)
fuck QR codes (Score:2)
If I wanted to poke at my phone, I'd stay home.
Like I tell my kids, phones have no place at the table.
Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to know that a human actually cares about my presence.
I've left restaurants for this single reason. If you want my money, be fucked enough to greet me with a menu.
Voting with my wallet (Score:2)
I refuse to go to any restaurant without a paper menu option, or in the case of fast food, one that requires you to order from a kiosk.
Like others have said, if I want a vending machine or an automat, I'll go looking for that. It's all about customer service, experience and ambiance, including a nicely made up menu. If it was just about getting food into my mouth, I could just stay at home and cook it. Dining out is about the total experience.
Fortunately, in most cases as soon as covid was over most res
BYOD (Score:2)
I'll use QR codes if the restaurant provides the device through which to use them.
Automat cafeteria (Score:3)
They want to give us the Automat experience, but with fine dining prices.
If someone wants to build an actual automat style restaurant in any American city, I'm confident it would do well. But it would have to be fast and cheap with decent quality. Really, customers want something that is a good value at the end of the day. Pay some combination of food and experience that justifies its cost.
Perceived inconvenience is a weird description (Score:2)
Having to read the menu 4*8 inches at a time, often on a scaled down PDF is an actual inconvenience.
It's further increased with pre teens that don't have a phone yet necessarily, and older people that can't read the small menu so well.
I went to a restaurant with my mom and grandmother, my grandmother couldn't bring it up and work the phone, and my mom really struggled even with her reading glasses.
They're super inconvenient.
Re: (Score:2)
Like a menu, where it's something you touch immediately before eating? No, not a million. Very few things in fact.