This link doesn't display the article, it just shows the website navigation. WSJ got wise and appears to only load the content of the article once it knows you're allowed to see it.
Not reading the article rarely stops people here from talking about it, so I guess this shouldn't change much. Personally, I like to pretend that everyone who has commented on something that is behind a paywall is actually an active subscriber who has already read the article in depth. The alternative is to accept that everybody in all these threads is just giving hot takes about things they have spent literally zero time studying.
FWIU talking to people in hospitality the advantage of the QR menu is it could be changed rapidly with no printing costs. In the wake of the pandemic that meant increasing prices.
Why use such a menu instead of printing one out on a printer in the back? Even the fanciest restaurants around here print their menus like that. Then the menu can be changed at any moment without any meaningful additional cost, and you can give each diner a brand new menu if you want.
Reading a menu on a phone is just annoying. But paying through QR code works well. A restaurant near me had a system where the waiter brought you a check with a QR code. You scanned the QR code and could finish the payment online. Way better than the waiter going back and forth three times. Last time I was there they had gone back to the old ways though. Not sure why.
I've seen restaurants where there's a QR code at the table to use for payment while ordering. But what if someone replaces the QR codes with fake ones that make you pay elsewhere?
Entering my card number and going through the elaborate two-factor rigamarole for online payment here in Denmark sounds like a terrible time, instead of just using my card like normal. Hard pass.
I find it much easier for the server to drop the check off. A few minutes later they pick it up, then return. Yes, it's three trips to the table, but they are usually refilling drinks, clearing plates, etc. anyway.
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.
Not a single one of my family members would know how to even begin to use such a payment system. Several older members don't have smart phones at all. If this is an OPTION that's great, but to make it required means a lot of folks get left out.
> You scanned the QR code and could finish the payment online. Way better than the waiter going back and forth three times.
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.
> 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?
The server runs the card and comes back with the slip for me to add a tip if desired and to sign to finalize the transaction. The slip is left on the table when I leave the restaurant.
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.
> The server runs the card and comes back with the slip for me to add a tip if desired and to sign to finalize the transaction.
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.
> How can they finalize the transaction without your PIN?
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.
I believe this works differently in the US than Europe, for example. PINs aren't required for my cards which all have contactless chips at this point. Aren't they required for European cards though?
I went to a restaurant that not only had the QR code menu, but also insisted that we order and pay on the phone. We had trouble getting the website to load. An employee told us to try using the restaurant's wifi. Eventually one of us got the website working but the other didn't, so we all ordered and paid on one phone. Despite seeing all our struggles, the staff did not say "oh, we'll just order it for you in the system" - I think they had no way to place orders and process payments directly.
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.
Had similar experiences. This is why they need to bring the proper folks to think through the problem - digital is great until it doesn't work and paper is just less of a pain for everyone. Also, costs a lot less!
I'm not quite sure how having to reprint paper menus is cheaper than a static CDN website. Especially if you have multiple locations.
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.
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.
> On your smartphone? I'm not talking about looking at a menu from home, I'm talking about ordering at the table.
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.
I should also mention my personal bias here: if I'm at a restaurant (or any other socializing event), the very last thing I want to be doing is interacting with a screen of any sort. I want to be present and enjoy the people I'm with, not using a computer.
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.
Printing menus only costs about 2 minutes of a dev's time, anyone in the restaurant can do it, there's no need to involve a third party who may not be responsive, and the fact it never fails to work is huge. We tech people often ignore the sheer amount of grief we go through because we're used to fixing things and confident we can. A restaurant owner will experience far higher cognitive load and frustration - and if the site goes down in business time, it's total hell. Not easily worth it.
Restaurants don't often print their menus in house. They get the printed at a print shop. Which takes time, and labor. And unless you're doing them at volume, isn't a negligible costs.
Don't get me wrong, I prefer paper menus. But I see why so many restaurants want to do QR code.
I'm curious what you estimate the transaction cost would be for printing a recyclable paper menu per customer versus the cost of the tech solution per customer.
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.
>This is why they need to bring the proper folks to think through the problem - digital is great until it doesn't work and paper is just less of a pain for everyone.
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.
> There's a reason why pretty much all states use paper ballots instead of electronic-only voting.
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.)
Reminds me of a UX course I took many years ago at uni.
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.
I think we used the solutions as a vehicle for discussion, rather than settling on a "correct" one. Though I can't recall for certain, it was well over a decade ago.
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've been to restaurants like this. I have to download an app, or navigate a mobile website to order food and pay: it's a terrible customer experience. It's not convenient, it's not pleasant. If I wanted an impersonal and unfriendly experience, completely mediated through an app, I could just stay home and order Doordash.
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.
I went to an Italian restaurant while visiting London and sat for 30 minutes before asking why no one was taking my order; they said, oh, you have to order online. But there were no signs or anything. So, the next two nights, I went to the other Italian place next door, which was old school, and took orders from a server. Food was better, too. Technology is usually a good thing, but not when I'm hungry.
They need to look at how japan does their electronic ordering - an ipad-esque touch screen, and a rail cart that delivers the sushi directly to your table.
> If I ever go to another restaurant and they tell me to order on my phone, I will just leave.
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.
All the restaurant order/pay app developers have pivoted to making the flip-around kiosks that charge 20% and up for tipping now, so the QR code app game is dying off apparently. :\",
Good, I don't go to a restaurant to sit on my phone, I go to converse with my party. Don't make me stare at the little death screen any more than I have to.
Anyway back to my 10 hours of staring at a bigger death screen all day ;)
I much prefer the QR codes. I can zoom and search and turn up the brightness for my old eyes. It's funny seeing the current generation get up in arms about progress after spending so much time whining about boomers inability to cope with change.
My expectation is for a restaurant to have paper menus locally, and a website that has the menu electronically (which I use to check their menu beforehand).
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)
> It's funny seeing the current generation get up in arms about progress after spending so much time whining about boomers inability to cope with change.
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
Can only read the first paragraph, but even that seems wrong, so I guess the rest of the article would be the same...
> 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...
In many places QR codes have partially replaced servers as you're now "directed" to pay via a link supplied via said QR code, a job that used to be carried out by said servers until not that long ago.
I'm not a native English speaker so I had to search for the exact meaning of "runners" vs "servers", enough is to say that I've never been to a restaurant where those two roles were different, and I suppose that the majority of the restaurant-going population shares my experience.
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.
> Or maybe in the US there is indeed a distinction being kept between "runners" vs. "servers"
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.
> 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...
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.
Can we fix restaurant websites next? It's so infuriating when you're trying to figure out where you want to eat and you go to a restaurant's website to see if they have anything that looks good, except they won't show you the menu at all unless you go through their process for locating the nearest restaurant and starting an online order. If the home page of a damn restaurant doesn't a big button that says "menu" and when I click it it shows me the menu, they deserve to go out of business.
They don't need to show me prices. Just show me the food. Imagine if Toyota.com refused to show you what a Corolla looks like until you located the nearest dealership and scheduled a test drive.
The idea was always fine, the execution pitiful.. but I guess the same could be said for just about anything these days haha. QR codes, mobile menus, mobile ordering, on-table kiosks, printed menus, it can all be done really well (and is usually done really poorly for a variety of complex reasons).
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.
For some reason YC never funded the "Menu as a service" start up that would have done the thing properly once. Every restaurant has a different terrible implementation.
The button you speak of was implemented in the Bubba Gump Shrimp chain, albeit in analog form.
In many cases you're right, in others (understaffed, multiple difficult tables, etc) I always felt like it would be a courtesy to the server (who is likely doing 10 things at once) to be able to request their attention without immediately demanding their attention / interrupting what they're already doing.
It has seemed strange to me that some nicer restaurants that seem to care for every other detail of the experience have held onto this as long as they have. Many QR menus are pretty terrible from a UX point of view regardless of whether it “cheapens the experience” in a less tangible way. At a basic functional level I find that my brain can keep the location of a few items I’m considering and want to “glance between” in memory on a physical menu, but not with a digital menu (particularly given that scrollbars as a visual cue have been pushed aside over time).
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 thing that gets me is that the QR code menu is much, much worse than looking up the menu on the restaurant's regular web site. I've bypassed the QR code menu before and just started staging an order from their carryout ordering system, then used the shopping cart to organize and rattle off what I want to the server. I can also stage multiple items that I may be interested in for comparison, then make a final decision from the smaller list.
My favourite local eatery has a website that looks like it was made in Frontpage 2003. It has a big long row of those coloured and textured bezel-effect buttons that were all the rage back then.
Most bizarrely of all, the restaurant was only opened in 2018.
It would be one thing if the QR code URL redirected to the restaurant's webpage with an HTML menu (even a PDF menu, as long as it's within an obviously restaurant-affiliated domain). The thing I found particularly obnoxious about restaurant QR codes was that the menu PDF would often be hosted on some random-ass site obfuscated via a URL shortener. So scanning a URL and immediately being prompted to open a PDF from a random domain is a big no-no for me. And frankly, I think it's dangerous to the world at large to normalize that kind of behavior, given how prone PDFs are to malware.
Some restaurants have solved in another way, there is a tablet on the table with the menu. I think thats a good option to, its always up to date, you can order and, thats important to me, you can zoom in on the menu.
Good. Some of us don't use smartphones. 10% of US adults don't according to a 2023 Pew survey, though I suspect most of those are old people. Any business requiring one explicitly excludes me as a customer and generally makes the world a less-accessible place.
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.
I do have a smartphone, but the idea that I should be obligated to use it in order to do something as simple as picking a meal at a restaurant leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. I don't want to live in a world where use of a smartphone - owned, as they all are, by two giant corporations - becomes a prerequisite for participation in the economy.
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.
My problem -- and probably I am not alone in this -- are dietary restrictions. So when I order, it's not going be what's on the menu, rather some kind of meat or fish from one entree and then side from another and maybe something I spotted available as a salad topping and I love it. If a server comes and takes my order they can write it down and most of the time they can make it work. I have no idea how to order this with a QR menu. It's not fungible.
One can hope that museums and attractions that have a ticket/admission booth but require online ticket purchase will follow this lead.
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.
Good grief, have seasonal menus and rotate through them. If you're trying to change your menu more often than that, you probably opened your restaurant too soon and you should have planned better.
I really dig not having to flag down servers, to order, add to order, or pay. Being able to transact whenever you want is great. Food just shows up. When at a busy bar it's even better, no waiting in huge lines.
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.
My response in these places has always been "Sorry, I don't have a smartphone". It's amazing how the terribly efficient act of writing down my order on a piece of paper suddenly becomes possible again when I say that.
103 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 174 ms ] threadThere's a finite number of menus and waiters, qrs help alleviate that problem.
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.
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.
Anyway back to my 10 hours of staring at a bigger death screen all day ;)
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.
> 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.
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.
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.
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.
Whenever I see one of them it just upsets me and reminds me how much better life was before.
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.
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.
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.