The coronavirus pandemic led to the instantaneous and widespread use of QR codes, but experts in the catering industry think the technology will hold up long after the health crisis ends.
Invented by a Japanese engineer in 1994 to track car parts more easily, quick response codes came into mainstream years later as smartphones with cameras took over. But it wasn’t until the ongoing pandemic forced companies to bend over to disinfect that they became a ubiquitous sight within U.S. bars and restaurants, replacing physical menus.
Bitly, a link management service, said it has seen a 750% increase in QR code downloads over the past 18 months. Bitly president Raleigh Harbor said restaurants have realized the valuable technology it has, beyond providing untouched service.
“They can adjust their menu offerings on the fly to take into account items like inflation, fluctuations in food and commodity prices and other variables,” Harbor said.
Outside food prices rose 0.8% in July, up 4.6% over the past twelve months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Commodity prices for key products like coffee and pork have skyrocketed this year. Restaurants have also raised prices after raising wages to attract workers.
Scarcity has been another concern of restaurant owners. Chicken wings, burgers and tequila are some of the items operators have struggled to obtain due to pandemic-related supply chain problems.
A QR code also provides restaurants with more information about their customers. Booking services like OpenTable, SevenRooms and Resy pass on data about who made the reservation to the restaurants, but not everyone at the table.
“If you have a restaurant that doesn’t accept reservations, you won’t know who your guest is until you pay,” said Bo Peabody, co-founder and CEO of Seated, a restaurant reservation service that rewards diners for visiting restaurants. “What the QR code can do is let you know who that guest is right when he’s sitting.”
Peabody also owns Mezze Restaurant in Massachusetts, serves on Boqueria Restaurant Group’s board of directors and is a venture partner at Greycroft, where he invests focused on restaurant technology. According to Peabody, Mezze and all Boqueria restaurants have used QR codes instead of menus during the pandemic.
Restaurant technology experts see even more opportunity in QR codes beyond physical menus. The pandemic started a boom in online orders for restaurants and industry experts predict that change will continue as well. Switching to QR codes helps to place online orders on a premise basis, rather than just delivery and delivery transactions.
Noah Glass, CEO of digital ordering platform Olo, told analysts that the company’s revenue calls local digital transactions accounted for the first time for 1% of the industry’s global transactions. The change can be attributed to both QR codes and the increase in self-service kiosks.
“This is a big step in an industry that makes 60 billion transactions in a normal year to see 1% move on the digital premise,” Glass said.
Using Olo or the Toast point-of-sale service, for example, a QR code can direct customers to a link to order and pay on their phones, even at full-service restaurants.
“This allows restaurants with fewer staff to operate more efficiently, which our customers find integral to their operations, as restaurants across the country face staff shortages,” said Chris Comparato, CEO of Toast.
Peabody suggested that QR codes could allow restaurants to track customers’ past orders, allowing diners to easily reorder the next time they visit, such as features used by third-party ordering platforms such as Grubhub and Doordash. .
“Bringing all of these things to the restaurant is the promise of the digital connection to the customer, which is sure to start with the QR code,” Peabody said.
Seated began offering additional rewards to its users when they scanned the QR code and filled out the contact tracking form. These rewards can be applied to gift cards or credits with providers like Uber or Starbucks.
“Even when the contract layout goes away, you’re only provided with something interesting, you can get an incentive and be comfortable with using a QR code menu,” Peabody said.
Restaurants can also implement QR code payments on receipts, so customers can pay without withdrawing a credit card or cash, Comparato said. It’s more convenient for customers and faster for servers, allowing restaurants to accommodate more customers by turning the tables faster.
However, QR codes are not the answer for all restaurants. Some returned to physical menus as easily as they removed plexiglass barriers between tables when states began to leave restrictions in late spring and early summer this year. Darren Seifer, a food and beverage analyst at The NPD Group, said elegant food restaurants are less willing to replace their menus or ordering process with QR codes.
“I see some hesitation with some of the best restaurants because it’s not as elegant as getting the check at the end of the meal,” Seifer said.
Dine Brands, the parent company of IHOP and Applebee’s, plans to have both options available to customers.
“People have different levels of digital convenience,” said CEO John Peyton. “Some people prefer and enjoy the QR code and use the phone, and others prefer to have the traditional menu.”