The dining industry is skeptical about what the future holds ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as restaurants distance their tables more than usual to practice social-distancing, the usual footfall cannot be expected, post-lockdown.
The main game changer for the dining industry is the QR Code menu for restaurants. As a result, restaurants are revising their current business models as they aim to serve their customers during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
One change that the industry has been quick to adopt is contactless menus for restaurants using QR Codes. As customers are reluctant to touch the paper menus, a scannable QR code menu will help your customers access your menu quickly on theirs. It might come across as complicated, but generating QR codes is quite simple. You can conveniently create a QR code for your restaurant’s menu using an online QR Code generator.
Restaurants that offer off-premise services such as takeouts and drive-throughs have installed QR code systems for ordering and payments to remove even little contact from their procedures.
As a result, cloud kitchens and quick-service restaurants can be seen adjusting to the new norms much faster than dine-in restaurants.
The dine-ins have to adapt to this much more creatively and thus can be seen installing contactless ordering systems to prevent the spread of the virus. Contactless menus for restaurants using QR Codes have proven to be a great tool to implement contactless ordering. Once you have obtained your unique QR code from an online QR Code generator, there are a few ways in which you can use it in your restaurant service to create a safer environment for your customers.
Replace printed menus with contactless menus:
A QR code can be printed on table-toppers or embedded as is on the table surface. When the customer settles down and is ready to order, he/she can quickly scan this QR code via their smartphones and access the restaurant’s menu. What makes QR codes an effective and sustainable solution is that multiple menus can be added to a singular QR code. This helps to streamline the entire ordering procedure in a contactless and hygienic manner.
2. Replace cash transactions with contactless payments:
One of the most common points of contact in any restaurant is cash exchange. The number of times a piece of currency passes through human hands is concerning as is, and even more these days during the pandemic.
Since the COVID pandemic has raised the importance of social distancing, it will be wise for restaurants to implement contactless payments via QR codes. These technologies minimize contact as the customers can conveniently scan the code at the checkout counter to pay for their bills online.
Share a virtual kitchen tour with QR Codes:
Restaurants are also seen using QR codes to offer virtual tours of their kitchen to their customers to reinstate customer confidence. This way, customers can peek into the restaurant’s kitchen in real-time and make sure that the necessary protocols, such as masks, gloves, protective screens, etc., are being followed by the staff.
Share safety information through QR codes:
For quick-service restaurants, the QR code can be placed at the self-service counters. The customers can scan this code to access information such as the restaurant’s sanitization techniques and the temperature checks of its staff members. This way, the client can see the step by step safety practices followed by your outlet.
All these methods are proving to be extremely useful in bringing the restaurants back to their feet. Understandably, the socially distant and contactless work-ethic will be the norm past the pandemic as well.
Many major food chains have already such as KFC, Subway, and Dominos, to name a few have already adapted technologies and techniques that promote hygiene, cleanliness, and social distancing to whatever extent possible.
Different parts of the world are dealing with the pandemic at different scales and speeds. While some areas seem to be recovering sooner than others, there are still many who are still fighting the crisis actively.
To our dismay, the impact the pandemic has on businesses has been just as significant is the scale of the outbreak. Even though the pandemic has hit the food industry hard, the future is not necessarily downhill.
By following a set of protocols for safety and hygiene, restaurants will be able to sail through COVID and reopen smoothly. A few parts of this protocol might be temporary, such as the safety screens, masks, PPE kits, etc. However, some changes are expected to be structural to the food industry. These include contactless deliveries and pickups and cashless payments.
QR codes are amongst the most implemented technologies in the dining industry, especially after the COVID outbreak. They are easy to generate, versatile, and easy to use. Another reason why companies readily are adapting to QR codes, as it can be updated easily and hence can inform customers about any latest offerings quickly. Thus, it is one of the ideal upgrades that restaurants must start adapting to embrace the new normal that awaits all of us.
Apoorva Hegde is a content marketer at MobStac.