{"id":36311,"date":"2022-06-04T10:59:08","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T10:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-we-should-stop-using-qr-codes-for-restaurant-menus\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T10:59:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T10:59:08","slug":"why-we-should-stop-using-qr-codes-for-restaurant-menus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-we-should-stop-using-qr-codes-for-restaurant-menus\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we should stop using QR codes for restaurant menus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Their fifteen minutes of pandemic fame are up.<\/p>\n<p>Remember 2020, when we were thrilled to be dining outdoors after a three-month lockdown?  Capturing a QR code and seeing a restaurant menu pop up on your phone almost seemed like fun at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Back then, the coronavirus was falsely believed to spread by surface contact.  Post-vaccine, QR menus belong on the ash heap of pandemic history, along with wiping down mail and dousing your takeout containers in hand sanitizer.<\/p>\n<p>But these Rorschach inkblot-like menu replacements refuse to die.  Too many in the industry stubbornly, irrationally, continue to use QR codes, further irking customers confronted with ever-more sprawling menus.  Being forced to squint at an iPhone before your first sip of wine can suck the joy right out of a meal &#8211; indoors or out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDining out should be carefree and fun.  QR codes kill the mood and turn what should be a pleasant experience into a chore, \u201dsays New York-based communications consultant Rachel Antman, who likes to dine out frequently. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I scan a QR code at a restaurant, it reminds me of the check-in rigamarole at kiosks that offer rapid COVID tests,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption>QR code menus are relics of the days when the coronavirus was falsely believed to spread by surface contact.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jeremy Wladis, who owns the Upper West Side&#8217;s Good Enough to Eat and Harvest Kitchen, long ago got rid of QR codes because customers \u201cnever fell in love with them\u201d at his crowd-pleasing Columbus Avenue spots.  He can&#8217;t wait to switch from QR to paper menus at Fred&#8217;s, a popular burger and beer joint at Amsterdam and West 83d Street that he just bought.  The previous owners were still using QR.<\/p>\n<p>At ultra-trendy Szechuan spot Shan on Smith Street in Cobble Hill, the lengthy menu requires multiple swipes.  A manager explained to us, \u201cIt&#8217;s easier to change the menu\u201d from day to day as dishes are added and dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Easier for them &#8211; not for us.  What a pleasure, after you waited for up to an hour for seats, to pick your way through Shan&#8217;s ma-la dry pot variations on a two-by-three-inch screen!<\/p>\n<p>Midtown craft beer emporium The Three Monkeys takes things even farther, offering 36 beers to scroll through, plus a zillion tacos, flatbreads, bowls, salads, small plates, large plates, cocktails, wine &#8211; all in separate categories.  Just what you need when you&#8217;re desperate for a bite.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-475689783-1-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Like diners needed another reason to stare at their phones during dinner - now it's unclear if the unwelcome distraction will ever be done away with.\" class=\"wp-image-22523023\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-475689783-1-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-475689783-1-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-475689783-1-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Like diners needed another reason to stare at their phones during dinner &#8211; now it&#8217;s unclear if the unwelcome distraction will ever be done away with.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For my friend Shelley Clark, a Manhattan-based publicist, dish-and-drinks-wrangling proved an exercise in frustration at Drom, the long-established nightclub \/ restaurant on Avenue A.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere&#8217;s the menu,\u201d a staffer stated coldly, pointing toward the tiny, barely visible QR code.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe room is dimly lit, because it&#8217;s a showplace,\u201d Clark points out.  It strained her and her companion&#8217;s patience as they tried to target the code with their phones and then to peruse listings for falafel plates and German sausage platters in the gloom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo customers were definitely disgruntled,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Drom didn&#8217;t respond to requests for comment.  Other restaurants offered feeble explanations. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-519518115-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Restaurant industry pros insist that the cost of printed menus is negligible, and that customers order less when using QR codes.\" class=\"wp-image-22523200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-519518115-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-519518115-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-519518115-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Restaurant industry pros insist that the cost of printed menus is negligible, and that customers order less when using QR codes.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images \/ Tetra images RF<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe menu is out of date, it changes all the time,\u201d the waiter told us at popular Turkish-Mediterranean Blue Mezze Bar on Upper Second Avenue last week.<\/p>\n<p>Strange &#8211; their lineup, heavy on mezze and falafel samplers looked exactly as I remembered it from months ago.<\/p>\n<p>A manager at Tartina, an Italian cafe on Amsterdam Avenue near West 110th St., said they still use QR codes \u201cfor safety reasons,\u201d but wouldn&#8217;t elaborate.  He said they might switch to paper when the seasonal menu changes in a few months &#8211; which can&#8217;t come too soon.<\/p>\n<p>Are they pinching pennies on paper and printing?  Restaurant veterans say any negligible savings are erased by the fact that customers spend less when they order from QR menus.<\/p>\n<p>Mercer Street Hospitality founder John McDonald, who uses paper menus at the splendid new Mexican bistro Bar Tulix, as well as Lure Fishbar and Bowery Meat Company, estimated that a medium-size restaurant might save $ 5,000 a year with QR codes.  That&#8217;s peanuts compared to what they could end up losing: McDonald found that his customers spend 15% to 20% more when ordering from paper menus.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1330957883-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Here's a secret - it's enough with the QR codes.\" class=\"wp-image-22523232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1330957883-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1330957883-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1330957883-copy.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a secret &#8211; it&#8217;s enough with the QR codes.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The spending gap is probably because print menus let customers \u201cview the whole canvas\u201d at a glance, rather than having to poke through categories one at a time on QR, he said.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cannot imagine any savings that would convince anyone to want to just do code and not the physical reading of a properly designed, in-hand menu,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n<p>The strangest menu policy might be at stylish Macdougal Street wine bar Niche Niche.  A friend was stumped when he was told that food was only shown by QR code &#8211; even though printed wine lists were on the tables.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought It was meshuganah,\u201d he said.  &#8220;But they wouldn&#8217;t explain why.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He was so annoyed, he didn&#8217;t stay to try either the wine or the food.  Niche Niche didn&#8217;t get back to us.  They didn&#8217;t even send a QR code. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Their fifteen minutes of pandemic fame are up. Remember 2020, when we were thrilled to be dining outdoors after a three-month lockdown? Capturing a QR code and seeing a restaurant menu pop up on your phone almost seemed like fun at the time. Back then, the coronavirus was falsely believed to spread by surface contact. &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-we-should-stop-using-qr-codes-for-restaurant-menus\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why we should stop using QR codes for restaurant menus<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[9],"tags":[451,4991,529,637,17167,172],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/OR-codes.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}