Restaurants and diners embrace the once-scorned QR code as they accept the new no-touch reality
- QR codes are popping up at restaurants around the world as business owners consider new ways to keep diners and employees safe.
- Acceptance of QR codes has waxed and waned over the years but some tech CEOs think this is the moment for diners and restaurants to embrace them.
- Tech companies like BentoBox and Thanx have created their own QR code-based systems for restaurants.
"Order from your phone," the cheerful table card reads. "Open your camera app and hold it over this code." In the center of the card: a boxy, black-and-white QR code.The maligned QR code — short for quick response — has made its pandemic-era comeback at restaurants across America and around the world.
During its summer burger and wine bar pop-up, guests at the world-renowned Noma in Copenhagen used QR codes affixed to tables to access the menu. At Holybelly in Paris, servers wear the codes on pins attached to their aprons. In the U.S., codes are popping up affixed to restaurant tables from casual Waffle House locations to more upscale independents, like the outdoor tables at San Francisco's Mister Jiu's.
The codes trace their history back to the '90s, though acceptance has waxed and waned over the years. During a global pandemic amid fears of shared surfaces and prolonged face-to-face interaction, it's become a way for guests to access menus, place an order, and pay their bill.
Tech companies are rethinking the QR code in our no-touch reality. Thanx, a company that provides digital ordering and helps businesses manage customer relationships, just added new technology that connects all the dots: menus, ordering, and payment. Guests scan a code at their table, read the menu, order, and pay directly from their phones. Servers deliver food from the kitchen, reducing most of the touchpoints we need to avoid right now. No face-to-face ordering, no credit card-taking, no check signing.
"The good news is that QR code technology has advanced a lot from where it used to be. You can literally use the camera app on your phone to scan a QR code, you don't need a separate app," said Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein. Customers don't have to download an app or log in to use the codes, though they can opt into restaurant loyalty programs or save their payment information.
BentoBox, a company that designs and builds restaurant websites. released its own version of order-at-the-table last week. As part of the offering, the company sends free printed tabletop cards including a QR code to restaurants. Krystle Mobayeni, CEO of BentoBox, and also a designer, says her team spent a lot of time considering how to make the codes fall in line with the aesthetic standards and high bar they have for design.
"Design can transform a product or experience, and we've approached this in the same way we've approached our websites, Mobayeni said. "We have unique templates for these QR codes. They have customizable colors and there's just the right elements to be able to customize. There's these main and secondary colors that can be adjusted, almost like a brand system."
The company recommends cardholders ("They're pretty classy — marble, chrome," said Mobyayeni) and includes a lookbook of other ideas for QR code display —printed on salt and pepper shakers, embossed on a table, or a larger display for standing and ordering at a distance — though doesn't yet offer those options itself.
For all the design attention they're getting, QR codes are still pretty basic technology, and anyone can use a tool to generate one for free. While some restaurants use tech like Thanx or BentoBox to incorporate ordering and payment, others use QR codes simply to replace shared paper menus.
"It's almost a joke that these things have become such a critical part of our lives and our restaurants' lives. It's very ironic," said Mobayeni. "The thing that's actually driving that is they're a universal good piece of utility."