Food and beverage (F&B) outlets are among the biggest users of the technology given their need to serve their customers yet keep a safe distance away.
More than that, the QR or quick response code has become the answer, at least partly, to the labour shortage problem the sector faces now and, by extension, reduce operating costs for them.
Mok Wai Peun, a co-founder of restaurant chain Go Noodle House, told FMT Business they have managed to not only trim headcount but also raised the level of service by introducing the QR code.
“We have been able to reduce the number of workers by at least two in each of the 31 branches we operate, yet our customers now enjoy faster service,” he said.
In many eateries, the waiter is there only to serve the food and clean up after the customer.
The advantage for eateries is obvious everywhere. In an interview with The New York Times, Cheqout co-founder Tom Sharon said restaurants that use QR code menus can shave 30% to 50% off their labour cost.
Patrons scan the QR code to gain access to the menu, place orders and, after the meal, pay the bill. They also have the option to vary their orders without having to call for the waiter.
The QR code also gives them access to a questionnaire they can respond to, to rate the service and food.
Making the decision to switch from man to code is a cinch as StoreHub co-founder Fong Wai Hong pointed out.
“There is a huge shortage of manpower across the board, either because of snags at the Immigration counter at entry points or the reluctance of migrant workers to return to Malaysia,” Fong told FMT Business.
“These issues have a negative impact on operations at restaurants. That made us realise that introducing the QR code to help patrons gain access to the menu would be meaningful.”
StoreHub is an Omnichannel digital service provider that specialises in QR Order and Pay solutions for restaurants and retail outlets.
Mok and his partners had, initially, chosen not to use the QR code to preserve the traditional ambience at their restaurants but with the outbreak of Covid-19, the need to go for e-menus became obvious.
“Some customers are also wary about close contact with other people. They would rather look at the menu on their smartphones, so going digital was the perfect way out,” he said.
At a restaurant where the menu is changed or updated regularly, it is also cheaper to add new items or remove old ones from the e-menu. Printing new ones on a regular basis can be costly.
However, going the QR code and e-menu way is not without its set of problems. For a start, internet connection has to be reliable.
Corporate executive Shilton Sunil Schubert, 29, who eats out regularly, recalled being in a restaurant inside a shopping mall where the internet connection was poor.
“It took a long time for the menu to appear on my smartphone. In the end, the waiter had to take my orders the old-fashioned way,” he told FMT Business.
“It can get annoying when you can’t use the QR code. It just defeats the purpose of having it in the first place.”
Regardless of what customers have to say, Mok believes that with the advances in technology, the QR code is here to stay.
The technology was created in Japan in 1994 but it only began to be used widely at eateries when the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020.
Even as the world takes baby steps into the endemic phase, social distancing remains essential, ensuring that the QR code becomes a permanent item on the menu.