One of the major concerns for restaurant dine-in was the use of traditional (printed) menus because they are found to be the dirtiest thing on a restaurant table. Guests are hesitant to touch these traditional menus and also the CDC regulations have made it clear that disposable menus should be provided. But printing disposal menus are not ideal given the rising costs. Restaurants are quickly pivoting by offering their guests a touch-free experience with contactless digital menus/QR menus.
Why Contactless Digital Menus?
1. Contactless is here for the long haul
The global pandemic has literally been life changing. More than ever, society is concerned and obsessed with their health. With COVID-19 cases still surging guests are looking for more ways to go contactless to protect themselves from the possible contact with the virus. These measures are even more heightened when it comes to ordering food at the restaurant. Therefore, contactless digital menus are ideal for restaurants like yours to adapt to.
2. Cost-effective
If you are going for disposal menus, a single paper menu, uncoated, in black and white print costs about 50 cents. If you are doing over 100 for lunch and 100 for dinner that’s $100, adding up to about $3,000 a month. QR menus are very cost-effective. You only have to print and place the table tents on the table and this can be used for a more extended period of time.
3. Easily accessible
Accessing the menu is as simple as scanning the QR code from their phones or tablets, and then accessing the web page to place their orders.
4. No app download
With QR menus or digital menus, guests do not need to download heavy apps to their phones. They can simply place their orders online through a web URL.
5. Flexible menu updates
Restaurateurs can instantly add, edit, and delete menu items and update item descriptions. If the menu is updated once, it updates on every menu scanned.
6. Attention with images
Traditional menus do not have images mostly because it is costly to print high-quality images on paper. But with contactless digital menus, you can have mouth-watering images to make customers want to order more. Having images help them decide what they want, which therefore makes their ordering process easier.
7. Less wait-staff assistance
Wait-staff can be re-allocated to add value to other parts of the business. When orders are placed through contactless digital menus, the order can be sent directly to receipt or kitchen printer.
8. Cashless payments
Guests and staff do not have to handle cash. Cash being passed from hand to hand and can be contaminated, and compromises the safety and health of both customers and staff.
9. Re-ordering
Guests can re-order their favorite dishes, or a beverage refill without having to wait for the staff approach the table, and eliminating more human contact.
10. Quicker table turns
With seating capacity reduced to allow tables to be placed at least 6 feet apart, restaurants are not getting their normal amount of guests, resulting in less revenue. Contactless digital menus increase the speed for ordering and payment and so you can turn more tables and increase the potential for revenues.
11. Collect guest information and traceability
You do not need to manually take down customer information. With contactless digital menus, the guest will have to input their information to complete their order.
12. Run targeted campaigns
Ordering through contactless digital menu captures guest information like email, contact number, etc. This helps you run future targeted marketing campaigns such as email campaigns on your latest offers, SMS on going discounts, and more.
How to get Contactless Digital Menus/QR Menus?
When you sign up for a demo with Applova, the team will get in touch with you to set up contactless digital menus. This can be ready in a couple of days. The Applova team will build the menu with enticing food imagery. Then the team will also provide you with a free marketing pack to launch contactless digital menus at your restaurant. The marketing pack would include customized table tent designs with QR codes on it for each table (each QR code will carry the table number so that the restaurant staff can easily track the table that made the order).
How is the process contactless? How does it work?
When you get your table tent designs, you can print them and place them on each table.
- Your dine-in guest scans the contactless digital menu to view the menu on their phone or tablet.
- They can select their food and beverages
- Tip the waiter and make their payment online
- Orders will be directly pushed to the POS and printed in the kitchen printers
- When the order ready, the order will be sent to the correct table.
To wrap it up, ever since the wake of COVID-19 restaurants are quickly adapting to contactless digital menus. These contactless digital menus are hygienic and easy to roll out. They are cost effective, environmentally friendly, engaging to customers and they are mobile-optimized, simple to search and navigate. They are easy to update instantly. Adapting to contactless digital menus is a new experience for guests and it is now the way of dining life.
