SINGAPORE, May 16 (The Straits Times/ANN): Scanning a fast response (QR) code to view a menu is not an unusual sight today as extra eateries flip to expertise in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Such menus, initially adopted to scale back bodily contact between employees and patrons, will proceed to be a part of the eating expertise in the post-Covid-19 world, eateries advised The Straits Times.
Although a handful of shoppers stated they choose bodily menus, eateries stated the digital menus have helped their operations.
Of the 12 eateries ST spoke to, 10 are utilizing QR code menus.
A printout of the QR code is often positioned on tables, and patrons scan it with their digital machine to get a hyperlink to the net menu and place their order. Payments can both be made digitally or bodily at a cashier.
A spokesman for the Restaurant Association of Singapore stated a QR code reduces the necessity for shared contact surfaces.
Restaurants also can search suggestions from diners by getting them to scan QR codes that direct them to a suggestions kind or their web site, added the spokesman.
Besides higher use of manpower, some eateries stated patrons have grown accustomed to the digital menus. – The Straits Times/ANN
Five of the 14 shoppers that ST spoke to stated they choose bodily menus, whereas the opposite 9 stated they are okay with each bodily and digital menus.
Although beautician Chen Hsing Yi, 37, is receptive to bodily menus, she likes the comfort of viewing a digital menu on the cellphone.
She stated: “Our phones are with us all the time, so it is easy to use them for everything, including looking at menus, which wouldn’t be that much different (from reading a physical menu).”
Most eateries stated using the expertise has helped improve operations and higher deploy their manpower.
Restaurant chain Song Fa Bak Kut Teh changed its bodily menus with QR code menus throughout its 13 shops in mid-2020.
Adrian Thia, its advertising and marketing communications supervisor, stated the corporate will proceed to use on-line menus as it helps with manpower.
Its staff should not have to take down orders manually and may deal with different duties such as serving the meals or managing queues. While it permits patrons to view the menu and place an order on-line, funds nonetheless have to be made on the cashier counter, stated Thia.
Brian Chua, chief government officer of Gourmet Food Holdings, which runs meals manufacturers such as Vietnamese restaurant chain Mrs Pho and ramen restaurant chain Tsuta, stated it has carried out QR code menus at each chains since April final yr.
Physical menus are nonetheless out there on the chains. Customers will nonetheless have to pay on the cashier counter, though they can view and place their order by the QR code menu, stated Chua.
Chua stated it can proceed to use QR code menus for varied causes, together with lowering errors in orders as prospects place the order themselves.
Besides higher use of manpower, some eateries stated patrons have grown accustomed to the digital menus.
Dellen Soh, chairman and chief government officer of Minor Food Singapore, which oversees the Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe chain, stated the outlet at Bugis+ has been utilizing a QR code menu because the begin of this yr.
Restaurant chain Song Fa Bak Kut Teh changed its bodily menus with QR code menus throughout its 13 shops in mid-2020. – The Straits Times/ANN
He stated 90 per cent of the outlet’s prospects are tech-savvy and receptive to utilizing the digital menu to order and pay digitally. But patrons also can refer to the bodily menu on the tables, place their order on an order chit and pay on the cashier counter after their meal.
“Moving forward, we think it will be the new normal and QR ordering is here to stay,” stated Soh.
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh’s Thia stated: “For now, we don’t see any reason to stop using it unless there is a better digital option to replace the QR code self-ordering system that is beneficial to F&B operators as well as customers.”
But some eateries are sticking to the bodily menu.
While Loris Massimini, chef-owner of Italian restaurant Ristorante Pietrasanta in Fusionpolis Way, agreed that there are lots of advantages to digital menus, a bodily one permits his restaurant to work together with diners.
“With a digital menu, customers will just be looking at their phone. We still prefer this human touch at Ristorante Pietrasanta… The human touch is part and parcel of the dining experience,” he added.
Secretary Anna Bong, 49, additionally prefers a bodily menu as she struggles to learn the menu on her cell machine.
“I suffer from long-sightedness, so it is hard for me to read the menu. This (is) especially so for the food descriptions, which are (displayed) in an even smaller print under the items,” she stated. – The Straits Times/ANN