4 Reasons QR Codes Are The Only Contactless Solution Restaurants Need

During the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants worldwide shifted from paper menus to a completely contactless dining experience. And many establishments relied on QR Codes to facilitate this shift.

Although restaurants no longer need to adhere to social distancing regulations, contactless dining remains popular. Many diners love the efficiency of scanning a QR Code to access digital menus and payment options. Thanks to their ubiquity, QR Codes are intuitive and easy to scan with a phone camera or a free barcode scanner app.

QR Codes are a simple and effective solution for all your contactless dining needs. Here are four ways you can use QR Codes in your restaurant to create a great dining experience for your customers.

1. Enabling no-touch ordering

Even in a post-pandemic world, many consumers still prefer a contactless ordering experience. One study found that 62% of consumers would order from a restaurant without a cashier if given the opportunity.

Online ordering has become the norm for takeout and delivery, but QR Codes facilitate online ordering for dine-in customers as well. Customers scan a QR Code on a sign or on the table to access an online menu. They can then use platforms like Toast (an all-in-one restaurant technology software) to place their order with their mobile device and have it delivered directly to their table.

In some cases, no-touch ordering is even faster than traditional service. Rather than waiting for restaurant staff to come to the table, customers can send their orders directly to the kitchen as soon as they’re ready.

How to set up contactless ordering

To set up contactless ordering at your restaurant, you’ll first need to decide how you want customers to view your menu and order. Many restaurants opt for a semi-contactless experience where customers open a PDF menu on their mobile devices and then place their order with a server. If this is the case for you, you can create a PDF QR Code for your menu with QR Code Generator PRO, and then print and display it on tables around your restaurant.

To make the ordering process completely contactless, create a URL QR Code that links to your point-of-sale system. With this option, diners are sent to a page where they can view the menu and place orders online. Then, diners can pick up their order at the counter once its ready.

When creating QR Codes for restaurant menus, always opt for print-quality QR Codes in SVG or EPS format. This ensures that the QR Codes are clear and that they’ll scan properly once they’ve been printed.

2. Accepting contactless payment

QR Codes also make it easy for your customers to make contactless mobile payments once they’ve finished their meals. Some payment solutions even allow customers to split the bill themselves, rather than relying on servers. This helps customers settle their tab as soon as they wrap up their meal, leading to faster table turnover during busy periods.

Many people love the quick, streamlined experience of paying with their mobile wallets instead of using a physical debit or credit card. Contactless payment options have become much more accessible over the past few years, and 53% of American consumers now use digital wallets more often than traditional payment methods.

How to facilitate payments with QR Codes

To facilitate contactless payments, create URL QR Codes that link to the POS system. This process can go hand-in-hand with contactless ordering. QR Codes can be displayed on tables or on payment terminals.

When using QR Codes to facilitate payment, you’ll need to make sure that customers can easily access their specific tabs. For example, you might have individual QR Codes for each table or print a unique code on each order receipt.

3. Touch-free customer insights

In addition to facilitating a streamlined customer experience, QR Codes can also help you learn more about your customers’ expectations and preferences. You can use QR Codes to link directly to surveys and feedback forms, making it easy for customers to share their opinions on the dining experience.

Digitizing your restaurant operations allows you to collect data and learn more about your customers’ behaviors. For example, you can use data from your digital ordering system to identify the most popular dishes or analyze data from your POS systems to determine which payment types are most popular.

How to track scans and collect data insights

QR Codes facilitate data collection by allowing you to track scans—as long as you use a Dynamic QR Code. Unlike Static QR Codes, Dynamic QR Codes are trackable. Dynamic QR Codes also allow the creator to edit things like the scan destination, even after you’ve printed and posted the code in your restaurant.

To collect restaurant insights directly from your contactless dining solutions, you’ll need to use Dynamic QR Codes. With a Dynamic QR Code, you can track the number of scans over time, as well as the devices your customers use. This gives you a real-time look at how guests engage with your contactless technology.

4. Build customer relationships outside the restaurant

Customer loyalty and engagement are key to the success of any restaurant. Many consumers love returning to local restaurants over and over again to enjoy their favorite dishes and connect with the community. QR Codes can help you build these online relationships with your customers. 

For proof that customer relationships matter, look no further than the success of restaurant loyalty programs in recent years. According to a recent survey, 47% of restaurant loyalty members use their memberships several times per month, proving that digital engagement helps keep customers coming back. You can use QR Codes to link to a sign-up page for your loyalty rewards program, incentivizing customers to dine with you more often.

Many consumers also like to keep up with their favorite restaurants on social media. 30% of millennial diners avoid restaurants with a weak presence on Instagram, so building your follower base online can translate to an increase in real offline diners. You can build these online relationships with social media QR Codes throughout your restaurant and in your marketing materials to encourage new followers.

How to create multi-purpose QR Codes

QR Codes are one of the easiest ways to bridge the gap between in-person and online relationships with your customers. Restaurant industry pros need an easy way to create and track many different types of QR Codes in one place without getting bogged down in difficult interfaces or worrying that their QR Codes will stop working.

QR Code Generator PRO is the best QR Code generator for restaurants, with an intuitive design process, a wide range of customization options, and dynamic tracking. QR Code Generator PRO also offers many different types of QR Codes, allowing you to link to everything from webpages to in-app content to multimedia assets and more.

Simplify contactless dining with QR Code Generator PRO

The restaurant industry has changed significantly over the past few years, and owners need a way to keep up with changing guest expectations. QR Code Generator PRO is a leader in restaurant technology, making it easy to create hospitality industry QR Codes that engage customers.

Sign up today to get started with your contactless dining experience.