Re-imagining The Restaurant Menu | The Power of BYOD Technology
As we enter yet another unpredictable phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re seeing varied approaches from restaurants to help safeguard their employees and guests, whether they’re welcoming people back into their venues, or still limited to offering curbside pickup or takeout.
While every venue is different, a recurrent theme is operator’s desire to reassess every area of service in order to reduce or eliminate person to person contact and high surface area touch points. One such area is what could be considered one of the most traditional parts of the dining experience.
Innovative venues are seeking flexible, fast and user-friendly solutions for contactless ordering and payment, and that presents the opportunity for one of the most radical and exciting shifts in modern hospitality: the re-imagining of the restaurant menu.
What is a Digital Menu?
A Digital Menu allows guests to view your menu on their phone with a quick access QR code or URL (no app download required). In recent weeks we’ve implemented Digital Menus across several full service and QSR’s and we’ve seen unprecedented adoption for both our Order and Pay at the Table products.
“Most notably, in a few short weeks we’ve already saved almost 200,000 single use paper menus from ending up in landfill. And that’s really exciting. ”
Digital Menus also dramatically streamline the process of seating in a COVID compliant manner. Guests are able to be shown to their seats in accordance with social distancing mandates, and no physical menu (disposable or disinfected) is required. The host or server can simply direct them to the QR code and offer simple usage instructions if needed.
Taking print to digital
Menu accessibility is key, so is the presentation and organization of menu items. We’re working closely with our venues on displaying their menu items in a visually compelling yet, clear and straightforward manner. What’s important?
Well defined categories
Text size that’s legible
A clear and consistent visual hierarchy
Color accessibility
Customer Impacts
In what would still be considered the ‘early phases’ of reopening, guests by and large appear to not only to be willing to try QR code technology but embrace it. The pure fact they’ve been afforded a choice by the venue seems to be largely well received. Why is this so impactful?
They’re able to remove yet another point/ item of contact from the transaction
Digital Menus eliminate single use menu wastage (which in conservative estimates costs the average operator 50c per menu, not to mention the logistics, environmental impacts and the inability to make menu changes)
It speeds up the time between being seated to the meal arriving at the table
Diners have access to the menu throughout, meaning add-ons or dessert orders can be placed at any time, with ease
Cost and ROI
As you would expect, reducing dramatically or eliminating completely the need for physical menus is one thing, but also taking away the need to have physical ‘kiosk’ screens – either freestanding or at table tablets is another shrewd cost cutting exercise for venues looking to embrace BYOD and all the freedom that model provides their guests.
Where to from here?
Digitizing menus as they exist now is one thing, but what excites our team is the prospect of re-imaging the menu (and the role it plays in the meal) altogether. There are so many accepted conventions, from material weight, stock type and finish as well as many nuances with layout and shape/size that indicate the perceived identity of the venue and the value of the fare, but in digital format, do these traditionally accepted norms still serve today’s guest? Digital Menus present a blue-sky opportunity to completely re-engineer this incredibly critical touch point and at Ready, we have every intention of pushing the envelope.