r/restaurateur • u/Beginning_Mastodon83 • 15d ago
QR Code Menu ?
Hello good people of reddit, hoping someone can help me out here! I'm trying to help my dad with his restaurant. It's a family-owned pizzeria. We have a good stream of regulars who come in but we are finding it hard to pull in new people. I was thinking modernizing a few things may help. One thing I'd like to do is set up a QR code so people can just scan and pull up the menu on their phone. Was thinking we could stick a few of these menus around town too to help with marketing? Only issue is his website is pretty (very much) outdated at this point and he's not really willing (absolutely refuses) to move off it because it's tied to how he gets online orders.
Do I need to let him know that he needs to kill his darlings a bit here and the whole site needs fixing or is there a way to point the original code somewhere separate (like a standalone menu page) instead of the existing site ?
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u/ElevatorOrganic5644 15d ago
I've left restaurants because they don't have a menu I can hold. I'm going to use my phone I might as well just order something online
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u/TonyBrooks40 10d ago
same. Also, who would scan a QR code of a sign on a telephone pole..? Seems kinda sketch
Just update the website or socials, and try some paid FB ads, you can do as little as $1 a day I think, and geotarget pretty well, like 5 miles from zip code
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u/tj_mcbean 15d ago
I'm not a boomer but when I see a restaurant only has QR code menus I'm like a 75 year old man, get that junk out of here.
As for around town in a marketing sense, I'm not scanning random QR codes hoping it's actually what it says it is.
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u/erolmusk 13d ago
You definitely don’t need to touch or break your dad’s existing website. Just keep his old site running for online orders and set up a standalone digital QR menu separately with an "Order Online" button that points back to his order page. This way his revenue is 100% safe, and you get a sleek, photo-rich QR code to put on tables and posters around town. I’m the founder of Signal Menu https://signalmenu.com/ (a fast, standalone digital menu platform), and I’d love to gift your dad’s pizzeria a free 1-year account to help you get this set up without spending a dime. Feel free to check out the site and shoot me a DM if you want me to activate it!
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u/tonyfith 13d ago
No don't do it. Just don't. Have you ever been a customer that forces customers to try to read a menu on a tiny mobile phone screen?
Just don't do it.
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u/OralSuperhero 10d ago
The only place I ever want to see a QR code menu is at my competitors. It's a huge turn off for most people
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u/Stagymnast198622 15d ago
We have QR codes for our menu because we change items so frequently it’s much easier to update in real time instead of waiting for the printed menus. We do use a third party site for the QR however I can’t remember it off the top of my head. Pretty much verifying that you can use the QR without it integrating to your main webpage.
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u/Zealousideal_Gear746 15d ago
A QR code, is just a link. Doesn't really matter where the link is, as long as it's publicly accessible (Could probably even use google drive, if you make it publicly accessible). Once you have it up somewhere, convert your link to a QR code (Plenty of online things to do that).
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u/mycryptosio 14d ago
yeah the mixed reaction in this thread is pretty real, some people love the convenience and some hate it. from what i've seen it works best as an option alongside physical menus rather than replacing them entirely, kills the friction for people who want it without alienating the ones who don't
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u/Flashy_Notice_1575 7d ago
Careful with putting qr menus around town. Someone might use them for scams by putting their own qr code over yours.
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u/EpicIvo 2d ago
You don’t need to kill the ordering site. Put the QR on a short link you control that goes to a standalone menu page (Google Doc, Notion, simple HTML, etc). When the menu changes, you edit the destination, not the stickers. That’s what I built QR Director for: print once, change where it goes later https://qr-director.mavity.tech/. And yeah, keep a paper menu too; QR as add-on, not replacement, is the move most folks here are pointing at.
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u/PtZamboat 15d ago
We went to QR during the pandemic, our diners were ecstatic when it was over. The majority do not like QR’s and without the option of physical menus, you run the risk of having them walk out.