Restaurant menus: disposable, digital, QR code — post COVID
A detailed comparison to help restauranteurs.
“Avoid using or sharing items that are reusable, such as menus. Instead, use disposable or digital menus”
- Center for Disease Control (CDC) for restaurants and bars
With the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) issuing guidelines to safely reopen the country post-lockdown, restaurants and cafes will have to be extra careful while welcoming and serving their customers. The CDC guidelines specific for restaurants calls for a widespread change in behavior and business practices of restaurants.
These guidelines naturally stipulate social distancing and hygiene norms that restaurants will have to comply with. Among other things, CDC guidelines discourage the use of reusable menu cards, which are considered potential carriers of coronavirus.
Already bogged with other stipulations — sparser seating arrangement, frequent sanitizing requirements, and appointing COVID-19 contact personnel — restaurateurs now also have to quickly overhaul their menus.
Reusable menu cards (usually present on each table in a booklet form) have been a norm for the F&B industry for decades. Now, since they are out of contention, the restaurateurs have to quickly think of alternatives that are cost-effective and maintain the aesthetic appeal of traditional menu cards.
The CDC has advocated the use of digital or disposable menu cards in place of the traditional reusable ones.
Let’s take a quick look at these alternatives, their advantages and cost-effectiveness as per business needs and if there are other options which can help restaurants expedite their preparedness.
Disposable Menu Cards
What are disposable menu cards?
Disposable menu cards, as the name suggests, are those which can be discarded after use, i.e., after a customer touches them. They are usually printed on thin paper sheets, and are placed at the entry, order counter, or the table.
Are disposable menus a sustainable solution?
Disposable menu cards might seem like an obvious solution for the post-COVID world, where physical contact needs to be minimized.
However, they are not a feasible and sustainable solution for the long-term. For one, the cost of reprinting the same menu in large numbers will add to many challenges that the restaurants are facing. Furthermore, their environmental impact is also pretty damning.
Arguments are already being made against the potential excessive use of disposable cutlery and table-ware. As the industry tries to move away from disposal cutlery and packaging, it makes little sense to rely on disposal menus for the long haul.
While big chains might find the resources to print thousands of menus, smaller establishments with limited customers will most definitely suffer. Going by the average rates offered for printing, the option of disposable menu cards doesn’t present itself as an ideal candidate for restaurants with a steady flow of low to medium footfall.
According to industry averages and estimates, here’s how many disposal menus you might have to print to keep up:
Cost of printing disposable menu:
Now, this is a considerable investment for those operating on a small scale.
Naturally, the rate per card goes down when printed in bulk, but even if a restaurant owner gets one printed in the thousands, there is no telling how many will be used, when the menu is changed, or when the restaurant might have to shut down again.
Design inspirations for Disposable Menu
Digital Menu Boards
Chances are that you have already seen digital menus at your local McDonald’s or Burger King joint.
Digital menu boards have several advantages over the traditional paper or cardboard menu cards.
- For starters, they can be read collectively by buyers in the restaurants
- They are starkly visible and tend to be more attractive
- They can be updated with more ease than the non-digital menu cards.
However, it is important to note that the much-loved interactive touch-screen menus obviously cannot be used in current times, which leaves static display boards as the only option.
Cost of installing a digital menu board
The one (massive) drawback of digital menu boards over static menu cards is the cost of installation. For this very reason, they are usually chosen almost exclusively by big businesses. Installing a ‘low-tech’ digital menu board can cost around $610, and this is just the starting price (no where close to the shiny boards of McDonald’s).
The cost of installing a single large LED digital menu board will cost a restaurant upwards of $1220, and several companies offer such installations. And that’s only a part of the expenditure as sometimes you might need other hardware to operate and manage the signage.
Digital menu boards are definitely an ideal approach to the emerging challenges of the restaurant industry during the current pandemic, but their affordability is the biggest barrier in their adoption.
This is particularly true during such lean times when thinking about overhauling the infrastructure of one’s establishment would be the last thing many restaurant owners might want.
QR Code-Based Menu Cards for restaurants
Disposable and digital menu boards, while acceptable alternatives, come with the limitation of high cost. So what option does restaurant owners who want a quick, low-cost, and effective way to update their menus?
Over the past few years, QR codes, as a result of being extremely flexible and cost-effective, have been finding acceptance in the F&B industry.
Given how restaurants across the world are finding ways of safe reopening, QR Codes for restaurant menu are the most obvious switch.
Their flexibility is such that these codes are now being used to access the menu cards of hotels and restaurants, in some cases, of such illustrious chains as Marriot and Hilton.
Take a spin — Create one for your restaurant
Here’s how QR Codes as menu work -
- Restaurant owners create a QR code and display it in their establishment at multiple places.
- Customers use their phone camera or Google lens to scan the QR Code and access the menu on their phone.
Here’s a comprehensive collection of QR Code menu generators by 2ndKitchen.com
QR Code menus vs disposable and digital menus?
In most cases, QR codes provide more than an edge over the disposable cards and digital menu boards.
1. Ease of implementation
QR codes are easy to create and print, which means you can do it yourself without having to outsource the process. With the right QR Code generators (I had done a comparison of generators, a few months back), it takes nothing more than 5 mins!
2. Cost-effective
There is no huge one-time installation charge, as in the case of the digital boards.
Even the most expensive plan of the best QR code generator will provide you hundreds of dynamic (customizable and editable) QR codes for the same price of one month of disposable menus or a fraction of the digital menu cost (around $480).
There are also several free QR code generators which obviously comes with far fewer features, but even the starter pack (which is usually less than $100) can prove very useful for restaurants.
Additionally, there are zero to minimal recurring charges like in the case of disposable menu cards, they can be updated easily and are also environment-friendly to use.
3. QR Code are dynamic in nature
As we ride the COVID wave, one must be prepared to scale down and extend the menu. Unlike disposable menus, with QR Codes you can manage the menu linked, without reprinting the QR Code.
Also, most restaurants have separate menus for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. To make it convenient you could just have one QR Code stuck on the walls of your restaurant that shows different menus based on the time.
Or, you could also switch menus based on the season.
4. Reach out to consumers a month later and tell them about the new dishes introduced!
Catching hold of customers who walked into your restaurant, a month later is almost impossible. But when you take the experience to their smartphones, it is possible.
If you are using QR Code menus from Beaconstac, you have the option to store cookies on the consumers’ phone and show them ads for your restaurant a month later, or maybe just the next week!
5. QR Code menus represent your restaurant’s personality
You can customise your QR code by adding your restaurant name or logo, or even change their color.
QR Code design inspirations
Here’s a quick comparison of all three types of menus — disposable menus, digital menus and QR Code menu cards:
Impact on customer —
QR Code menu: Immersive, interactive & safe
Digital menu boards: Attractive & safe
Disposable menu: Makes no long-term impact
Long-term usage —
QR Code menu: Easily maintainable
Digital menu boards: Might require servicing every few months
Disposable menu: Not feasible
Functionality —
QR Code menu: Easy to edit; Adaptable
Digital menu boards: Boards cannot be changed
Disposable menu: Menus need to be reprinted
Cost & ROI —
QR Code menu: For a 20 table restaurants, typically $150/mo
Digital menu boards: For an average sized board, typically $1500 + additional software cost/mo
Disposable menu: For a 20 table restaurants, typically $620/mo
Ease of deployment —
QR Code menu: DIY
Digital menu boards: Need to hire professional signage agencies
Disposable menu: Need to hire a printer and/or designer
Food for thought
All the options listed in the article might be suitable for different restaurants and diners. While digital boards are a sophisticated menu option for bigger establishments that can afford to have them installed, disposable menu cards are suitable for fast-food chains with fixed menus and hundreds of customers.
QR codes, at once, straddle the two worlds and cater to both small and big restaurants. They are economical, accessible, eco-friendly, and a perfect tool to help restaurants adhere to the changed realities of the world. And since people with minimal technical know-how can create and put up QR codes in their premises, they are probably the quickest way for restaurants to open their shutters with a new menu.
