Have you ever wondered why, in 2020, paper is still such an important commodity? Why we still kill millions of trees yearly just to produce it? Or why no one seems to think this is a problem?
We have.
In fact, we thought about it so much that we decided to do some research to understand if paper is needed to run a successful business. In this digital age of currencies, personalities and full blown lives its a wonder why we are still so reliant on paper.
Let’s switch things up for a second and focus on the phrase of the year, covid-19. This despicable, death mongering, vacation destroying virus really changed the lives of billions across the globe in the space of a few short months.
Humanities lack of hand hygiene was highlighted during the first months of 2020 as sales of hand sanitizers and other disinfectants rose drastically.
Like seriously guys, didn’t you wash your hands before corona?
Anyway, we decided to look at the hospitality industry, specifically to understand how social dining, or the lack of it, could cause entire economies to crash and drastically increase the number of new covid-19 cases daily.
We began to notice, almost immediately, the disparity within businesses in this industry and their overall “hygiene” score, a metric we very proudly made up for the purpose of our research. Businesses that ranked high on our scoreboard had various contactless solutions in place to help customers view their services and order food/drink without ever needing to touch a menu, while businesses who ranked lower on our scoreboard, using the traditional restaurant ordering process, had more customer interaction.
What we gathered from our research was that businesses with more contactless solutions in place received more patronage from younger audiences with somewhat significant revenue retention, while more traditional businesses, seemed to spend more time and money managing their menus to serve an older client base.
Now, we’re not saying young people spend more money in bars or restaurants, and we’re definitely not saying older people spend less. What we are saying is millennials and Gen-Z clientele are very much future focused, patronizing establishments they feel match their beliefs.
One of the most important factors we came across in the high scoring businesses was they were all “environmentally friendly” or, had a mission based around green, re-usable, sustainable options. Being green is a huge topic among young people as the general sentiment seems to be “save the planet”. Again, if a business aligns with their beliefs, they patronize. If not, not so much. Why is this an important fact and what does it have to do with digital menus?
Well, using digital menus not only significantly reduces paper usage thereby lowering your carbon footprint, but it also puts money back in your bank account. A typical menu could cost upwards of $250 per year in printing and maintenance costs — not to mention the added cost of having to constantly disinfect them to stay in-line with covid-19 safety guidelines. Meanwhile investing in a digital menu like Esca can often times cost $0 per year or at most, if you’re looking for that VIP treatment, $180 per year. Not to mention, you’re saving the planet by doing so.
So yes, in the beginning, there was paper. But technology has given us better, faster, and safer options that paper menus specifically should be a thing of the past.
