QR code menus took a seat at the table when masks, plexiglass and social distancing dominated life during the pandemic.
Instead of printing disposable paper menus, restaurants partnered with companies like Menuat to allow phones to read the code and provide a restaurant’s menu in the palm of a customer’s hands.
Today, instead of a QR code showing a stagnant PDF menu, restaurants are employing the technology to customize them daily and better control costs.
Menuat founder Jeff Charette, 43, started the company in 2013. His goal was to create a reliable way to find menus online.
The company’s name comes from what most people would type into a search engine – menu at – for restaurants.
However, rather than just a menu for customers, the software is a tool for the restaurant owner as well. Menus, food photos and specials can be changed in an instant.
Charette created a company for restaurants tailored to the current market. Food prices are constantly changing, disrupting the margins on seemingly every menu item.
Menuat can instantly change menu prices using a computer, tablet or smartphone.
If a menu item has too many expensive ingredients, it can be temporarily removed from the menu, returning when prices stabilize.
“The price of your tomatoes went up and an item that made $2 is now making 20 cents. You need to be able to change your prices,” Charette said.
For the customer, the ordering experience happens on large, wall-mounted monitors. The graphics and design are created for each restaurant from templates.
The software is suited for fast-casual restaurants, bars and coffee shops where ordering at the counter is the norm.
Diners can pick a participating restaurant and search the menu for a particular ingredient, like bacon, and it will list choices containing it.
Customers with food allergies can use the search to avoid particular dishes. Schools can employ Menuat to list nutritional information, he said.
Of the digital templates offered, about 30% of Menuat’s customers choose the chalkboard. It has a familiar, less electronic feel, Charette said.
But it has the versatility that a traditional chalkboard menu does not.
When a traditional chalkboard change has to be made, the board can start looking sloppy from obvious erasures and items being crossed out.
Eventually, the whole board may need to be erased and redone.
“There is usually one person at the restaurant who can do the chalk art. So if you have a case where that one person quits or comes in late or only comes in on certain days of the week, it becomes a huge burden,” Charette said.
Since the pandemic, Menuat’s business has suffered. Restaurants have closed. Those struggling to meet margins see the cost of an electronic menu as a luxury they can’t afford during lean times, he said.
While he did not provide financial information, business has been down over the past two years by 30%. But year-to-year numbers are up 20%.
It costs clients about $500 to design and install the system if they supply their own flatscreen monitors. After that, the subscription is about $140 per month.
“We just try to make money on the service that we provide, which is restaurant consulting and the service,” he said.
The same idea could be adapted for retail shopping.
In theory, a customer who opts to participate would open the store app and find a list of past purchases. The app could suggest accessory items for those purchases. It could point out sale items of interest.
“It’s something we haven’t yet gone into because we need to know if the need is there. We have plenty of need in the restaurant space,” Charette said.