There was a time when physical menus in hotels used to fascinate us. As kids, we used to love going through those menus that came in the form of a booklet or a paper. It used to be empowering.
Slowly, QR code-enabled menus are replacing physical menus. Everything is going digital now. The trend picked up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Several restaurants expected customers to appreciate digital menus because physical contact would be almost nil with QR scan codes. "Digital menus let customers view images, descriptions, and nutritional information about menu items," once wrote Vishnu Bajpai, a business leader.
However, increasingly, customers are starting to dislike digital menus. Twitter user Joy Das, who commands more than one lakh followers, says that QR scan codes are a "terrible user experience on our phone screen". Parikshit Shah says that physical menus are not replaceable. "The endless and clueless scrolling on phone makes it tiring to order anything," he writes.
Network issues are bothersome. Netizens are complaining that network issues are the reason they don't prefer scanning QR codes.
However, a good chunk of customers prefers scanning to physical menus. Striking a pro-QR note, Mahesh Krishnan writes, "With QR menus, you just add everything that catches your fancy into the cart- a sort of shortlist. Then go to the cart and eliminate some to get to a final order. Still better if you can pay online as well."
