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Better customer experience, less waste: It looks like no-contact menus are going to become a thing. We first saw it pop up in Italy as a result of the pandemic, but Denver-based large format printing company SpeedPro was quietly developing "smart signage" technology using NFC and QR codes before anyone had heard of COVID-19.
"We knew this touchless technology would change the customer experience," says SpeedPro CEO Larry Oberly. "We were in the process of developing it prior to the pandemic and have expedited the tech's launch in order to aid businesses in their reopening and social distancing efforts to provide a solution to a critical need restaurants and other businesses face today."
SpeedPro's system is already in use at two restaurants in Denver, Cherry Cricket and Wynkoop Brewing. Here's what using it looks like:
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It's browser-based, so customers don't have to download individual apps for different restaurants; it cuts restaurant overhead and eliminates the server/busboy task of having to clean the menus; it of course reduces the possibility of germ transmission; and my favorite thing about it is that backlit phones with adjustable font sizes are easier to read than tiny print in fashionably dark restaurants.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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A Signage Design Win: No-Contact Menus Becoming a Thing
I like it.
I've seen similar things in some restaurants in Xiamen China. They use QR codes and I think you can even pay for your meal through your phone too. I think it runs through Wechat, but I might be wrong.
The bit I don't like is how it encourages a table of people meeting face to face to start the exchange with their faces in their phones:
"What are you thinking of ordering?"
"Oh, sorry I haven't looked yet. Stacey sent me a funny snap chat"
People don't play with menus in the bathroom. You're going to have to show some actual studies on the reduced germ transmission claims there.