4 ms·

There’s a lot of underground restaurants and bars in Sydney, and many of them have started using QR code only ordering. Only problem is phone reception is reall

There’s a lot of underground restaurants and bars in Sydney, and many of them have started using QR code only ordering. Only problem is phone reception is really spotty in a lot of the basement venues, and not all of them have wifi.

wkat4242 3y ago
Yeah the QR crap was understandable during the pandemic (though a bit stupid because surface spread was discredited very soon). But I don't understand why so many restaurants still hang on to it. It used to be impolite to mess with your phone in a restaurant. Now it's mandatory. Luckily it's not so common anymore now in Spain, only the Asian restaurants still do it. And McDonald's are trying to force their app by removing ever more ordering screens.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > But I don't understand why so many restaurants still hang on to it. It's cheaper than having to deal with paper that gets dirty, torn apart by kids or outright stolen. And "daily special" doesn't need to be manually inserted into menus any more. I've mentioned it in another thread about ice cream machines already: restaurants and hospitality in general are absurd cheapskates. Whenever a tiny avenue opens that saves them money, they'll do it, legal or not - the only thing that matters is that it looks acceptable to customers.
  - georgebcrawford 3y ago
    > restaurants and hospitality in general are absurd cheapskates. You've never run a bar or restaurant have you. What do you think the profit margins are?
    - mschuster91 3y ago
      I have never run a bar, but worked in stage lighting, as a bartender and as a cleaner. And no matter where I worked at, if you'd send in the health department, fire safety inspectors, plumbers, electrical inspectors or cybersecurity experts, you'd find a truckload of code violations, not to mention constant issues with getting paid.
      - wkat4242 3y ago
        Also, not sure about the US but hospitality industries in Holland tend to be a front for money laundering of criminal enterprises. Especially the really busy city bars/discos. All the cash going around and hard to track numbers of visitors makes it easy to do a number on the tax people. Also, they can use their enforcers as doormen. Where I'm from most of them had a criminal record even though they managed to obtain the "Tickmark" security logo (though I don't know whether that was legit or fake). Really, that should never be granted to anyone with any kind of violent crime history. It's the same with a lot of Chinese restaurants. Lots of laundering there :(
- devbent 3y ago
  It saves time, potentially a lot of time during busy hours. I've waited an easy 10+ minutes for a server to come and ask for drinks and another 5-10 to come back and take orders. Phone based ordering, which can include pictures of all menu items, is a huge win in comparison.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Most of them here don't do this though, they just link to a PDF with the menu.
- chmod775 3y ago
  > But I don't understand why so many restaurants still hang on to it. In some Chinese cities you can walk all day without finding a restaurant/shop that can give you change if you try to pay with cash or that accepts your western credit card. Without Alipay/WeChat you will be stuck in your hotel unable to do anything. However unlike the crappy western solution, where each business wants to have their own app, the experience is extremely smooth: Scan a QR code with WeChat, the menu opens in the app, order, pay. Want a bottle of water in a small shop? Grab it from the cooler, scan the QR code on the cooler, type in 2 CNY and hit send money. Cashier gets a ding that you paid 2 CNY. Confirm with a nod and just leave. Ride hailing (Didi - which ate Uber's lunch here), airplane&train tickets, and much more is also done right through WeChat/Alipay.
  - paganel 3y ago
    The problem comes when you become an enemy of the state (real of metaphorical, it doesn't matter) and you instantly get denied access to those apps.
  - nucleardog 3y ago
    Do they let non-Chinese people use WeChat or Alipay’s payment services these days? Last time I was there (2019) you had to tie your account to a Chinese bank account. You can only get a Chinese bank account if you have a resident ID. You, for obvious reasons, cannot get a resident ID if you’re not a resident or there on a work visa. Effectively, I couldn’t even go down to the corner store and grab a snack without an escort because I had no ability to pay for anything.
    - wkat4242 3y ago
      Escorts are usually hired for other things than a trip to the corner store. Saying for a friend :D But pretty creative solution!
    - chmod775 3y ago
      > Do they let non-Chinese people use WeChat or Alipay’s payment services these days? Both Alipay and WeChat allow that now. I had no issues using my Visa with Alipay, and while WeChat was a bit confusing, it worked in the end. I recommend setting it up 2-3 days before you're going to need it because especially WeChat may want to do some manual verification.
- School-Cotton 3y ago
  Why do you talk about the pandemic in past tense? The pandemic is still going on. If QR code menus don’t make sense now, then they never made sense.
  - sojournerc 3y ago
    I'd say it is now endemic, and the emergency is over.
    - School-Cotton 3y ago
      Why? What’s the difference between now and 2021, other than the fact that most people decided to stop caring?
      - sojournerc 3y ago
        Is the Spanish flu still an emergency because a related strain still exists? Covid still exists, but most everybody has natural or induced immunity, and it just isn't as severe (new strains) or as much of an unknown. It's not going away. If you want to live in a state of emergency in perpetuity, go for it, just don't expect the world to not move on.
        School-Cotton 3y ago
        > Covid still exists, but most everybody has natural or induced immunity That’s why I compared to 2021, not 2020. In 2021 anyone who wanted a vaccine could get one. > it just isn't as severe (new strains) AFAIK this is still unproven, do you have a source? > If you want to live in a state of emergency in perpetuity, go for it I don’t, and never did. You’ve understood my point exactly backwards. I don’t think QR code menus make sense, and, along with a lot of other pandemic theatre, I don’t think they ever made sense, as evidenced by the fact that once people decided to stop using them, nothing catastrophic happened, despite the fact that the state of the pandemic is not meaningfully different from 2021.
        3y ago
genocidicbunny 3y ago
I have a love-hate relationship with those kinds of restaurants. I hate having to look at the menu and order using my phone, but on the other hand, I love that I don't need to tip them (because there's no service being provided to me -- no, carrying my food over from the counter doesn't count).

wkat4242 3y ago

Yeah the QR crap was understandable during the pandemic (though a bit stupid because surface spread was discredited very soon). But I don't understand why so many restaurants still hang on to it. It used to be impolite to mess with your phone in a restaurant. Now it's mandatory. Luckily it's not so common anymore now in Spain, only the Asian restaurants still do it. And McDonald's are trying to force their app by removing ever more ordering screens.

mschuster91 3y ago
> But I don't understand why so many restaurants still hang on to it. It's cheaper than having to deal with paper that gets dirty, torn apart by kids or outright stolen. And "daily special" doesn't need to be manually inserted into menus any more. I've mentioned it in another thread about ice cream machines already: restaurants and hospitality in general are absurd cheapskates. Whenever a tiny avenue opens that saves them money, they'll do it, legal or not - the only thing that matters is that it looks acceptable to customers.
- georgebcrawford 3y ago
  > restaurants and hospitality in general are absurd cheapskates. You've never run a bar or restaurant have you. What do you think the profit margins are?
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    I have never run a bar, but worked in stage lighting, as a bartender and as a cleaner. And no matter where I worked at, if you'd send in the health department, fire safety inspectors, plumbers, electrical inspectors or cybersecurity experts, you'd find a truckload of code violations, not to mention constant issues with getting paid.
    - wkat4242 3y ago
      Also, not sure about the US but hospitality industries in Holland tend to be a front for money laundering of criminal enterprises. Especially the really busy city bars/discos. All the cash going around and hard to track numbers of visitors makes it easy to do a number on the tax people. Also, they can use their enforcers as doormen. Where I'm from most of them had a criminal record even though they managed to obtain the "Tickmark" security logo (though I don't know whether that was legit or fake). Really, that should never be granted to anyone with any kind of violent crime history. It's the same with a lot of Chinese restaurants. Lots of laundering there :(
devbent 3y ago
It saves time, potentially a lot of time during busy hours. I've waited an easy 10+ minutes for a server to come and ask for drinks and another 5-10 to come back and take orders. Phone based ordering, which can include pictures of all menu items, is a huge win in comparison.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Most of them here don't do this though, they just link to a PDF with the menu.
chmod775 3y ago
> But I don't understand why so many restaurants still hang on to it. In some Chinese cities you can walk all day without finding a restaurant/shop that can give you change if you try to pay with cash or that accepts your western credit card. Without Alipay/WeChat you will be stuck in your hotel unable to do anything. However unlike the crappy western solution, where each business wants to have their own app, the experience is extremely smooth: Scan a QR code with WeChat, the menu opens in the app, order, pay. Want a bottle of water in a small shop? Grab it from the cooler, scan the QR code on the cooler, type in 2 CNY and hit send money. Cashier gets a ding that you paid 2 CNY. Confirm with a nod and just leave. Ride hailing (Didi - which ate Uber's lunch here), airplane&train tickets, and much more is also done right through WeChat/Alipay.
- paganel 3y ago
  The problem comes when you become an enemy of the state (real of metaphorical, it doesn't matter) and you instantly get denied access to those apps.
- nucleardog 3y ago
  Do they let non-Chinese people use WeChat or Alipay’s payment services these days? Last time I was there (2019) you had to tie your account to a Chinese bank account. You can only get a Chinese bank account if you have a resident ID. You, for obvious reasons, cannot get a resident ID if you’re not a resident or there on a work visa. Effectively, I couldn’t even go down to the corner store and grab a snack without an escort because I had no ability to pay for anything.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Escorts are usually hired for other things than a trip to the corner store. Saying for a friend :D But pretty creative solution!
  - chmod775 3y ago
    > Do they let non-Chinese people use WeChat or Alipay’s payment services these days? Both Alipay and WeChat allow that now. I had no issues using my Visa with Alipay, and while WeChat was a bit confusing, it worked in the end. I recommend setting it up 2-3 days before you're going to need it because especially WeChat may want to do some manual verification.
School-Cotton 3y ago
Why do you talk about the pandemic in past tense? The pandemic is still going on. If QR code menus don’t make sense now, then they never made sense.
- sojournerc 3y ago
  I'd say it is now endemic, and the emergency is over.
  - School-Cotton 3y ago
    Why? What’s the difference between now and 2021, other than the fact that most people decided to stop caring?
    - sojournerc 3y ago
      Is the Spanish flu still an emergency because a related strain still exists? Covid still exists, but most everybody has natural or induced immunity, and it just isn't as severe (new strains) or as much of an unknown. It's not going away. If you want to live in a state of emergency in perpetuity, go for it, just don't expect the world to not move on.
      - School-Cotton 3y ago
        > Covid still exists, but most everybody has natural or induced immunity That’s why I compared to 2021, not 2020. In 2021 anyone who wanted a vaccine could get one. > it just isn't as severe (new strains) AFAIK this is still unproven, do you have a source? > If you want to live in a state of emergency in perpetuity, go for it I don’t, and never did. You’ve understood my point exactly backwards. I don’t think QR code menus make sense, and, along with a lot of other pandemic theatre, I don’t think they ever made sense, as evidenced by the fact that once people decided to stop using them, nothing catastrophic happened, despite the fact that the state of the pandemic is not meaningfully different from 2021.
        3y ago

genocidicbunny 3y ago

I have a love-hate relationship with those kinds of restaurants. I hate having to look at the menu and order using my phone, but on the other hand, I love that I don't need to tip them (because there's no service being provided to me -- no, carrying my food over from the counter doesn't count).