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You make some good points but some are, excuse me, cringey-wrong. > physical menus are hard to update How often does a restaurant update a menu? Those that ne

You make some good points but some are, excuse me, cringey-wrong. > physical menus are hard to update How often does a restaurant update a menu? Those that need to update frequently already solved that by having a chalk board. > physical menus are often too simple, requiring asking the server questions they've answered a dozen times before already, hurting their efficiency... How does a digital menu solve this? All online menus I've used have basically the same amount of information as a printed menu, with some being marginally better. The marginally better ones are the online menus for food delivery because they have a bit more flavor text, pun intended. This is however offset by restaurant-owners' tendency to put unrepresentative stock photo to go with the item and they just put a disclaimer about the photos somewhere. > physical menus aren't cleaned between uses, so you're touching everything the server touched, and the three people before you. Ok but please wash your hands after you order at the earliest and before you touch your food at the latest. > physical menus aren't searchable. Fair but only thanks to `Ctrl + F`, the best menu search interface by a mile. > Difficulty scanning the QR code will get better over time, obviously. I'm starting a prediction market if this will happen before or after Tesla FSD. > it ignores how QR codes work (you don't have to be that close) Uhhh...what? The farthest I could scan a QR code is about two handspans away. This was from the original Google Pixel! It was remarkably good at catching QR codes, I have no idea why. I thought it was the moment scanning a QR code has finally gotten better(!) so imagine my disappointment when my subsequent phones (even one Google Pixel 3a) couldn't live up to it. The 3a was still better than others. Even with flagship models, you gotta be pretty close to scan QRs not to mention wait for the exposure and focus to adjust. (Whoever tells me "cameras can zoom now dummy" has never actually scanned a QR code from afar with the camera zoom lens. When you zoom, the exposure changes AND it becomes _super_ motion sensitive which is, obviously, not great for scanning things.) > Does the author really think getting the server to split the bill is easier? I am not the author but yes I do think so. Server has the table's bill in front of him and a calculator, each tells him what they had and pay in turn. Et voila. Splitting the bill inconveniences comes down to a couple of factors IME: 1. the customers know what they had but don't know the price so they have to leaf through the menu again to calculate. 2. the table is provided with only one copy of the bill so the group has to scramble over one measly piece of paper, talking over each other, to compute their share. Both can be solved by centralizing all that complexity on the waiter. To be fair, I think the author's bad experience was due to wanting to keep the apple crumble gesture a secret. That is such a bizarre complaint, bro. It doesn't make sense to me either! You're all in a restaurant, everyone knows all the food will be paid for by someone! Why keep it a secret that you paid for the apple crumble? That's enough HN for the rest of the week.

e28eta 3mo ago
>> physical menus are hard to update > How often does a restaurant update a menu? Those that need to update frequently already solved that by having a chalk board. One advantage of a digital ordering system: it can track inventory and mark a dish as unavailable after N have been ordered. Some restaurants might have menu updates in the middle of service quite frequently, if they have a daily special with a fixed quantity. Most restaurants probably have an unavailable dish occasionally. Or if a beverage choice becomes unavailable, or a new beer is put on tap. I don’t think ease of menu updates would be the deciding factor for any restaurant, I think it’s more likely to be based on the experience they want their customers to have
- drdexebtjl 3mo ago
  Or they can just get a printer. There’s a pub near me that offers dozens of different craft beers. If you ask them for a menu, they will literally print a new, updated menu on the spot, reflecting what they have available at that exact moment.
- JsonDemWitOster 3mo ago
  All fair points. I did not consider inventory tracking but yeah it's not likely to be the killer feature that would tide restaurant owners for one form factor or the other. That said, I have a _feeling_ (I cannot emphasize this enough) that some restaurants might actually relish telling some of their patrons that the _special_ item is no longer available. Makes it seem even more exclusive when there's more demand than supply. I'm not talking about Mc Donald's sundae ice cream but rather Sea Urchin Ceviche from Dorsia's. It's only ever happened to me once, so anecdotal.
gcanyon 3mo ago
I'm not sure why "cringey" has to enter the conversation. People seem to be taking this personally. QR codes work across a conference room (personal experience) how old is your phone, exactly? QR codes have gotten easier to use over the past ten-ish years, I've seen it. The point isn't that there aren't ways to make physical menus easier; it's that the objections to the digital experience are weak.

e28eta 3mo ago

>> physical menus are hard to update > How often does a restaurant update a menu? Those that need to update frequently already solved that by having a chalk board. One advantage of a digital ordering system: it can track inventory and mark a dish as unavailable after N have been ordered. Some restaurants might have menu updates in the middle of service quite frequently, if they have a daily special with a fixed quantity. Most restaurants probably have an unavailable dish occasionally. Or if a beverage choice becomes unavailable, or a new beer is put on tap. I don’t think ease of menu updates would be the deciding factor for any restaurant, I think it’s more likely to be based on the experience they want their customers to have

drdexebtjl 3mo ago
Or they can just get a printer. There’s a pub near me that offers dozens of different craft beers. If you ask them for a menu, they will literally print a new, updated menu on the spot, reflecting what they have available at that exact moment.
JsonDemWitOster 3mo ago
All fair points. I did not consider inventory tracking but yeah it's not likely to be the killer feature that would tide restaurant owners for one form factor or the other. That said, I have a _feeling_ (I cannot emphasize this enough) that some restaurants might actually relish telling some of their patrons that the _special_ item is no longer available. Makes it seem even more exclusive when there's more demand than supply. I'm not talking about Mc Donald's sundae ice cream but rather Sea Urchin Ceviche from Dorsia's. It's only ever happened to me once, so anecdotal.

gcanyon 3mo ago

I'm not sure why "cringey" has to enter the conversation. People seem to be taking this personally. QR codes work across a conference room (personal experience) how old is your phone, exactly? QR codes have gotten easier to use over the past ten-ish years, I've seen it. The point isn't that there aren't ways to make physical menus easier; it's that the objections to the digital experience are weak.