Create Online Menu

Read this article recently https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/dining/restaurant-qr-code-menu.html

A quick summary (chatgpt):
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Heavenly Buffaloes, a chain of restaurants in North Carolina, initially adopted QR-code menus due to their young and tech-savvy customer base, especially during the early pandemic when contactless service was essential. However, the chain noticed a decline in using these digitalized menus over time. Nationwide, the trend appears to be moving away from QR-code menus, even though they were previously seen as the future of dining. Data from MustHaveMenus reveals a 27% drop in scans compared to the previous year.

The reasons for the decline in QR-code menu usage are multifaceted:

▫️ Etiquette Concerns: Using phones at the table is often seen as rude, and requesting a paper menu can be awkward.
▫️ Ambiance Disruption: Smartphones can disrupt a restaurant's romantic or intimate ambiance.
▫️ Usability Issues: Some diners, especially older ones, find QR codes confusing or challenging to use.
▫️ Server Interaction: Some servers believe that QR menus make their roles more impersonal and make customers less engaged with them.
▫️ Ordering Hassles: Scrolling through a digital menu to order desserts or additional items can be cumbersome for customers.
▫️ Perception of Value: There's a psychological barrier for customers when ordering expensive items via a QR code.
▫️ Cost Concerns: While digital ordering services might save money, the costs can accumulate, especially if restaurants continue offering paper menus.

Nevertheless, certain restaurants find QR menus useful, mainly when language barriers exist. Some establishments have shifted QR codes to the end of the meal, allowing customers to pay via their phones for convenience.
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Not sure what to do with this info. The obvious solution would be to shut the idea behind the barn immediately. But I believe I did not explore it in full yet

As a promotion strategy, I've decided building some simple free tools. The first one is obvious – a QR code generator for the menu.

So I quickly whipped it up. Let it sit there and collect SEO while I finish up other parts of app (mostly forms). Generated from ChatGPT 12 more tools to implement in the future.

I checked out what others were doing in the space. Many are trying to integrate payments via Stripe or something similar as one of the primary features. I still believe this is the wrong approach. Overhauling restaurant processes and making them collect digital money instead of cash seems like a half-baked idea.

The idea of offering its delivery service (to compete with the likes of Doordash, Ubereats, and whatever's most popular) also doesn't seem viable, even though many are trying.

Stumbled upon a team with a $300K MRR (https://www.qrcode-tiger.com/) who ditched the QR menu idea and shifted entirely to marketing within a few months. Curious!

I've added a QR code generation page to https://createonlinemenu.com/make-qr-code.

The idea is to have a page that attracts traffic for the search term "make qr code for menu".

Of course, you can do some really cool things with QR codes. They're designed with an error correction capability to restore data if the code is dirty or damaged.

That's why you can overlay images on them or embed AI-generated images (I haven't done this, but the temptation to play around is there).

Right now, the main (and only) tech challenge is to parse all these fuzzy menus into some semblance of a table. Nobody will fill this stuff in manually.

LLM is handling this task quite well, but the experiments aren't finished yet. I've also thought about playing around with QR code AI-generation for the menu, but it's all pointless in scenarios when you need to print the QR code.

I had an urge to build something, but nothing really bothered me. Then accidentally, I stumbled on qr menu product, and it was bloated and overcomplicated.

I became curious and started to explore why it is so. It looks like the QR menu is a very popular product to build, but there is no direct leader in it.

So I began working on https://createonlinemenu.com/.
Focus: speed, simplicity, and image generation.

Hypothesis: Many are heading in the wrong direction by trying to integrate into the restaurant processes, collecting money online, calling the waiter, inventing new processes, and developing mobile apps.

Hypothesis: What's needed is a simple menu in any language with images that works on any device.

Hypothesis: SEO should be the primary marketing channel, Facebook goes second

I do not have huge expectations about that product, but let's see how it goes.