Ask HN: Why do Panera cafe tables have so many NFC Tags?

#1

Post by blockarchitech » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 12:27 PM UTC

A few weeks ago, I decided to go to a Panera cafe. I noticed, every time it put my phone on the table, it wouldn't stop buzzing. I thought to myself maybe there's an NFC tag in the table, so I opened up NFC Tools and sure enough, there's so many little NFC tags everywhere.

I thought of a few ways on why this might be, and where I got stuck is the little buzzing things that tell you when to pick up your order, but have zero idea on how that would correlate with the NFC tags. Anybody here know why?

I know it's a weird question, but surely someone else has noticed this before.

Re: Ask HN: Why do Panera cafe tables have so many NFC Tags?

#2

Post by PaulHoule » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 12:31 PM UTC

The NFC tags would help the buzzing thing locate itself to a table. They also can be used to do what people do with QR codes with different support and the minus that people don’t know what to do with something they can’t see (there is no universal recognizable NFC logo.)

I bought 100 of those tags for about $15 so they are not too expensive.

Re: Ask HN: Why do Panera cafe tables have so many NFC Tags?

#3

Post by mikecoles » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 12:34 PM UTC

I've seen them at Buffalo wild Wings and Earl of Sandwich as well. At least with Earl of Sandwich, it's to locate where you're sitting when the buzzer puck goes off.