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What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

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Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#141

Post by pjc50 »

com2kid wrote: post #54
rapnie wrote: post #13

> Is this what the peak ordering experience looks like? Call me old-fashioned, but to me the peak experience is a paper menu to choose from, and a waiter that patiently takes the order. Far prefer that to everyone at the table fiddling on their phones in some weird-ass website or even god forbid custom app.

Many people like being able to see what they are ordering. I've seen people order by pointing to pictures on Yelp instead of using the paper menu. Online menus with pictures of every dish are desired by plenty of customers.

There's a whole industry of food photography and even creating durable fake food to sit on the counter to advertise dishes. Seeing is believing .. and advertising. Can also convey more detail about what's in something and how much you get.

I have a soft spot for cafeteria-style "point to order" systems myself, especially when there's a language barrier. But that does impose a certain industrial feel on an establishment.

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#142

Post by Freak_NL »

GJim wrote: post #99
com2kid wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people like being able to see what they are ordering. I've seen people order by pointing to pictures on Yelp instead of using the paper menu. Online menus with pictures of every dish are desired by plenty of customers.

> pictures of every dish are desired by plenty of customers. I'd expect my waiter to look rather puzzled if I asked for a picture of my food, and also perhaps be politely remined that I am not in a fast food outlet.

Besides, for anyone completely lost in a restaurant with unfamiliar dishes (on holiday perhaps) the age-old solution is to simply ask the waiter for recommendations, or point at another diner's dish if that looks good. Or just choose the dish of the day — it's usually the best option anyway if you picked a decent restaurant.

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#143

Post by hot_gril »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #137
hot_gril wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it were this easy, they would've printed images on menus long ago. Which a few restaurants actually do, but usually only a few dishes. That said, I refuse to go to any restaurant that has a QR code menu,

It's not hard . It's just a bit more work - enough that it starts requiring a professional to be involved (graphics design, photography, coordinating print), whereas traditional menus can be half-assed[0] by anyone with passing familiarity with Word and access to the office printer. In contrast, the digital menus usually come as a solution, packaged with a promise of some juicy business analytics, so the restaurant o…

I would expect the most expensive part to be printing and laminating those menus, which will also be longer due to the space used on images. Then they need to be cleaned, possibly updated, and will still go bad over time.

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#144

Post by PUSH_AX »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #134
PUSH_AX wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point is: throwing a QR code at your issues won't solve your issues. I believe this to be (generally, but with exceptions) false. On one of my contracts I worked on solving this during covid for a large restaurant chain, they still use the QR system today and there are clear and concrete metrics that tell the story of large improvements to service. > don't understand why people should sit down and enjoy a meal…

> there are clear and concrete metrics that tell the story of large improvements to service Covid is the most disrupting global event of the recent human history I bet it had a quite larger impact than a simple QR code, assuming what you say it's true. > You're hyper focused on the ideal situation Am I? I know that for a diner to serve me at a table it can't take less than 20-30 minutes or I am eating literal dog shi…

> Am I?

I mean, yeah.. You've even done it again. Outlining situations with perfect service. That's great, now think about the original problem statement where service becomes a bottle neck, and no "if you want great fast service just go elsewhere" is not an elegant solution, sorry.

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#145

Post by IshKebab »

eleveriven wrote: post #119
rapnie wrote: post #13

> Is this what the peak ordering experience looks like? Call me old-fashioned, but to me the peak experience is a paper menu to choose from, and a waiter that patiently takes the order. Far prefer that to everyone at the table fiddling on their phones in some weird-ass website or even god forbid custom app.

I'm with you on that. There's something special about a personal interaction with a waiter and a paper menu

People will find a way to be nostalgic about anything I guess.

"There's something special about having a wire attached to your phone."

"There's something special about greeting a lift operator."

"There's something special about hand-washing clothes."

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#146

Post by umbra07 »

globular-toast wrote: post #14
sschueller wrote: post #7

A guy went to prison for doing this with AT&Ts public subscriber data. The media didn't do him a favor by calling it a hack.

I almost got into big trouble at school for "hacking a teachers email". I guessed their email address (they were systematically generated) and sent an email. It's true you can get into trouble for this, but we need to all take it upon ourselves to make sure this doesn't happen. If this guy got into trouble I would hope every software engineer would be up in arms defending them.

you mean you guessed the systematically generated password, right?

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#147

Post by osullip »

Shywim wrote: post #87
digitalengineer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

inefficiency? It's part of the experience. I'm not in a restaurant or café to drink as fast as possible. I'm there to socialize as well. Waiting a bit is not a bottleneck, but a feature. (If I wanted speed, I'd take the drive-through).

I think that works out if you are alone, if you are with other people, the waiter will probably interrupt the socialization you are doing with the people you are with, causing stress even for the waiter. Also we should recognize that the waiter is often looked down at, it is not a very nice job, and as a human being, having a poor experience with some customers will probably pass on to other customers, etc... I'd go…

Absolutely disagree with this description of the job a waiter does.

A waiter orchestrates and coordinates the experience for the diners they are looking after. They slow down orders to stop the kitchen getting overwhelmed. They upsell on the menu in a way that is helpful and informative. They understand the dietary requirements of guests. They hold complex orders in their head and drop the right plate to the right person. They know the flow of a table and engage or back off as appropriate.

Don't undervalue a role that can make a night out magical or a simple coffee memorable.

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#148

Post by jonathantf2 »

rapnie wrote: post #13

> Is this what the peak ordering experience looks like? Call me old-fashioned, but to me the peak experience is a paper menu to choose from, and a waiter that patiently takes the order. Far prefer that to everyone at the table fiddling on their phones in some weird-ass website or even god forbid custom app.

Some apps are brilliant though - Wetherspoon pubs in the UK (despite not at all being the height of dining) have an app that works really well, I don't think I've ordered at a person there for at least 5 years.

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#149

Post by tomalaci »

qnleigh wrote: post #83

> I would have thought about privately disclosing these findings to Dotpe. But all the API requests are right there in plain sight... There are pretty common ethical standards about disclosing vulnerabilities privately before disclosing them publicly. I don't see how the obviousness of the vulnerability changes the situation. By warning the company, you give them the opportunity to remedy the problem before announcin…

In this case? Nope. This must be treated as willful design decision to open up API to entire public (including PII/phone-number leak as per design), even if they say they totally didn't meant that to happen. Government itself should then be notified to go after these guys for failing to do the most basic access controls.

I mean, come on! To treat this as a proper security vulnerability just gives too much leeway for these fast-and-loose businesses/systems. It will just encourage more such crap to proliferate.

I am with the author on this one, I am fairly certain the issue of this was raised internally already, probably multiple times. Fortunately for the business, their management did the right decision - focus on quick and easy features, security is a non-issue, we will just blame the hackers and have legal channels deal with them. I mean, you even have people here berating someone uncovering gross negligence for Google-backed company. Why would businesses bother with basic security when they can play the victim so damn easy?

Re: What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?

#150

Post by IshKebab »

rapnie wrote: post #13

> Is this what the peak ordering experience looks like? Call me old-fashioned, but to me the peak experience is a paper menu to choose from, and a waiter that patiently takes the order. Far prefer that to everyone at the table fiddling on their phones in some weird-ass website or even god forbid custom app.

Ah yes the peak experience is having to wait 10 minutes and catch an extremely busy person's attention just so you can order.

Most of these ordering systems (at least the ones that have survived COVID) are pretty good websites now. I don't remember ever having to use a custom app. It's a far superior experience.

(Oh yeah and I guess you may be American and have a very different eating experience to the rest of the world where waiters don't live off the arbitrary generosity of customers.)

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