Contactless dining facts for kids
Contactless dining means eating at a restaurant where you can look at the menu, order your food, and pay the bill without needing to talk much with a waiter or touch things many other people have touched. It became very popular around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is possible thanks to technology like near-field communication (NFC) and QR codes. You might scan a sticker with your phone to see the menu or pay online. While it's been common in places like China since 2013, it's newer in countries like the United States, where waiters often rely on tips.
Contactless dining offers several good things. It can make service quicker and reduces how much people need to touch each other. It also helps restaurants save money and makes the dining experience better for customers. Since you order and pay online, you can often save your payment info and check your order to make sure it's right.
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How Contactless Dining Started
In 2011, a Chinese payment company called Alipay launched a way to pay using QR codes. Then, in 2013, another Chinese app, WeChat, let people pay with QR codes too. This was super easy for restaurants because they just needed to print a QR code. Customers could also scan a QR code to order food right from their phones.
By 2016, over 600,000 restaurants in China used the Alipay app for payments. By 2019, almost all Chinese diners (93.2%) paid their restaurant bills using Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Contactless Dining in the US
In the United States, QR codes were sometimes used to show menus or for customers to take surveys. Starbucks also used NFC machines for payments. However, a full system where guests could order and pay online from their table didn't become widely known until the COVID-19 pandemic. Health groups like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested using contactless payments and digital menus to help keep people safe.
Recent Developments
In January 2020, a company from India called Digital Waiter launched a contactless dining system. In April, another Indian food delivery company, Zomato, also started offering contactless ordering and payment. In May 2020, PayPal introduced contactless QR codes for payments in many countries.
Other companies also joined in. LevelUp teamed up with point-of-sale provider Toast for touchless payments. Presto and Glyde offered solutions for ordering and paying without contact. Even Coca-Cola launched a contactless way to get drinks from their dispensers, which was used by places like Wendy's and Five Guys. Many small and medium-sized restaurants have been trying out similar solutions to follow new health rules.
How Contactless Dining Works
Contactless dining usually involves three main digital steps that replace the traditional way you interact with a waiter or touch things:
- Looking at the menu.
- Placing your order.
- Paying the bill.
Companies like Popmenu offer software that lets you scan a QR code with your smartphone to see the menu and order. While QR codes are very common, NFC tags are also becoming popular for starting the contactless experience.
Some companies, like iWallet and Barpay, help restaurants turn their paper menus into QR code menus. Others, like Menuflow and Beaconstac, let restaurants upload PDFs or pictures to create QR codes. These can even offer different languages and show how many people are using them.
Companies such as Tripdairy and Presto offer full contactless menus, ordering, and payments. They also have extra features like digital waitlist systems, options to order ahead, digital customer profiles, and online surveys. Some no-touch features can even change the menu automatically based on the time of day or week. Speeding up the payment process means tables can be used more quickly, allowing more guests during busy times.
