Menu digitisation for a restaurant on Lake Como
During the COVID-19 lockdown, most restaurants in the province of Como reorganised to adapt their services to the new hygiene rules. For this purpose our agency devised a menu digitisation system, viewable directly on the client’s website by scanning a QR code printed on a forex stand placed on each table.
The most important design decision was also the simplest: not to build an app. At that time many venues were opting for downloadable apps, which introduced insurmountable friction for a customer seated at the table with only a few minutes to wait. Building the menu on the existing website means the scan opens the browser directly, with no installations, accounts or permissions to grant.
The second advantage concerns management. The menu lives inside the restaurant’s website, so it is updated like any other content: a price change or a seasonal dish requires no reprinting, nor publishing a new version on an app store. The QR code on the forex stand always remains valid.
It is a solution born from an emergency but which has remained useful beyond that context, because it solves a problem the lockdown simply made obvious: a paper menu is expensive to update and ages badly. The system was created in coordination with the venue’s website, already bilingual in Italian and English for the foreign customers who frequent the centre of Como.
The simplest solution is often the right one
In 2020 many venues were turning to downloadable apps for viewing the menu. For a customer seated at the table, with a few minutes and perhaps a weak connection, downloading an app is an obstacle most people do not get past. So we made the opposite choice: building the menu on the existing website, so that the QR code simply opens the browser.
It is a decision that reflects one of the three values we work by, simplicity: the most effective communication is the one everyone understands effortlessly. And it had a useful side effect, because the menu is updated like any website content, with no reprints and no new versions to publish.
NewVisibility was founded in 2013 from an idea by Andrea and Luca, lifelong friends who had already been building websites for several years before giving themselves a name. Since then we have worked with more than three hundred clients. We are a team on a human scale: you speak directly with the people working on your project, with no intermediaries, even after launch.
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NewVisibility, a communication agency in the province of Como, which designed the QR code viewing system and the table stands for the restaurant.
The customer points their camera at the code printed on the table stand and the menu opens directly in the browser, on the restaurant’s website, without downloading anything.
No, and that was a deliberate choice. An app introduces friction that most customers seated at the table do not get past: the browser is already installed on every smartphone.
Yes. The menu lives inside the website, so it is edited like any other content: price changes and seasonal dishes require no reprints or new publications.
No. The code points to a page on the website, so it remains valid whatever changes in the content: the forex stands are printed only once.
Yes. It was born from an emergency but solves a problem that already existed: a paper menu is expensive to update and ages badly, especially with seasonal menus.