My Menu gives away QR Ordering to Contain COVID-19 Spread

My Menu, India’s digital menu company specialising in digital tablet menu by industry veteran Abhishek Bose, announces a complimentary QR ordering solution to restaurants worldwide for tackling the post-COVID-19 era. Being a responsible citizen of the hospitality industry, the company has initiated a right step to prepare the industry for upcoming socio-economic changes post the pandemic.

Post the massive global economic and human crisis COVID-19, host of industries will go through a complete overhaul in consumer demography, behaviour and industry trends. Owing to the elongated pandemic struggle, consumers will become conscious and keep considering various factors of hygiene while dining or going out eventually giving the center stage to minimalized physical contact. 

It is observed in the global history that pandemics have always led to a change in human behaviour, a change which prevails and turn the tide of the global and domestic industries. For instance, post-Cholera is 1961, people had become conscious of ingesting food and water which was fresh and not contaminated, similarly, post-AIIDS, consumers had started adopting precautions to avoid STD and lethal diseases like AIDS. The changed preferences were not transitory instead turned these habits were normalised. This further validates the need to prepare ourselves for the stronger tomorrow and timely transition to serve the consumers and intact the collective growth for the hospitality industry.

Abhishek Bose, CEO & Co-Founder of My Menu said, “We have over 300+ restaurant clients. Since the pandemic impacted industry across hence we have been seeing a steady decline in restaurant sales, especially dine-in sales. Keeping an extensive clientele in mind, we had to come up with a long term solution in order to save the hospitality industry. Therefore, to prepare and support the restaurant community to fight the spread of COVID-19, we decided to give it away for free - as long as this crisis lasts.”

“The set-up is fairly simple and with the help of video tutorials the restaurant can self-manage the solution. Moreover, this feature is available in 142+ languages making it the ideal solution for a global rollout for bigger brands,” he added.

My Menu’s initiative will further spur market readiness in the modern world to prevent and contain flu-like virus dissemination. In order to contain the single most reusable and essential item ‘food menu’, digitalized menu supported by QR code is a strategic solution that will prove to be successful for active prevention. The strategic initiative offers various solutions where the QR Ordering can be done via the guest's mobile. The guest scans a QR code on his / her mobile, sees the menu and places the order via the mobile without downloading any app. Unfortunately, such solutions cost money, and given the current market scenario, restaurants are not in a financial position to purchase such solutions. Thus, My Menu took this step to provide a helping hand to the hospitality industry by adding innovative features like this. 

My Menu’s existing clients have been quick to adapt and have enabled QR Ordering before the countrywide lockdown. “We have seen that guests feel safer using their own mobile to order,” said Pawan Jain, CEO of Yugo Sushi & J’s Kitchen, one of the early adopters of QR Ordering. 

My Menu, originally a digital tablet menu platform which is used by restaurants to upsell their food by showcasing beautiful pictures and videos. QR Ordering was an add-on feature that was only used by Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and by hotels to cover large service areas such as beachside, pool bars, and room service. 

Given the recent outbreak of COVID-19, it has become clear that apart from maintaining high safety and hygiene standards, restaurants cannot have items that are used by multiple customers as the virus can survive on surfaces, on paper/cardboard for up to 24 hrs and on plastic up to 9 days. Printed menus have to go! As they are either printed on paper or board or laminated.

My Menu India was incorporated mid-February in partnership with hospitality industry veteran Neeren Tiwari. “We were in the midst of rolling out our digital tablet menu solution for a large format restaurant chain when the pandemic struck and the lockdown was imposed. Our decision to give away QR Ordering for free comes out of necessity to control the spread of COVID-19. Restaurant owners need to realize that the threat is real!” she said.