QR Codes
While they aren’t necessarily the most glamorous innovation on this list, QR codes have had some of the most immediate, and potentially long lasting impact of recent consumer facing dining tools. Whether used as nifty replacements for physical menus or a direct line for diners to order their meals, QR codes in restaurants and bars are popping up everywhere. For a sense of scale, link management giant Bitly told CNBC last year it saw a 750% increase in QR code downloads over the span of 18 months. That trend’s only expected to continue, especially given the evolving labor force noted before. Speaking with the New York Times, Cheqout co-founder Tom Sharon said he believes companies using QR codes could potentially save somewhere between 30% and 50% on labor costs by reducing their number of servers.
