The Strange Seduction of QR Codes on Menu Boards
I have spent too much time lately staring at QR codes on café menu boards. Not scanning them, just staring. They sit there like little squares of static, waiting for someone to care. And often, no one does. Because really, who wants to download your muffin list off their phone when the glass cabinet is two metres away.
But here is the odd part. In marketing meetings someone still pushes for the QR code. "It’s digital," they say, as if that alone makes it necessary. What it really does is shift responsibility from the business to the customer. Instead of designing a legible, welcoming board, the café leans on a dot-matrix puzzle. Convenience swapped for friction, right when people are most desperate for caffeine.
On the flip side, done well, QR can feel like a magic door. A poster for a gig in Auckland that whisks you straight to tickets. A wine label that drops you into the winemaker’s story by the vines. Those moments work because the scan offers something the eye cannot already see. The code is not the star, it is the shortcut.
So here is the question worth asking before pasting on another black and white square. What is the scan buying for the customer? A faster queue? A secret track? Or just another PDF menu that looks worse than chalk. Until marketers figure that out, QR codes will keep working best as decoration on café walls, quietly ignored in favour of muffins.
But here is the odd part. In marketing meetings someone still pushes for the QR code. "It’s digital," they say, as if that alone makes it necessary. What it really does is shift responsibility from the business to the customer. Instead of designing a legible, welcoming board, the café leans on a dot-matrix puzzle. Convenience swapped for friction, right when people are most desperate for caffeine.
On the flip side, done well, QR can feel like a magic door. A poster for a gig in Auckland that whisks you straight to tickets. A wine label that drops you into the winemaker’s story by the vines. Those moments work because the scan offers something the eye cannot already see. The code is not the star, it is the shortcut.
So here is the question worth asking before pasting on another black and white square. What is the scan buying for the customer? A faster queue? A secret track? Or just another PDF menu that looks worse than chalk. Until marketers figure that out, QR codes will keep working best as decoration on café walls, quietly ignored in favour of muffins.