Start With What You Actually Need
"QR code ordering system" is used for three different products, and comparing them as if they were the same is how restaurants end up paying for the wrong thing:
- A QR menu: a code that opens the menu. Guests read it and still call a waiter. Cheap, and many tools are free.
- QR code ordering: guests build the order on the phone and it reaches the kitchen. This is the product most restaurants mean.
- Ordering with payment: the guest also pays from the phone. It brings extra fees, extra rules and more things that can go wrong.
Decide which of the three you want. If you are not sure how ordering works in practice, read how QR code ordering works first and come back.
A Checklist for Choosing
1. No app and no account for guests
Every step before the menu loses orders, and it loses them in the busiest moments. The best system is the one the guest uses without noticing: scan, choose, send. Check that the menu opens in the phone browser and that nobody has to register.
2. A real kitchen screen
Orders have to arrive somewhere the kitchen looks. A screen with the table number, the dishes and the notes is the minimum. Ask what the kitchen can do with an order: mark it as being prepared, mark it as ready, and whether the waiter sees the change. A system that only sends an email is a menu with extra steps.
3. Protection against orders from people who are not at the table
If a QR code is the only thing needed, a photo of it is enough to send orders from anywhere, and in practice this happens: pranks, orders from the pavement outside, orders by mistake from the wrong table. Ask how the system stops it. A table PIN printed on the card is a simple answer: the guest has to be at the table to read it.
4. Languages
If you have tourists, the menu must be readable in their language, and not only the page around it: dish names, descriptions and allergens. Ask which languages are supported and whether translations are automatic or typed by hand. If they are automatic, check that you can correct them.
5. Allergens per dish
For restaurants in the EU, the 14 allergens in Regulation 1169/2011 must be available to guests. The system should let you tag every dish and show the allergens in the guest's language before the order is placed. Be sceptical of claims such as "full compliance guaranteed": the responsibility for what is true stays with you.
6. Roles for your staff
Kitchen, waiters and cashier need different screens. Ask how many staff accounts you can create, whether you can deactivate one at once when somebody leaves, and what each role can see and change.
7. How tables are handled
At the end of the meal the table must be cleared: the old session closed and the next guests starting a new one. Check how it is done and who does it. Without it, the next guests can inherit the cart and the orders of the people who sat there before.
8. Pricing, and how it is built
Compare the total cost, not the headline number:
- A flat monthly fee is predictable
- A commission on each order grows with your success
- Per-table or per-feature prices can double the bill when you add the thing you actually need
- A setup fee, a hardware cost or a minimum term should be named before you sign
Ask for the cost for your number of tables over a year.
9. Integrations, and what is not integrated
Ask directly about your POS and your accounting software. If it is not integrated, ask what that means in practice: you may enter the day's total by hand, which is acceptable for a small place and a nuisance for a large one.
10. What happens if you leave
Ask whether you can export your menu and how to cancel. A system that holds your menu hostage is a cost you do not see on the price list.
Questions to Ask Every Vendor
Print these and ask them out loud in the demo:
- What does a guest see from scanning to sending the order?
- What stops someone who is not at the table from ordering?
- What does the kitchen see, and what can it do with it?
- What happens if the Wi-Fi drops during service?
- What does it cost for my number of tables over twelve months, all included?
- How do I leave, and what do I keep?
- Which languages and allergens are supported, and who writes the translations?
- What does it not do?
The last question is the most revealing. A vendor who can say what the product does not do is usually a vendor you can trust about what it does.
Warning Signs
- A demo that avoids showing the kitchen side
- Prices that appear only after you give your phone number
- "Unlimited" something with a footnote
- No way to try it before you pay
- Promises of increased sales with no numbers and no source
Where Easy Restaurant Fits
To be clear about it, since you are reading this on its website. Easy Restaurant is a QR code ordering system for restaurants. Guests scan, choose a language from six, enter the table PIN and order. Orders reach kitchen, waiter and cashier screens in real time. Every dish carries its allergens, shown in the guest's language. You create staff accounts for each role and can deactivate one at any time.
What it does not do: it does not take payments from guests (they pay at the till), it does not integrate with a POS, and it needs an internet connection. Plans are a flat monthly fee from 49.99 euros (Base: one location, up to 20 tables, 5 staff accounts plus the cashier), 69.99 euros (Premium: unlimited tables and staff) and 199.99 euros (Enterprise: several locations), and there is a 14-day free trial. You can see the details on the pricing page.
If you decide that another system fits you better, the checklist above still applies.
Run a Two-Week Trial Before You Decide
Whatever you choose, test it in real conditions:
- Set up a few tables and your real menu, not a sample
- Use it at your busiest service, not on a quiet Tuesday
- Ask the kitchen and the waiters what annoyed them, not just what worked
- Watch which guests had difficulty and why
- Keep the verbal option for anyone who prefers it
After two weeks you will know more than any comparison table can tell you. If you want to see the steps, follow how to create a QR code menu in seven steps.