Go to a Japanese restaurant these days, and odds are 50/50 you won’t see a paper menu. Instead, you’re given a QR code you can use to order from your own smartphone. While restaurants love it, some Japanese customers resent the impersonal trend.
Bring Your Own Hardware
More medium- to large-size chains are moving to digital ordering. Most family restaurants, for example, have tablets at their tables from which customers can order. The trend mirrors similar trends toward self-checkout in convenience stores and even donut shops.
The benefits of digital for restaurants are numerous. First, it enables keeping a smaller staff on hand – a necessity in an era in Japan where the workforce is shrinking and businesses are increasingly short-staffed. It also makes it easier to handle customers who speak multiple languages, as tablets can support switching between an unlimited number of translations.
Many smaller chains and shops, however, can’t or don’t want to make the investment in their own hardware. So, instead, they provide a QR code that smartphone users can scan. It’s electronic ordering but with a Bring Your Own Hardware spin.
Additionally, stores that use this approach feel they don’t need to bother with the expensive and tedious process of localizing their menus. Instead, customers can just use their smartphone browser’s translation capabilities. (Given the issues with AI translation from Japanese to English, however, that “benefit” can easily become a liability.)
“A free ride on my data”
The QR code menu has become popular in restaurants around the world. In Japan, the trend is positively booming. Data from Recruit shows that smartphone ordering systems were in place at 26% of restaurants in 2021. By 2024, that number had jumped to 57.1% – and the company says it expects it to keep climbing.
According to a small-scale survey run by Asahi AERA Dot, however, some Japanese consumers have come to hate the practice.
Why? About 1/3rd of customers interviewed by AERA – 11 out of 36 – said they resent restaurants taking a “free ride” on their data plans, using their limited cellular data plan allotments. Others hate that online ordering whittles down their available battery charge. (Anyone who’s had to keep their phone alive during a day out in a sprawling metropolis like Tokyo understands this struggle.)
Others complain they don’t want to drag out their cell phones during a meal. Some parents, in particular, want to keep their smartphones tucked away for fear their kids will want to play with them. Senior citizens may also feel uncomfortable with the technology – or not even have a smartphone. Indeed, some young people might not even have them, given the trend among some Gen Zers away from smartphones.
Not everyone’s deadset against QR code smartphone ordering. Some customers told AERA they’d be happier with smartphone ordering if there were some incentive to use it – e.g., a “smartphone only” menu or a discount/points program.
There will probably always be people who are much happier talking to a real-life human rather than tapping a screen. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of this sort of backlash as the spread of technology continues to erode the chance for human interaction.
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