QR ordering gets pitched as if every café needs it. Plenty don't. A six-seat café where the owner knows every customer by name may get nothing from it except another thing to manage.
This is a checklist for deciding whether it's worth it for yours, written by people who sell it. We'd rather you say no now than cancel in a month.
Where it tends to earn its keep
You lose sales to the queue. If people look at the line, turn round and leave, that's the clearest case. Every order placed from a phone is one that didn't need a turn at the till.
Seated guests would order again if it were easy. A second coffee, a cake with the refill, dessert after brunch. Many guests won't give up their table to queue for it, but will order it from their phone.
One person is taking orders and making drinks. When the same pair of hands does both, taking orders is the part that slows everything down. Moving it onto guests' phones leaves that person free to make things.
Orders get misheard. Oat or soy, one shot or two, no onions. When guests pick their own options on a screen, fewer drinks get remade.
You want to bring people back. A till doesn't tell you who your regulars are. An order where the guest can opt in to hear from you can.
Where it probably won't
- Very small, very quiet rooms. If there's rarely a queue and you know your customers, the gain is small.
- A trade built on conversation at the counter. Some cafés are the chat at the counter. QR ordering can sit alongside that, but it won't add much.
- A menu that changes hourly and nobody can update it. A QR menu is only as good as its accuracy. If items sell out and nobody marks them, guests order things you don't have.
The costs to add up
Compare these for any provider, not just the monthly price:
- Subscription. A flat monthly fee, or a percentage of each order, or both.
- Per-order fees. Some providers take a cut of every order on top of card processing. At café volumes this adds up faster than the subscription.
- Card processing. Paid to the payment provider whichever system you use.
- Hardware. Do you need a new tablet or printer, or will a phone you already have do?
- Your time. Setting up the menu, printing codes, training staff. Usually an afternoon, but count it.
Our guide to what a café POS system costs in the UK goes through each of these in more detail, and the commission calculator on the pricing page compares flat and percentage pricing at your volumes.
Questions to ask before you sign up
- Who is the merchant: you, or the software company? Where does the money land, and when?
- Is there a contract, and what does it cost to leave?
- Can guests still order at the counter if they'd rather?
- Can you mark an item sold out in seconds, from your phone?
- Who owns the customer list, and can you export it? (This is the big difference from delivery apps.)
- What happens to orders if the Wi-Fi drops?
A low-risk way to find out
Try it on a few tables for two weeks rather than the whole café. Put codes on the tables where people stay longest, keep the counter as it is, and watch three things:
- How many orders come through the codes.
- Whether second orders go up at those tables.
- Whether staff find the kitchen screen helps or gets in the way.
Café QR's Order & Pay plan is £9.99 per venue per month with a 0% commission and no setup fee, and your first month is free with no card needed, so a trial like this costs nothing if it doesn't work for you. If you later want the counter till, tabs and cash-up in the same system, the POS plan is £39 per venue per month. Start a free trial, or read how setup works first.