This stuff is infuriating on multiple levels
TL;DR:
- Restaurant only accepts orders made from the app
- Restaurant "mini" app is 200 mb and I had a sim card with 500mb/day
- When you finally get to pay, they must "verify you're a human" with an otp code sent to your phone number
- For saving money they don't send the otp code via SMS but via WhatsApp, which is blocked in the country
- Restaurant doesn't accept cash
- Restaurant doesn't accept credit cards
- Restaurant only accepts payments from a local app that requires id verification with passport scanning
- Taxis need to be called with an app
- In order to use the taxi app you need to register with the phone number and scan the passport and so on
Full story:
I went to china, first thing I went out for a walk and after a couple hours of walking I wanted to eat, so I went to KFC as I was intrigued by an ad showing a shrimp burger and a nori seaweed flavored fried chicken. (Yes, they looked tasty in the pictures, although by typing this, it doesn't look like it's actually tasty. Probably the "shrimp" burger is just surimi made with the cheapest shit gathered from the oceans and then just slushed in a patty. No, I could not try them, for the reason written below)
I went inside and I saw no self ordering kiosk. Oh no, I have to do social interaction with my poor Chinese proficiency. I go to the cashier and... there's only a order pickup point. I ask and they say need to order from their app, just scan the qr code.
Now, luckily I ordered a travel esim with 500mb/day, as the store didn't have public WiFi
I scan the qr code and it doesn't work. It's a proprietary version of qr code developed by tencent, need to use WeChat to scan.
I already had WeChat installed, I scanned it. It needed to download a KFC "mini app" and I agreed. 200 FUCKING MEGABYTES??? What does it contains, 4k movies of fried chicken????
After burning the whole data plan on that "mini" app I do the order and before paying: WAIT, YOU MUST LOGIN!
WTF? I thought the point of using WeChat is that I was already logged in a platform? Ok, let's login. WAIT! HOW DO WE KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT A BOT? Please verify your phone number!
WTF??? I just need my weird seafood flavored chicken, why do you need my phone number??
At that point I was already 20 minutes in, and due to the fallacy of sunk cost I agreed to let them "verify" my phone number. Which for some reason they sent via WhatsApp instead of texting it. Luckily the travel esims are somehow exonerated from the gfw so I could receive it.
Ok, identity "verified", now need to pay. Oh, can't pay in cash??? Can't pay with credit card??? Only weixin pay. I try to check, needs passport verification.
At this point I just flip the table and I give up, I want to go back to my hotel room.
I'm tired boss, I don't want to walk another 2 hours, let's take a taxi. Last time I went to China it was pre-covid. In order to take a taxi you just needed to go on the side of the road, wait 30 seconds and a taxi would stop. Now there are no taxis at all??? I call my friend and he says it's normal, everyone orders a Didi now from the phone. I see it's another 200 mb app and I even don't try it, as I'm 100% sure it will ask phone verification and pay with weixin pay.
I give up and just start to walk...
Luckily I see taxi dropping someone on the side of the road so I run there to ask get me home. When we arrive he directly shows me a laminated card for paying with weixin. I give him a 20 yuan bill for the 14 yuan ride. He probably tells me that he doesn't have change. I don't understand. It's ok buddy, keep the change.
Just curious, why not?
I hate this shit too. I just prefer a physical menu rather than clicking through a couple links, and having to scroll and zoom in on items. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
for me it depends on the UI. Most order UI I've seen is just a big list, any further clicks is just for customization options that normally wouldn't have fit in a menu and you have to ask someone to even know.
bonus points if you actually put additional details in your menu if you are going digital, at least you are providing something that was previously not provided.
Would a better design or implication change your mind? Many menus are printed on plastics these days, or paper that is thrown in the trash rather than recycled. An eco-friendly argument could be made in favor of the QR code. As in, if a new item or promotion is going on, a simple digital change would obviate reprinting sections of the menu, or even the entire thing.
Also, with the near ubiquity of square or other similar cash register systems these days, the amount of tracking involved might be similar to that of what a mobile menu system would be.
Where are you that they're changing their menus often enough for that to matter? It use to be that the basic menu wouldn't change for years and daily specials would be written on a chalk board and told by the wait staff.
Digital menus just seem like a way to do surge pricing.
Small <5 location “mini chains”, that have somewhat frequent promotions. One I know of locally is a Mexican restaurant that has drink menu’s that change often enough to try to keep people coming in. Could also be different lunch combos, etc. Obviously this is more of a thought experiment than a real world solution. If such a solution was attempted to be made a reality, it would offer the option to different sorts of promos, combos or specials (seasonal, holidays).
A few restaurants I’ve been to lately have UV printed plastic menus, that we can safely assume are tossed by staff when new prints come in.
Or maybe this is all garbage, and I’ve wasted a few minutes of my night bullshitting. Surge pricing would be a despicable thing, that might be the end result, or not. Who knows. I doubt any spot would take advantage of such a system, since a QR code to a collection of compressed scanned pages would be the path of least effort for the establishment.
Sometimes exploring something silly is fun to do.
So we're using new tech to solve a problem that new tech created? Just print it on paper and stick it in a reusable plastic sleeve. If a restaurant insists I use my phone, I'm going to make the wait staff stair at it while it struggles to load the menu.
👍🏻
Maybe a menu projected onto the table? Or a digital display at the table? Those are probably worse from an environmental standpoint than laminated paper. There's just no way to put a menu on my phone that isn't less convenient to me. Tracking is of secondary concern to me in this context (though I do prefer cash) since cellular/WiFi/Bluetooth/cameras already know I'm in that restaurant. Otherwise, I just prefer the human interaction. I made the choice to leave my home/hotel to eat in a restaurant. I frequently also have questions or special requests that I can't communicate through a website or app.
That’s fair. I appreciate your responses. Digital menus at the table would definitely be an interesting solution to somewhat frequent changes. A minority report style menu would be a novel experience, one that would draw business in for sure. Exploding a view of a sushi roll, seeing the individual ingredients, with descriptions that could include allergen, contamination, or even sensory warnings could be a pretty cool experience.
I am one of the antisocial peeps out there that enjoy the solitary experience; I suppose it is foreign to me that others would actually desire the interaction with others.
I get it, and I don't care if it's an option, just don't take the menu away from me.
For one, they are probably harvesting the fuck out of your data…
I have seen a restaurant have a qr code that just links to a pdf
Wouldn’t be the restaurant harvesting. They likely only got the app out of convenience and sold to them as a cost savings; the actual ordering/menu company probably has all the customer data sharing agreements that the restaurant owner didn’t read or didn’t care enough to understand. Those companies are the ones who want your data, the restaurant doesn’t care.