Reduce customer wait times w/ QR Menus

Earlier this week I spoke with a BeerMenus customer who was struggling with long lines at their bar during events (they have a park next door to their venue). It was taking folks 20 minutes to get a beer from the time they entered the queue.

The key metric this customer was looking for help with was reducing customer order times. They suspected (correctly), that if customers knew what to order by the time they got up to the bar, then interactions would go much faster. And thus the lines would move faster, and more sales would happen.

Their solution was using digital TV Menus for their beer list, which customers could see from the line. It worked, and they dropped waiting-in-line time by more than half for their customers.

You can read all about TV Menus here, but QR Menus are another great option for reducing order times. And perhaps a less obvious one.

That brought me back to a conversation I had a little while ago with Rob Austin, a marketing expert who runs marketing for Leader Bar in Chicago. We spoke about the many benefits of a QR Menu system as well as how to set one up.

Check out the interview clip for his insights!

And if you want to hear more great marketing advice from Rob, check out this playlist on the Brave New Bar Youtube channel.

Why?

Because it helps customers order faster, which can mean better beer sales for you and a better experience for them.

Beer drinkers generally know what kind of beer they want when they walk through the door.

For example, summertime me is looking for something hoppy. There's no world where I'll get a sour, stout, or amber. But, of course, some folks avoid IPAs at all costs.

If I see a section called "Hoppy" on the menu, I go there straightaway: "awesome, no need to scan the whole menu." For those IPA haters, if they see that "Hoppy" section, they can just skip on by: "ok, great, I'll just go find the section I'm looking for."

In each case, sorting the beer by style makes it easier for customers to find the beer they want. And that's a great thing for them and for your beer sales.

How?

You can do this manually. How you'd implement it depends on what works for your team, but it could look like this:

• Create an editable menu doc in Google Docs, Word, Powerpoint, or whatever and give everyone who needs it editing access.
• Make the beer style menu sections you need: Hoppy, Crisp & Bright, Toasted & Nutty, Dark & Roasted, Fruity & Spicy, Tart & Funky.
• Copy and paste your beer (and the beer info!) into the relevant category.
• Anytime your beer selection changes, delete the beer that's gone, then add new beers to the relevant category.

It certainly takes some time, but doing this would definitely be worth it.

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