Qin’s Handheld Digital Menus Persuades Guest to Order a Lot More2 min read
According to a recent article in China’s national English-language newspaper, the handheld digital menus at Beijing’s Qin Restaurant and Café made one guest so hungry that, instead of ordering a light snack, he bought enough for dinner for four!
Turin-born photographer, Alessandra Tinozzi, once opined that food photography is successful “[w]hen it makes you feel hungry” (See our previous article, “Open asks, ‘What Can an iPad Food Menu do for You?’”). Judging by its effect on the appetite of its guests, the food photography presented on the handheld digital menus at Qin is highly successful.
China Daily relates the recent experience of one customer, Wang Yatian, on his first visit to Qin.
According to journalist Zhao Yanrong, Wang had come in to Qin to meet some friends. He intended to order a light afternoon snack, but after seeing the photos of the dishes on the handheld digital menu, Zhao says, “Wang ordered four cold dishes, six hot dishes, rice and four plates of dessert with tea.” Wang told Zhao, “All the dishes look delicious on the iPad, which persuaded me to order some for an early dinner.” (Judging from the amount of food he ordered, it seems reasonable to assume the handheld digital menus also made his friends hungry. We certainly hope he shared!) Talk about success! It would be difficult, or impossible, for any waiter to achieve that level of up-selling.
Qin serves both Chinese and Western cuisine. My Beijing China, an informative website provided by China Highlights, China’s leading online tour operator, describes the Chinese fare at Qin as a blend of Suzhou and Hangzhou cuisines, known as Jiangnan. Each dish is beautifully displayed on the handheld digital menu. At a touch, guests can find a complete description of the item, explore ingredient and flavor information on each dish offered, and place their order directly from Qin’s handheld digital menus – all without server involvement. Zhao says that according to Qin’s manager, Zhang Lichang, the time-savings has enabled his servers to handle 50% more tables simultaneously than they could previously manage with the old printed menus.
Non-invasive, waiter-less up-selling; instant answers to customers’ questions on individual dishes, ingredients, and flavors; customer-controlled, server-less ordering; and dramatically increased efficiency and productivity — such is the power of handheld digital menus.
Disclaimer: This is an independent report sourced from one or more news articles and or press releases; none of the company’s, entities or technologies digressed in this report are affiliated with or a client of Open.
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