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Innovation
Where the Hell is My F___ing Menu?
Once again, consumers tell corporate America, “Don’t bother. I’ll do it myself.”
I first noticed it at the trendy breakfast place my husband and I frequent: no menus. Instead, there was a barcode sticker on the table. Presumably, we were supposed to know that we needed to scan that to see a menu. We didn’t and so asked for paper menus, which the server was happy to provide. We didn’t think much of it, figuring that it was probably due to concern over spreading germs during the pandemic.
But since restrictions have eased, and the WHO and CDC have informed us of the unlikelihood of surface-to-surface transmission of COVID-19, the number of restaurants no longer automatically distributing physical menus only seems to be increasing.
Two more times since going back to restaurants in person, this time at major chain establishments, I’ve been dumped unceremoniously at a table without either a menu or instructions about how to access one online. Fast food establishments like Mcdonald's are urging customers to order and pay with their phones and then pick up. Apparently, supplying human beings to take orders and payments is no longer something they want to do. Why should they when so many of us cheerfully assume that responsibility?
