
Restaurant ordering form is something you might have frequently seen if you enjoy dining out. Their increasing prevalence is not a coincidence at all.
In fact, introducing these amenities may be why some restaurant brands have managed to boost growth in recent times. QR code forms are used not just for ordering food; they can be used to provide menus, survey forms, and much more.
But how are these QR code forms created and why is there a need to use one? Let’s find out.
What is a Restaurant Ordering Form, and How Does it Work?
As the name suggests, a restaurant ordering form is a form that customers can access by using a QR code. These are made using online form builder, so guests can access menus, place orders, and make payments seamlessly through smartphones.
It is a well-known fact that 80 percent of restaurants shut down within the first five years of operation. This is attributed to the restrictive figures of running such establishments. An average dine-in restaurant order is $48, and a 9.3 percent profit margin—the industry’s average—nets a restaurant a $4.46 profit.
Beat these odds by using QR code forms and achieve the growth and longevity you desire. Using these codes, your restaurant improves two important aspects of the dining experience: the menu and the overall service.
The following three stages guide the process of using restaurant ordering form:
Relying on quick response technology
Restaurant ordering form use QR (quick response) technology to connect visitors to digital ordering forms. A restaurant can make use of a Form QR Code Generator to create a user-friendly form that aligns with the services they offer.
Scanning decrypts the QR code
Once your form is ready, encourage your guests to scan the QR code. This code stores the ordering form in an encrypted format. Once they gain access to your order form, they can place (and even pay for) their order from their seats.
Placing an order interacts with the BOH system
Once the order is placed, the system notifies the back-of-house staff, who can begin preparing the order.
Menu QR codes
While the restaurant ordering form in itself can improve the overall restaurant experience for your guests, you can take it one step further by incorporating a menu QR code.
You can provide a separate QR code as your menu, which links customers to the restaurant’s order system or menus and daily or chef specials.
Since it’s a digital menu, guests can engage with clickable elements that redirect them to allergen and nutritional information, helping them make more informed decisions.
Why Does Your Restaurant Need to Use Order Form QR Codes?
There are several reasons why your restaurant should implement restaurant ordering form, but one key advantage stands out: profitability. Restaurant profit margins are usually static. As a singular entity, there’s not much you can do to change the existing global industry margin of 3 to 5 percent.
But don’t let that bog you down! Among the limited changes that you can make to increase your margins, one particular change is extremely cost-effective and takes the dining experience to another level: the menu QR code and restaurant ordering form.
Recently, these form QR codes have been gaining immense traction among restaurateurs due to their host of advantages. Some of them include:
Improve the dining experience
The restaurant ordering form is extremely easy to adopt. Restaurant guests love the form QR code because it enables them to leisurely browse the menu without feeling pressured to place an order.
In addition to that, this system lets them get as specific about their substitutions and customizations as necessary. It is also a time-saver in casual restaurants where customers are required to stand in line to order. Instead, diners can scan the QR code and use the form to place the order.
Reduce operating costs
The restaurant order form effectively reduces the number of servers required in a dine-in restaurant, which goes a long way in decreasing the establishment’s operating costs.
While you could experiment with various configurations to reduce your staff-related expenses, these are the two most popular ones for the average dine-in restaurant:
- Diners seat themselves: If diners can choose their seats, you may only need one or two servers to deliver the food and drinks to the tables.
- Host seats diners: If a host seats diners, your restaurant only needs to add a host to the front-of-house staff.
Increase loyalty
When presented with menu QR codes and restaurant ordering form, customers feel like they’re gaining an amenity rather than losing one. In the first phase of using QR codes in your restaurant, you can encourage customers to use digital forms instead of waiting for a server.
Consider linking promotions to your menu QR codes or integrating access to special promotions. Encouraging customers to scan the form QR code by promising incentives will increase loyalty.

The Purpose of Menu QR Code Form
Today, going contactless has become the norm. Interacting with technology rather than a person is considered a perk, and digitizing physical items, for example, the menu or paper forms is believed to be consumer-friendly.
While the convenience of the menu QR code (and QR codes in general) is the ideal way to pitch this technology to consumers and improve customer service, businesses also stand to benefit from reduced expenses and scalability.
Collect data
Data is an essential source for modern business, yet restaurants rarely use data. This is not because restaurants don’t want to, but because the paper process makes it challenging to collect and analyze data that leads to beneficial action.
A digital order form changes that. When customers use these digital order forms to place their orders, restaurants gain insight into their preferences, spending, and dining habits. This data can be used to make a restaurant more client-centric.
Scale using data
The data gathered through the restaurant ordering form can help you scale up your operations.
For instance, you can rely on the trends and patterns gathered from your data to determine what meals you can remove from the menu, when to run promotions, and what specials attract diners. Data will also help make decisions about pricing, operating hours, and maximizing the space.
How to Transform Your Restaurant with a Restaurant Ordering Form
Now that you know the benefits of using a restaurant ordering form, it’s time to implement those in your restaurant. These five steps will help you create a restaurant ordering form with QR code.
Step 1: Outline relevant questions
A restaurant ordering form is only as good as the fields included in the form. Before turning to a form builder or a form creator to generate your order form, identify the most important details of an order (item, quantity, customizations, and substitutions) and list them.
When creating your form, you could seek inspiration from the online order forms of delivery service apps.
The form should be easy-to-use, so the back-of-house staff can carry out each order without any hassles. Include every single aspect of the order in the form.
Step 2: Create restaurant ordering form with form builder
Once you have an outline of the questions you’d like to ask, use a form builder for restaurant ordering to create the digital order form. You may even use Google Forms. Use the multiple-choice field, the multi-level selection field, and the checklist. Avoid using short or long text fields in the form creator.
If you allow customers to type long messages, back-of-house staff could waste time deciphering the meaning behind the input. Sometimes, pertinent information might be missing or incomplete.
On the other hand, integrating a multiple-choice selection or a checklist allows your restaurant to guide the ordering process in a way that helps customers articulate their needs and makes BOH staff more efficient.

Step 3: Generate the form QR code
Once you’re satisfied with the form, generate the QR code. The QR code gives customers access to the restaurant order form, menu, or both.
If you are using a form builder instead of a Google form QR code, you can insert brand and design elements, too. A form builder for restaurant ordering has customizable elements to showcase your brand aesthetic and identity throughout the order process.
Step 4: Link forms to the restaurant’s order system
For the restaurant ordering form to function, link it to your restaurant ordering system. This step tests how useful a form builder is.
While you can create a Google form QR code, you should still rely on a form builder to create the QR code and seamlessly link a Google form to your ordering system. A form creator allows you to customize multiple aspects of the form and facilitates easy data retrieval.
Step 5: Place QR codes at various (visible) access points
It’s time to print your QR codes and place them on tables and counters. The QR code should be a high-quality print that is easy to scan.
For in-person dining, every table should have a unique QR code. Essentially, you should number (or name) each table and link the form with the corresponding number or name. “Table One” should be linked to the form of the same name.
Remember to test the QR code and form before placing them on tables. Also, get your staff to scan the QR codes to ensure they are compatible with different devices, like tablets and smartphones.
Streamline Your Dining Experience: Set Up Your Restaurant Ordering Form with QR Codes
It is finally time to get rid of paper menus and the hectic order-taking process. Simply use menu QR codes and restaurant ordering form to improve the dining experience and make your restaurant more competitive.
This is truly a cost-efficient change that has the potential to boost sales, loyalty, and organic growth.
So, what’s keeping you back? Try out the Form QR Code Generator and build all the necessary QR code forms to keep your restaurant going.