I've done this a couple of times. One thing that's slightly awkward and could be refined is that it can't do "Girl menus".
At some fancy restaurants, they have two versions of their menus, the idea is that the person paying (who historically would be a man) gets a menu with prices, but people who aren't paying (historically wives, girlfriends and maybe children or clients) get the same list of dishes but no pricing.
In 2025 it's definitely not OK to assume that people who appear male are paying and people who appear not to be male are not - but it is very much possible that somebody is paying and some people are not, and so it would be nice if the person who is paying can delegate the choices but still pay and the systems I've seen do not facilitate this.
The kind of fancy place which historically had two menus (or maybe even still does although it probably pays to ask who gets which menus these days) this isn't a problem. Somewhere with a decent cellar and the sommelier to guide inexperienced users to a sensible choice is also going to have somebody just memorize what everybody is eating and if only a single person is paying for it all that's discretely handled, no problem.
But the place with a choice of red or white is going to expect phone ordering and it'd be nice if I could let other people choose what they're eating without also just handing them my phone or else expecting them to pay and then I refund it (which is embarrassing for them)
It seems so utterly bizarre to me that a restaurant will go through the trouble and expense of printing a separate set of menus where the only difference is that they contain less information. What a culture shock it would be to see this!
I hadn't realised anywhere still did this, tbh. It is, at most, a niche within a niche that most people will never encounter. But tbh I thought it had died out entirely by the start of the century.
I have never heard about this or seen it and I am in mh 50s who goes to fancy places. What bizarre craziness is this?
Anyway;I should have mentioned that it is not an ONLY pay like this, they also have menus and the normal way. Here (EU or at least where I live) this is not a cost saving thing; it came from covid and many people liked it so they kept it. But waiters and menus are back next to that. I prefer electronic as then I don't have to sit and wave for a waiter or the bill for 30 minutes. But other do whatever they want.
I hate this to be honest, if only because it's never frictionless for me. At the very least I generally need to create an account and verify my phone number or email address, often they also want me to download some shitty app that doesn't work properly. I will actively prefer a place where I can just order and pay with a human like the old days.
I guess torching the concept because of the implementation is a thing but we now have quite a few places allowing this where I live (you can still pay cash and a human if you want at all of them), but none of them require an account or app; you just scan a qr on your table, order and pay like any online shop. There is no friction; at least if you have a smart phone and use it to order online. Maybe you only saw bad implementations. Why the hell would you need an account?
maybe it depends on where you are and it definitely depends on the implementation; i just pay like i would pay for any online payment which is frictionless.
At some fancy restaurants, they have two versions of their menus, the idea is that the person paying (who historically would be a man) gets a menu with prices, but people who aren't paying (historically wives, girlfriends and maybe children or clients) get the same list of dishes but no pricing.
In 2025 it's definitely not OK to assume that people who appear male are paying and people who appear not to be male are not - but it is very much possible that somebody is paying and some people are not, and so it would be nice if the person who is paying can delegate the choices but still pay and the systems I've seen do not facilitate this.
The kind of fancy place which historically had two menus (or maybe even still does although it probably pays to ask who gets which menus these days) this isn't a problem. Somewhere with a decent cellar and the sommelier to guide inexperienced users to a sensible choice is also going to have somebody just memorize what everybody is eating and if only a single person is paying for it all that's discretely handled, no problem.
But the place with a choice of red or white is going to expect phone ordering and it'd be nice if I could let other people choose what they're eating without also just handing them my phone or else expecting them to pay and then I refund it (which is embarrassing for them)