A coffee shop has a handful of repeated conversations: what is on today, what is the Wi-Fi password, do you have oat milk, are you open on Monday. Each one interrupts somebody making a drink. QR codes are worth using here for exactly one reason — they answer those questions without a staff member stopping.
Start with the two that pay for themselves
The menu. Especially if prices move, beans rotate, or there is a seasonal list. A website code pointing at a page you can edit means the board on the wall never has to be rewritten mid-week.
The Wi-Fi. This is the single most repeated question in any cafe with seating. A Wi-Fi code on each table ends it. Put it on the guest network, never the one your till runs on — the reasoning is in the Wi-Fi guide.
Those two cover most of the interruptions. Everything below is optional.
The rest, roughly in order of value
| Code | Where | Worth it when |
|---|---|---|
| Google review | On the bill or the card machine | Always — see the review guide |
| Loyalty signup | At the till | You already run a loyalty scheme |
| Bean information | On the bag, on the counter | You sell beans and the story matters |
| Allergen list | Beside the pastry case | You have more than a couple of items |
| Opening hours and location | Window, outside | Passers-by check before walking in |
| Feedback form | Table tent or toilet door | You want complaints you would not hear otherwise |
| Job applications | Window | You are hiring, which is most of the time |
Resist doing all of them at once. Three codes in a cafe is plenty; five is clutter and people stop reading any of them.
Table setup that works
One small acrylic stand per table, two codes on the insert: Menu and Wi-Fi, labelled, each with its own margin. Print the network name and password in small text under the Wi-Fi code as a fallback for older Android phones that cannot scan Wi-Fi codes.
Size them at 4 × 4 cm minimum so a seated customer does not have to pick the stand up. Matte finish, always — a glossy insert under a ceiling light becomes a mirror and the camera sees nothing.
The paper insert matters more than it sounds: when the Wi-Fi password changes, reprinting a slip is trivial. Peeling stickers off twenty tables is not.
The counter and the window
At the counter, put the review code where the customer looks while waiting for the card machine — not on the wall behind you.
In the window, the useful code is hours and location for people deciding whether to come in, sized at 10 cm or more because it is read from the pavement, often through glass with the street reflecting in it. Put it low enough to sit in shade, or inside the glass under the awning.
The mistake almost everyone makes
A bare QR code with no explanation gets ignored. Every code needs three or four words above it saying what happens: Scan for today's menu, Free Wi-Fi, Beans we're pouring this week.
The second mistake is putting a code somewhere with no reason attached to it. A code on the toilet wall linking to your Instagram gets nothing. The same code on a bean bag, saying "how we roast this", gets scanned.
Takeaway cups and bags
A small code on a takeaway sleeve or bag is one of the better placements in a cafe, because it is read at home, later, when the customer has time. Point it at something worth arriving at — the bean story, a loyalty signup, or the review link — not just your homepage.
Keep it to 2-3 cm, and remember curved surfaces distort the pattern. On a cup, keep the code on the flattest section and test it on an actual cup, not on the flat sheet before it is rolled.
Before printing for every table
- Scan each code from the downloaded file
- Check the destinations: menu page loads on mobile data, Wi-Fi actually connects
- Print one insert at final size, on the real stock
- Test it at a real table, seated, in daylight
- Test again in the evening under your actual lighting
- Try an older Android, not just a new iPhone
Full routine in the pre-print checklist. Ten minutes now beats reprinting twenty inserts.
Start with the menu code and the Wi-Fi code.