I m the head of tech for a restaurant & cafe's QR code/online ordering business, also do alot programming on it. Happy to answer anything.
[AMA] I Work as a Programmer for Restaurant & Cafe's QR Code/Online Ordering
rimalala on 14/03/2024 - 10:16
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I'm glad it's being thought of but I appreciate it would be difficult. These scenarios are so unknown. For me, I thought a simple on/off toggle would suffice (for days when things just don't get delivered or run out etc). But as you say, there's the average user to think of who, let's face it, isn't in IT and might be up to their eyeballs in lattes all day.
anyone requested you to implement a freebie virus/malware in their restaurent app ??
no, is that a thing in australia?
Are you getting any new clients? Is it slowing down at all? \
A lot implemented it over the Rona but do new bars/cafes really go for this? I personally can’t stand using my phone to order. I have to make a new account at most places, then enter my card details in if they don’t accept Apple Pay.
The only time it is ever kinda useful if you have dietary requirements or want to order stuff for yourself.
Most places I’ve been to let you say to the wait staff “I ordered a burger with chips and a beer”, joe blogs next to me had the gnocchi with pesto and a wine etc etc and you just split it that way.
We are very new and small, we do get new clients but not much, we dont do sales and marketing.
Making account just for ordering is such a pain, we against account requirment for ordering and we have been fighting hard for it.
I find it the opposite. If out with friends we use the QR/App, that way there isn't the last person picking up the tab for some of the dodgy mates who forget they ordered 3 beers instead of 2. If with family, then usually order via human, unless they are crazy busy/short staffed and then we use the app also.
What did you work on before this?
I might want to make a connection. Going to need some one with this kind of expertise as SME for some projects at some point.
i worked on a backoffice system for asian supermarket chain just before graduation. send me a dm and i'll see if i can help
How mature is your tech stack? Are you free to try out new tech to develop a new feature or solve a problem?
How mature is your tech stack?
Mature enough, but we are upgrading. Our frontend is running on vue2 which reached end of life on December 31st, 2023, we are currently in process of upgrading customer web app to vue3 which should provides better performance, lower package size, and better support. this is a very expensive upgrade.Are you free to try out new tech to develop a new feature or solve a problem?
Yes, we love trying out new things. we recently add a chat function just for the sake of itThat’s great to hear. Sounds like it’s a nice place to work
Yes, we love trying out new things. we recently add a chat function just for the sake of it
Careful, someone might order food forever for $1.
https://gizmodo.com/ai-chevy-dealership-chatgpt-bot-customer…the chat not with AI, but like a community message board, chat amoungst other people and leave messages
have you slipped a backdoor into your code to give you 30% off all orders?
no, we slipped a point in the contract saying we get free food
lol honestly this would be a good selling point for me lmao
How many businesses have you got signed up?
You said you are the head tech, implying other staff members. How many other staff in the tech department working on this product you offer?
Where are the businesses located?
Seems that if you are only making 2% of orders, you'd need to have your customer base turning over minimum $500k a week for it to even be worth it on a business sense. or atleast be targeting that number within a year?
50+, we are new.
Syndey
Seems that if you are only making 2% of orders, you'd need to have your customer base turning over minimum $500k a week for it to even be worth it on a business sense. or atleast be targeting that number within a year?
Yes, but we no where near that. we are targeting that number within 2 yearsMy guess would be they are a tech startup who have raised VC funding so they do not need to have $500k revenue p/w now since they have a runway / funding.
It's more important for these early startup companies to show growth and possibly some evidence of a pathway to eventual profitability.
yup,
How do you acquire new clients? Do you have a sales team that calls restaurants? How do you convince clients to switch to your solution?
as far as i know, again i m in tech, they do calls, they do sales, they go door knockin, and generally they target those without those solutions
4 full + 3 part tech
Hey I got a question actually. What would you do if the restaurant/cafe was regularly out of stock on many items, would the QR code ordering system even make sense at all? Or would it work fine if their staff just regularly updated inventory. Or does your system link into a POS which has an inbuilt inventory system and will automatically 86 it when the inventory reaches zero through online and in store POS sales?
it would work fine if staffs regularly update the menu.
Our system do intergrate with some POS systems but we found out staffs dont really disable items on their POS system either, usually when something is out, they will simply tell everyone that its not available. we usually do training with them to get them to disable items on their POS system or on our platform.
I dont know any restaurant/cafe using auto inventory system, i m sure they have the function but just decide not to bother with it. the response i m getting is "We dont know how many x item we gonna make everyday and its just a pain to set the stock everyday for the system to work".
One solution we are currently discussing is to always have the item available and when someone ordered and its not available, staff will initiate refund, and on the refund dialog we ask the if we should disable the item for the day.
I spent ages looking for a free or cheap system that would sync a tablet based POS with online sales, so they 86 automatically when the manually entered inventory is depleted. Gave up.
What software do you use for the ordering system. I guess what is the name of your business if it's their software?
Which online sales system u guys running with?
Considering you don’t have sales & marketing team, what’s your next career move?
be homeless and sleep under a bridge or ask my boss to get a proper sales & marketing. dont know
With competition like hungry hungry and me&u, your boss needs to get cracking on a sales team
i agree
Are you guys hiring for front-end engineers? I have a mate looking for a junior front-end/full-stack position with some React
no
What is your high level system architecture like? Especially the one that tackles future scalability issues, if any at all.
We use Google cloud for backend services, scalability is not an issue as long we throw money at them, this include server functions, database, storage, auth. etc.
our front end is full static web app, there isnt much server request we need to do, the 1.x mb on initial page load should be the largest u ever need to download from us (from CDN actually) (But we do push out update quite frequently so thats that).
How do you do authentication ?
Presumably, your web app will be communicating with the server and how do you ensure any access to secure resources (if there are) are only provided to authenticated and authorized resources?We use google firebase authentication, they handle all the communication via their API, We also use firestore as database and authorized data in database is secured by their "rules" i.e. request.auth.uid == request.resource.id
What stack do you use?
front: vue,
back: Google cloud authentication and storage, firebase database, nodejsDid you use firebase links for the QR code links? That service is shutting down next year :(
no we dont, we host our own links, we web app only for customers
@rimalala: Heyyou, ordermate, ozpos, wsoft? And is it the same business from this thread https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/664687
Good luck with your stacks as they are missing bits.
Fellow engineer here. How long have you been in the industry? How much do you get pay for being head of tech? Any rsu?
not much 75k+ no rsu, i m also one of the decision maker and stack holder
why not try to switch jobs for 100k+?
I m cofounder
I visit The Bowls Central Park https://thebowlscentralpark.com.au/
Excellent for quick delicious rice bowls.
They use Bopple for payments and ordering which I love. I also get 15% off when ordering via Bopple so not only is it convenient, I get awarded with a discount.
How do you guys compare to Bopple?
they are pretty good, few things i can think of
- Our sytem work with or without integrations, meaning if ur POS is old as fk (Or dont have a POS at all) we will still work as our solution comes with direct to printer intergation.
- We have reservation system they seem to be lacking.
- We are generally cheaper to run
Keep in mind that 15% off is given to you by the restaurant, not their ordering system
I'd rather not pay for a POS
oh - you meant Point Of Sale … ?
How do you get 15% off?
if i had to guess, first time user, sign up with new number
It's 15% off when compared to the menu price if you order via Bopple at the particular restaurant I'm referring to.
https://www.google.com/search?q=central+park+bowls&oq=&gs_lc…
yes, i think that is provided by the restaurant, trying to get people to use the system to lower staff workload
Are you a founder?
If not, what number employee are you?
What's the name of the company?
How much equity do you have?
cofounder, 25%
Thanks for the AMA! It's a great innovation I must admit despite still liking people interaction. All the best for your venture.
what dark patterns do you use?
none, but we are thinking of it… so yea
i love drip pricing
the only interesting thing here is purchasing a meal from the other side of the world
How's the pay?
Do you do enough actual programming to keep the role fun ?
75k, yes, the team is actually quite lite so i do alot programming myself
Me&u?
What's your salary?
I've had instances where I go to complete an order and it fails at the last step so end up having to go for counter service anyway. Any idea what causes this error?
This is without creating an account.
hm i dont know
I assume you have some sort of error tracking like sentry though?
Have you added any easter eggs to the app?
yes
Are you scared that AI will take your job?
atm, no, in 10 years, yea
Do you handle any of Maccas IT at all, and if so which country are you currently fleeing to?
No i dont, but i m thinking of fleeing to thailand tho
Is there a society of QR coders who share their QR "art". And whaty makes a code particularly more attractive than another. Is there any creative license in the creation of the code (like a couple of squares in the mid-rioght area or something) or is every single square outside of the logo governed by the QR protocols?
What do you think of people who say "noo" isntead of "nyew" when they mean something that is not old, but new?
Do people get QR code tattoos that link to information of either themselves or something else?
I currently shave my head to a 0.5. Should I go to a zero all over all the time? What about matching the length of the top to the facial hair?
Why do I need to open the camera app or something else to read a QR code. It's a pain in the arse. Should we be lobbying phone/watch manufacturer's to have a passive, always reading, lens on our devices? Would this lead to QR codes being everywhere in our environments to create false click throughs and links?
Do you prefer that your news/weather sources report dew point or relative humidity as a measure of how comfiortable the day might be and what you might wear?
love ur random questions…
Talking about QR Code art, i been quite interested in AI Generated QR code arts, they look awesome. for those who not too sure what i m talking about, google it. its awesome.
Yeah the AI QR art looks cool, but are there any artists creating as well? Reminds me of a photo mosaic artwork i created 20 years ago that took me weeks in photoshop!
love ur random questions…
You said Ask Me Anything. Answer the other questions!
i said ask me anything, doesnt mean i'll answer everything
Can chat gpt do your work?
currently no,
1) what is your top 5 games or last 5 games you played that you really liked can be any platform
2) what is your favourite movie or last good movie you watched
3) how old are you now and what other job could you see yourself doing or what jobs did you have in the past before this venture
genshin still playing, palia, alan wake, city skyline
last one oppenheimer.
i m 29, i like programming, i m interested in random interesting projects, so if u anyone have anything interesting hit me up. do considering having a gap year to travel the world.
what is the gender ratio for company-wide and upper management?
all malee
So you're fairly new, but Mr Yums and me&u are already quite established and used by a lot of restaurants esp they were around pre-covid and were able to tap into the early "no contact" market post-covid. What's your differentiator and how are you planning to compete with them?
Few questions to understand as not in the restaurant business. Was always curious about the business model:
A. Would you know how business model like TheFork work? They just for booking. How would they make money?
B. You mentioned 2% platform fees. What about the credit card fees on top? How much are they usually?
C. In terms of system, just curious what is different about this? Isn't this technically a simple ecommerce type platform where you just have extra layer of QR code. However, otherwise it is just doing ecommerce orders.
D. Do you have many competitors?
E. Clients only in Australia or you do this globally?
a. Not too sure, i heard restaurants give them money
b. we match our credit card fee with restaurant's counter credit card fee (usually 1.1 - 2)
c. technically yes, but design more specific for the task, for example layer of functions is to talk to whatever system/device behind the counter/kitchen. POS systems, printers, etc. another thing a bif different is how the system is structured like a platform (think ebay/amazon, multiple seller <> multiple buyers) instead of standalone shop.
d. yes, me&u, mr yum, and many many more
e. we small, very small, but apparently we do have global clients…Thanks appreciate the answers
Syntax Error: alot
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Why do some of the digital menus have terrible or very outdated UI design?
because a "good" or "fancy" modern design might not work on some older devices
What TAFE and/or degree did you finish? Computer Science at UNSW?
how dafk did u know? i finished CS unsw
When I was in another country during covid, I offered a similar service to restaurants (QR code menus with 1% commission coming our way for every order). Noone bit. How did you convince your first customer?
Probably a team that is sales heavy would be my guess. A job like this is mostly sales and marketing.
We were thinking of using AI and data analysis to have more of a dynamic menu, but that had its own issues