The system was developed to help provide restaurants with a new way to operate during the pandemic.
Square QR codes are offering restaurants a new way to keep operating by making it possible for diners to peruse the menu, order the food they want, and pay without ever having to interact with a server.
The barcodes themselves aren’t unique but combining them with the point of sale system makes a difference.
The pandemic has caused many restaurants to use quick response barcodes to replace printed menus. This helps to reduce the number of items that are shared among diners and that must be sanitized between uses. That said, the majority of these barcodes merely provide a digital version of the printed menu on the user’s phone. In the case of the Square QR codes, the system takes things a couple of steps further.
In this case, the diner can look at the menu, but can also place an order and even pay for what is purchased. All this can be done without having to use a printed menu without the server having to talk about the options and write down what was ordered, and without the need for a point of sale device to be shared with customers paying with a credit or debit card. Overall, it has the potential to greatly reduce the number of items that must be touched by diners or by more than one employee, for that matter.
The Square QR code may help restaurants to provide more contact-free experiences than they had.
To use this feature, the restaurant must simply print a QR code and display it at the table. The diner uses his or her own phone to scan the barcode. From there, the diner is directed through the process of looking through the food options, ordering and paying for the meal once. From there, the restaurant is notified of the diner’s choices and must simply deliver the food when it’s ready.
According to Square, this system is very flexible. It can work for a range of different restaurant experiences. It even indicated that a coffee shop could display a single barcode in its window, allowing people to scan the barcode, order, pay and wait for their drink.
The Square QR codes open up options for restaurants to limit physical contact, which is a critical step during the pandemic crisis. The primary challenge is that the system can be 
complicated for the restaurant itself to set up. Once it is in place, it can move smoothly, but establishing the right workflow can be an initial challenge.
