[ed. Great. More picture-taking and phone surfing in restaurants. Will smartphones eventually be just another eating utensil, integral to the complete dining experience? Perhaps they already are.]
Restaurants are finding creative ways to let customers know about where their food is coming from as consumers’ interest in the origins of their foods continues to increase.One chef has even begun to label sushi served at his restaurants with QR codes that give customers that information.
“It’s proven in the food world in general that when your customers know about the products you’re giving them they will pay more for them and come back more often,” said Robert Ruiz, chef of two-unit Harney Sushi in San Diego and Oceanside, Calif. “The technology and the information’s here, so why don’t we do the right thing and make money while we’re doing it?”
Ruiz uses edible ink to print the QR codes on rice wafers he serves with sushi. Customers with smartphones can follow the codes to a website that describes the origins of the fish they’re eating.
Ruiz learned the technique from a local pastry chef who uses edible ink to print images on wedding cakes.
The code currently takes customers to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s FishWatch website, which lets users look up the fish they’re eating and see the health of the fishery it comes from.
by Bret Thorn, Restaurant News | Read more:
Image: uncredited
