Digital menu for restaurants in Finland as a SaaS web application: definition, functionality, feasibility.

Abstract

For several years, the menu has been strong marketing, communication, and sales tool for restaurants. And, as digitalization transforms the majority of businesses and business instruments, the traditional paper menu in a restaurant is now part of the transition. Yearly online consumption is growing, more industries are shifting into the digital world. The current global pandemic accelerated the growth of e-commerce globally. Binding shifts in the restaurant sector are ahead. In many countries, restaurants started utilizing digital menus that can be accessed via scanned QR code by customers' mobile phones, links, or by downloading the application. This service enables restaurant and bar customers to avoid the usage of a physical paper menu. In addition to that, the digital menu benefits restaurants through valuable data insights, increases sales, enhances operations and provides a platform for innovative features. This topic has become more popular during the pandemic and becomes trendier among restaurants globally. The main purpose of the thesis is to study the role of the digital menu as a SaaS web application in different restaurant segments and discover potential features that can bring added value, to increase sales and enhance the operations. The research presents an end-user perspective, analyzes the interest and possible requirements. Interviews with restaurant owners, directors, managers, will be conducted, in order to identify the interest, the relevance of the service and discover required additional features.