Anheuser-Busch was founded in 1852 and has welcomed guests to their brewery experiences since 1904. At the flagship St. Louis brewery’s Biergarten, customers can pair beer with everything from Bavarian pretzel sticks to grilled bratwurst. The restaurant adopted Square Online and began leveraging self-serve QR code ordering in spring 2022 to serve guests efficiently and streamline services on both sides of the counter.
The challenge: Efficient orders and satisfied customers
Prior to using Square Online, the Biergarten team had problems accepting and managing orders efficiently. Tickets were printed at the bar and didn’t reach the kitchen. Customer lines increased wait times as bartenders struggled to pour beer, put in food orders, answer questions, and take payments all at once.
The solution: QR codes for ordering
With Square Online in place, QR code ordering is now a breeze for diners hungry for a brat and a beer. After customers scan the QR code tableside, their food arrives quickly. Bartenders are freed up to pour beer and fulfill orders. The Biergarten team also takes advantage of Square integrations with their existing tools — like Tripleseat — to ingest event data into their POS along with QR code orders, allowing them to see a comprehensive view of each guest.
QR code ordering worked as planned right from day one. The Square team helped us optimize the real-world situations to make it effective and showed us how we could fully use the services when we were ready. ”
Scott Smith → director of brewery services, Anheuser-Busch Biergarten
The results: Time saved on orders and staff training
With QR code orders now going directly to the kitchen, Scott Smith, director of brewery services at Anheuser-Busch Biergarten, estimates the staff saves 2.5 hours daily. Employee training time has also decreased since implementing Square, from two hours of formal training to 30 minutes, and from three days of peer reviewed training to one day.
Smith predicts that more restaurants will adopt QR code ordering and its ability to automatically suggest related items to diners during checkout. “The days of servers remembering to ask if anyone saved room for dessert are over,” Smith said.
QR code ordering accounts for 35% of total food and drink orders at the Anheuser-Busch Biergarten.
QR code ordering now represents 35% of the biergarten’s total food and drink orders, and tipping has remained steady at 18–20%, even on QR code orders made tableside. Looking ahead, Smith’s team is excited to see their customer database grow so they can get started with Square Marketing and share new products and offerings to a larger audience.
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