Contactless dining is now available in restaurants throughout UAE

Zomato has announced that the new concept will be offered in more than 1,500 restaurants in the Emirates

Zomato has launched contactless dining, enabling restaurant diners to browse menus, order meals and pay bills using QWR codes and their smartphones. Zomato

Contactless dining is now available in the UAE.

Delivery platform Zomato says more than 1,500 restaurants in the Emirates are ready to offer the experience, increasing safety amid the pandemic for those looking to dine out as cities reopen.

For this feature, Zomato has digitised almost every step of eating at a restaurant and generated QR scanning codes, enabling diners to forgo dealing with tactile items such as menus, receipts and credit card machines.

The concept is simple. Once guests are seated, they scan the QR code attached to their table to generate a digital menu on their device, from which they can place their orders. Once they have finished their meals, diners need only to pay their bills, again using the app, then simply walk out.

“We firmly believe contactless dining will not only ensure our restaurant partners can welcome their patrons back with confidence, but also pave the way for a more personalised dining experience. We will continue to add more restaurants to the list as we strive to make contactless dining the default dining experience across the UAE,” says Kedar Kulkarni, vice president of Zomato Middle East.

Back in March, Zomato came under fire for offering restaurants on the site hygiene audits for a fee of Dh945, the results of which would be published on its platform.

While the service is not compulsory, some restaurateurs felt the offer was poorly timed and unnecessary, given all places that serve food are already audited by the government.

Zomato said it believed the certification “would add great value” to businesses and offered examples of how it would be presented on its platforms.