Call buttons vs QR codes vs NFC stickers: what 50 tables really cost
Three ways to let a guest ask for service without waving. Here is what each one costs for a 50-table restaurant, what the staff actually gets, and where each option is fine.
| Call buttons | QR codes | NFC stickers (escusi) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the guest does | Presses a button on the table. | Opens the camera, scans, waits for a page to load. | Taps the phone on the sticker. A page opens by itself. |
| What the staff sees | A number on a pager or a wall display: table 9. | Depends on the vendor. Often an order screen, not a request. | A push on their own phone: the table, what the guest wants, how long they have waited. |
| Hardware | A transmitter on every table, a receiver, chargers. | None. Printed codes. | None. Any NFC sticker and the phones your staff already carry. |
| Batteries | Yes, in every button. | No. | No. |
| Cost for 50 tables, year one | About $550: 50 × ~$10 plus a ~$50 receiver, then batteries and replacements. | About free: printing, plus whatever the ordering software costs. | About $85: 50 stickers ≈ $25 plus $4.99/month. |
| When nobody comes | Nothing. The light blinks until someone notices. | Nothing. | A reminder to the waiter after 4 minutes, an alert to the manager after 7. |
| Typed requests | No. One signal. | Sometimes, if the software has a notes field. | Yes. The guest types anything. |
| Translation | No. | Rarely. | Yes. Typed notes arrive in the waiter's language. |
| Works in the dark | Yes. | Badly. The camera needs light and a steady hand. | Yes. A tap needs no camera. |
| Evidence log | No. | Depends on the vendor. | Yes. Every request, who took it and how long it waited, per table and per day. |
Wireless call buttons
A call button is honest: press it and a pager buzzes. It works without a phone and in any light, and for a small terrace with one waiter that can be enough. Buttons are fine when the only question is “come here” and someone is always free to come.
The problems start with scale. Every table needs its own transmitter, the receiver has a range, batteries die at the worst moment, and buttons get knocked off, pocketed, or stop working after a season of wiping. The signal itself carries nothing: the waiter knows table 9 wants something, not what. And when the waiter is busy, the light just keeps blinking. Nobody else finds out.
QR codes
QR codes cost nothing to print and every guest has seen one. They are fine for opening a menu, and for ordering systems where the guest wants to browse and pay on their own phone.
As a way to call a waiter they are slower than they look: open the camera, find the code, hold still, tap the banner, wait for the page. In a dim room half the scans fail. And a QR code usually opens an ordering app, not a request, so “more napkins, please” has nowhere to go. Printed codes also fade, peel, and end up on the wrong table.
NFC stickers with escusi
An NFC sticker is a passive chip: no battery, nothing to charge, nothing to break. The guest holds the phone near it and a web page opens with the buttons: call a waiter, ask for the bill, or type a request. The free escusi app is optional and faster. Without it, the tap opens the web version.
The difference is what the staff gets. The request lands on the waiter's own phone with the table number and the actual request, typed notes translated into their language. If nobody takes it, the waiter gets a reminder after four minutes and the manager an alert after seven, with the whole floor on one live board.
Every request is logged per table with the time, who took it and how long it waited, so you can see how a shift really went instead of guessing. Any NTAG213 sticker works, about 50 cents each, and the whole restaurant is $4.99 a month. If a sticker gets damaged, the replacement costs 50 cents and two seconds with the Admin app.
Questions people ask before switching
Any standard NTAG213 sticker or newer, 25–30 mm, about 50 cents each. For metal tables choose “on-metal” stickers; regular ones do not scan on metal.
No. The tap opens a web page with the buttons. The free app is optional: faster, and it works at every escusi restaurant.
Every iPhone since the iPhone 7 and nearly every Android phone sold in the last few years reads NFC stickers without any setup. Guests just hold the phone near the sticker.
escusi runs on the phones your staff already carry. If one waiter has no phone, the manager's live board still shows every request, and any staff member with the app can take it.
Yes. Stick the NFC stickers next to the buttons, run both for a week, then take the buttons away. Setup takes about ten minutes once the stickers are on the tables.
Try it on your own tables.