Creating and evaluating food menu with augmented reality

Today, restaurants are striving to offer their customers different and creative dishes in response to increasing competition in the food industry. It is anticipated that Augmented Reality (AR) technologies will facilitate a rapid transformation in restaurant menus by providing interaction between the virtual environment and the real world in a positive manner. Accordingly, this study aims for customers to make choices by visually perceiving products more realistically with augmented reality technology. In the study, an augmented reality-supported QR menu consisting of eleven food items and two beverages was created. Three-dimensional models were downloaded from the internet in accordance with the content and transferred to the Unity program, where software was developed. Participants were asked to experience the created software. Semi-structured interview questions were asked to the participants who experienced the application through face-to-face interviews, and the answers were recorded instantly. It is particularly important for participants to have professions related to computer technologies for the feedback of the prepared mobile application. In the study, the effectiveness of the mobile application in showcasing products, as well as marketing, competition, and interaction with people, was addressed. Throughout this process, the presentation of meals in three dimensions, menu design, and customers' experience of viewing the menu were emphasized.