How to Order Food in China with a QR Code

Coffee bars, milk-tea shops, bakeries and snack kiosks like this cookie shop often have no waiter and no paper menu. You order on your own phone – so first work out what you want. The picture boards outside and the display case show the real thing.

→Tap the numbered dots in the photo.

1. 1Picture board
2. 2The window
3. 3Display case

The picture board outside has no prices. The board above the counter does: the plain numbers next to each item are yuan (¥, 元 yuán). If a shop has no price board at all, don’t worry – every price appears on your phone once you have scanned.

→Tap dot 3 – the menu board next to the window – to zoom in.

1. 1点餐区 diǎn cān qū · Ordering area
2. 2Ordering by phone
3. 3Menu board

Look for a sign or sticker that says 扫码点餐 (sǎo mǎ diǎn cān, “scan the code to order”). It stands by the entrance, sits on the counter, or – in restaurants – is stuck to your table.

→Two signs stand by the steps. Tap the QR code you would scan to order.

A code marked 付款 (fù kuǎn, pay) or 收款 (shōu kuǎn, receive payment) is for paying only: you type in the amount yourself, and the shop doesn’t learn what you want. For ordering you need 点餐, 点单 or 下单.

The codes in our photos are blurred, so nobody orders from the real shop by accident.

Open Alipay or WeChat and use the scanner inside the app – not your phone’s camera app, which usually just opens a page telling you to switch to Alipay or WeChat.

→Tap 扫一扫 (Scan) at the top of the Alipay home screen.

Hold the phone 20–30 cm from the code. In poor light, the scanner has a torch button.

The code opens a mini-program (小程序 xiǎo chéng xù): the shop’s own ordering page, running inside Alipay or WeChat. Nothing to install. These are real screenshots of this shop’s menu – categories on the left, items and prices on the right.

→Tap the dots on the screen for a translation.

1. 1领取会员权益 lǐng qǔ huì yuán quán yì · Claim membership perks
2. 2充500送80 chōng wǔ bǎi sòng bā shí · Top up ¥500, get ¥80 free
3. 3点菜 diǎn cài · Order
4. 4商家 shāng jiā · Shop info
5. 5堂食 táng shí · Eat here
6. 6外带 wài dài · Take away
7. 7推荐 tuī jiàn · Recommended
8. 8热销 rè xiāo · Best sellers
9. 9折扣 zhé kòu · Discounts
10. 10¥28/份 fèn · ¥28 per item
11. 11¥12/份 起 qǐ · From ¥12

Membership (会员) and top-up offers (充值) are for regulars – you can ignore every one of them. To read item names, take a screenshot and use Google Lens or your phone’s built-in text translation.

Interactive: the phone screen works like the shop’s mini-program. Switch between 堂食 and 外带, tap + to add a cookie, open 选规格 on the latte to pick iced or hot and the sugar level, take items out again with −, and watch the cart total change. 去结算 takes you on to checkout and payment – nothing is actually ordered or paid.

Choose 堂食 (táng shí, eat here) or 外带 (wài dài, take away), then add what you want. Drinks open an options sheet (选规格, choose options), usually for temperature and sweetness. Everything collects in the cart bar at the bottom.

→Add something – try the latte for the options sheet – then tap 去结算 (checkout).

Items and prices are this shop’s real ones; the screen itself is a simplified practice version. Real ordering pages differ from shop to shop, but the buttons are nearly always these.

Check the order, then tap 提交订单 (tí jiāo dìng dān, submit order). Alipay or WeChat Pay slides up its payment sheet; confirm with your six-digit payment password or Face ID. With a foreign card linked, it is charged like any card payment.

→Tap 提交订单 (submit order).

If a payment fails, nothing has been ordered. Try again, switch between Alipay and WeChat Pay, or order at the counter instead.

Your order goes straight to the counter – to a ticket printer, a tablet, or both, often with a spoken announcement. You don’t have to say anything; the staff start making it right away.

Keep the order page open, or find it again later in the app’s order list: your pickup number is on it.

Your order page shows a pickup number (取餐号 qǔ cān hào). When it’s ready, the staff call it out in Chinese, a screen shows it, or the page switches to 请取餐 (qǐng qǔ cān, please collect). Numbers are called as a whole number or digit by digit – here is how yours sounds.

Not sure it was yours? Walk up and show your screen.

Go to the window and show the number on your screen. The staff glance at it and hand over your order. 谢谢 (xièxie) – thank you.

That’s the whole thing. Coffee chains, milk-tea shops and bakeries work the same way; in sit-down restaurants the code is usually on your table, and some let you pay at the end.

1. 1取餐 qǔ cān · Collect here