You can pay for this burger with the QR code on its bun

Picture this: pay for your burger at ICHIBUNS by waving your phone over it
Matt Writtle

In the neon-lit, Tokyo-inspired recesses of ICHIBUNS in Soho’s Chinatown, a feat of new-age wizardry is transpiring. Each wagyu beef burger arrives with a dotted geometric pattern toasted into the top of the bun. Simply wave your smartphone over it, wandlike, for the payment to beam onto your smartphone and, hey presto! This is a scannable burger, and it’s a taste of things to come.

ICHIBUNS is seeking to elevate your mobile from table-top distraction to tasteful accoutrement. Last week the restaurant launched the city’s first “burger bun-branded QR code”, in a partnership with mobile-payment service Zapper. A QR — quick response — code is encoded with all the information about the product it’s attached to, like machine-readable brail. At ICHIBUNS these distinctive codes are toasted on to the top of buns. They are currently available for the spicy chicken karaage, wagyu beef and tempura veggie burger buns. They don’t affect the taste.

After downloading either the Zapper or in-house IchiPachinko apps (more about this later), customers can hold their phone over the bun while their device reads the information and scans the bill onto your phone to pay on the app. Early adopters receive £7 to spend in the restaurant, gratis. Forget beak-to-claw. This is tech-to-tabletop.

The CEO of ICHIBUNS, Benjamin Goldkorn, says he got the idea while speaking to a friend who works in fintech. “We were looking for a way to make the mobile wallet industry more exciting and dynamic,” he says. “It’s a world that’s become a bit sterile, and this injects a little life. It’s embracing digital devices in a way that engages with diners. I want to make phones a valuable utensil, so that while you’re on your phone you can be connected to your meal.

“It offers customers an easy way to make fast, safe payments with a quick scan from a smartphone. We’re closing the loop on waste from bill receipts, and it allows customers to keep on top of their spending.” If you’ve taken a bite out of your QR code, fear not — it’s also printed on the menu.

Try to recall the last time you enjoyed a meal without a smartphone lurking around the table. This might be acceptable behaviour when left to one’s own devices, literally, on a table for one but constantly flicking between your companion and your WhatsApp doesn’t cut the mustard in polite company. The solution? Make your phone “meal relevant”.

London's best burgers

1/4

The ICHIBUNS menu is a lot of fun. Think British grass-fed wagyu beef paired with sweet potato fries and chef’s choice sushi platters, alongside steaming rice bowls of tuna, orange tobiko and milkshakes spiked with cookies and cream ice-cream or strawberry. The cocktail menu is great too. There are sakes, a smoked whiskey Negroni and a zingy grapefruit Collins.

ICHIBUNS, a pun on the Japanese for “number one”, has been open since last September but Goldkorn’s bold new frontier for food is an effort to close the gap between “our dining and technology experiences”.

The “immersive integration” of bites and bytes continues apace on the IchiPachinko app, a digital version of Japan’s pinball-esque pachinko machines. Downloading the app — again, it’s free — gives users 125 complimentary turns to try and navigate virtual balls into corresponding holes. The more points you rack up, the more prizes — burgers, milkshakes and fries, as well as cocktails for over-18s — you can rack up to spend at ICHIBUNS.

Tokens can’t be bought, only won, with 9,600 needed to win a burger (only the first 10 winners to come into the restaurant per day earn a prize). “We want to make it very clear that this isn’t gambling,” says Goldkorn. “It’s a bid to combat in-queue boredom, and it can be played anywhere at anytime.

“Everyone has their phone in their hand or at dinner now. You can’t ignore that. We have to accept that we’re in a different place than we were five years ago, and take things forward.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT