The restaurant inside the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is eliminating its front-of-house staff and replacing traditional service with QR-code ordering.
Cardamom, the museum’s in-house restaurant operated by DDP Restaurant Group, will shift to a counter-service model this week, with customers ordering via their phones rather than through servers. Sixteen hosts and servers are being laid off as part of the transition, though kitchen staff and bartenders will remain, according to reporting by MPR News.
The company framed the change as a long-considered business decision tied to uneven traffic and rising costs. Because Cardamom’s crowds fluctuate with museum programming and seasons, staffing has often been inconsistent. Workers either cut early on slow days or stretched thin during peak hours, a spokesperson told MPR.
Workers and labor advocates tell a different story. Some employees said the layoffs felt abrupt, and at least one suggested they were retaliatory, pointing to recent organizing efforts. Others noted that shifting to a QR-based system would likely reduce tip income, which can make up a significant share of front-of-house pay.
A spokesperson for the Walker Art Center told ARTnews that the museum and the restaurant are separate entities, adding that the museum can’t comment on “the restaurant leadership’s approach or decision making.”
The decision lands in a broader shift that began during Covid-19 and has proven surprisingly durable. QR codes—once though of as clunky relics of early-2000s tech—became ubiquitous during the pandemic as restaurants looked for contactless alternatives to physical menus and high touch service.
While some restaurants have brought back paper menus for accessibility many have stuck with QR systems, often expanding them into full ordering and payment platforms.
Cardamom’s shift is a step in that evolution that countless restaurants and cafés have been using for over five years: not just supplementing service with technology, but replacing it altogether.
