Over the past few years, self-ordering kiosks have become a staple for fast food and casual fast food chains around the world. While McDonald's was early and fully committed to self-service kiosks, independent restaurants were more hesitant and slow to adopt this self-service technology.
Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way independent restaurants view self-service ordering kiosks. It is now seen as a cost-effective solution for restaurants and a convenient option for customers.
As you might guess from the name, self-ordering kiosks allow guests to order and pay for their own food - sort of like a sophisticated vending machine, but for dining.
These systems typically consist of a touch screen (usually a tablet) equipped with an easy-to-use digital interface. The screen will display the restaurant's menu and guide the customer through the ordering process - from creating the meal to paying and picking it up. As customers create their orders, the kiosk can also display prompts with different promotions or menu modifiers that guests may not be aware of.
As mentioned earlier, self-ordering kiosks are not brand new. Many major restaurant chains had already added self-ordering kiosks to their restaurants prior to the pandemic, and quickly found success with this technology. McDonald's reported that restaurants that introduced kiosks saw an average increase in sales of 5% to 6%.
The spike in sales was due in large part to a change in customer behavior. Customers have become accustomed to the ease and speed of online ordering and increasingly expect the same level of control, choice and personalization when visiting a restaurant in person.
The COVID-19 surge in popularity has led to the technology becoming even more popular, primarily because of its many security benefits. Self-service ordering kiosks can help restaurants foster social distance because they allow customers to create their own meals, place orders and pay for them-all without interacting with restaurant staff.
While it's clear that kiosks offer many benefits to restaurants (and their customers), buying a kiosk isn't as simple as it seems.
The freestanding and wall-mounted kiosks you find in chain restaurants are often enterprise-level solutions that can cost thousands of dollars, and these types of high-tech kiosks are not the ideal solution. Instead, a tablet-based kiosk that integrates with your existing POS system is a more cost-effective and user-friendly option for independent restaurants.
If you are in the market for such a tablet-based restaurant kiosk, here are a few key features to look for.
Menu building:
Your restaurant kiosk should allow you to build visually appealing menus that contain photos of each item and allow customers to click on different menu options to view them.
Menu tips
Look for kiosk software that allows you to easily add upsell tips and menu modifiers to help increase average check size.
Loyalty:
Look for integrated loyalty solutions that can save customer information and store it for use in future orders or marketing programs.
Customer notifications
Increase efficiency by using systems that can alert customers when their orders are ready.
Multiple payment
Today's customers increasingly require contactless payment methods, so look for kiosks that can accommodate magnetic stripe, EMV chip cards and mobile payments such as Apple Pay.
Please contact RCSTARS if you have any questions, send us an email to get the quote.
