One of the things that are absolutely needed for the success of any quick service restaurant is excellence in serving. Since the behavior of customers is changed due to the more connected and autonomous world, the importance of self-ordering and fast serving has become even more required. Because of this, many restaurants started adopting Quick Service (QSR) Kiosks.
What Is a Quick Service Ordering Kiosk?
A quick service ordering kiosk gives power to the customers to order and pay for services themselves. You can see these systems in fast food restaurants – they are made of a touchscreen that is equipped with an easy-to-use digital interface. On the screen, you will find the menu of the restaurant. The screen display will also guide you through the whole ordering process – how to build your meal, to payment and pickup. As you build your order, on the display you might notice different promotions or menu modifiers that you might have not known about otherwise.
How Quick Service Ordering Helps in Reducing Cost?
QSR self-service is not exactly new, but it is on the rise because of its ability to reduce costs and increase sales in restaurants. According to McDonald’s, their restaurants that introduced quick service ordering kiosks experienced a 5-6 percent lift in sales. And when Chili’s added QSR, it recorded a 20% increase in dessert sales.
The reason for this is that getting food supplies and funding individuals to make and serve the meals are the ruthless math faced by an industry on the knife’s edge of the economic relic. Now, in order for the business to survive, both prime costs – food supplies and labor have to be lower than 60% of the total cost. If you add a higher minimum wage to the mix, there will be only two solutions – either the menu prices need to go up or work hours/jobs have to be cut.
In order to avoid this, many restaurants decided to keep labor costs under control with automation. This is where QSR ordering systems come into play. It can automate 54% of the manual time-consuming tasks, which will help reduce employee turnover.
How can QSR Kiosks Help Improve the Customer Experience?
In the past few years, especially since the start of the pandemic, customers got used to the speed of online ordering. This means that now they started expecting the same level of control and personalization when they visit a restaurant. Therefore, on their side, these solutions make it easier for them to quickly place and pay for orders.
This automation system speeds up the ordering process and improves the customer experience by showing food pictures and an intuitive user experience. What happens is that restaurant kiosks are specifically designed to provide this experience, which makes them in a perfect position to meet customer’s expectations and needs.
This is required by customers of all ages. According to a study, 65% of those customers would prefer to visit a restaurant more often if it offers self-service kiosks and 30% of consumers would rather order from a self-ordering kiosk than cashiers if the lines are equal in length.
The Important Benefits
Quick Service Ordering Kiosks have their own important benefits:
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1. Reduce Revenue
Thanks to the display suggested upselling that occur during the ordering process to increase total order price, the restaurants see a 10-30% increase in their sales.
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2. Reduce Human Error
Since the customers are directly involved in the ordering process and receive a guided menu experience that displays a lot of confirmations, they feel like orders are more accurate.
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3. Reduce Long Lines
A set of QSR can help speed up the check-out process by offering guests multiple places to order.
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4. Reduce Labor Costs
Reduced labor costs can be achieved when check-out employees can be used in more important positions while leaving the ordering process up to the kiosk.
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5. Showcase Promotions
To improve the customer experience, this automation system will showcase the promotions to the guests. They can view the newest menu item and specials. They can also sign-up for customer loyalty programs to enhance your restaurant’s marketing experience.
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6. Better Data
Since the self-ordering kiosk is an automation system, it can provide a wealth of information about your customers’ ordering, when they are ordering it, or how they pay. Therefore, your data will be more accurate and you will know which steps to take next.
For some restaurants, quick service ordering kiosks may require a bit of an upfront investment, but it certainly will be justified in a short period of time. Many experts predict that this automation system is not going away any time soon, on the contrary, after the COVID-19 pandemic is sunk, QSR’s are expected only to grow even more in popularity due to the many benefits they offer to customers and restaurants.
To learn more about Acquires suite of tools tailored towards quick-service restaurants, check out the Quick Service Ordering Kiosks page.
