Self Ordering Kiosks are Becoming the Secret Weapon for Successful Restaurants

In the past few years, self-ordering kiosks have become a staple at fast food and fast casual chains around the world. But while the McDonald’s and Paneras of the world went all-in on kiosks early on, independent restaurants have been much more hesitant and slow to adopt this kind of self-serve technology.

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the way independent restaurants think about self-ordering kiosks. What was once seen as costly and impersonal technology, is now considered a cost-effective way to reduce face-to-face contact and keep guests safe from the spread of the coronavirus.

And safety is not the only benefit. Self-ordering kiosks have also helped restaurants reduce wait times, improve order accuracy, and, most importantly, boost check sizes – benefits that just about any restaurant can enjoy.

Self-service ordering machine is mainly for the management of fast food restaurants and canteens. It effectively utilizes self-service ordering, call screen, self-service ordering machine, etc., to integrate the front end of the restaurant, the kitchen and the system to realize the intelligent management of the restaurant, thus improving the efficiency of restaurant management and improving customers. The overall ordering experience and the grade of the restaurant. The self-service ordering machine can collect data such as sales rankings, customer preferences, and ordering methods. The self-service ordering machine can also play an advertising machine to promote the restaurant's product features. The self-service ordering machine can provide better service to customers and enhance the competition of catering enterprises in the industry.

Multi-point smart touch: Capacitive touch-one machine multi-point smart touch has fast response, anti-glare, drive-free, plug and play performance, and can support handwriting recognition input very smoothly.

Multimedia information processing: Compatible with a variety of images, animations, audio formats with Ethernet interfaces, the system can be distributed to all parts of the world, to achieve super-information through the wide area network (Internet), to achieve human-computer interaction.

Integrated design: product design is simple and atmospheric, more aesthetic, cost-effective, support wall mount and floor-mounted installation, easy installation, rich maintenance door, easy maintenance and convenient industrial-grade parts, fine workmanship, humanized detail design.

As mentioned, self-ordering kiosks aren’t exactly new. Prior to the pandemic, many major restaurant chains had already added self-ordering kiosks to their restaurants and quickly found success with the technology. McDonald’s reported that restaurants that introduced kiosks experienced an average 5% to 6% lift in sales. And when Chili’s added self-ordering kiosks to its tables, the chain saw a whopping 20% increase in dessert sales.

The reason for the bump in sales is largely due to changes in customer behavior. Customers have gotten used to the ease and speed of online ordering, and increasingly expect the same level of control, choice and personalization when they visit a restaurant in person. Restaurant kiosks are specifically designed to provide this faster and more personalized ordering experience, making them perfectly positioned to meet customers’ changing expectations.

And it’s not just tech-savvy Millennials seeking greater control over their dining experience. A study by Tillster found that customers of all ages were eager to use self-ordering kiosks. In fact, 65% of those customers said they would visit a restaurant more often if self-service kiosks were offered, and 30% of customers saying they prefer to order from a self-ordering kiosk versus a cashier if the lines are of equal length.

While restaurants and customers were already warming to the idea of self-ordering kiosks, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the technology to become even more popular, mainly due to its many safety benefits. Self-ordering kiosks can help restaurants promote social distancing because they allow customers to build their meal, place their order, and even pay – all without interacting with restaurant staff. For instance, the New York-based juice and smoothie chain Pure Green is using a combination of QR code menus and kiosks to reduce face-to-face contact in its venues and improve in-store efficiency. In other restaurants, tablet-based kiosks have even been set up outdoors or in restaurant windows to create a type of pseudo drive-thru.

And while kiosks do still come with the issue of high-touch surfaces, most modern kiosk designs are easy to disinfect and can even be fitted to hold sanitizing wipes or gels for customers to use before and after using the screens. Some kiosk providers have even begun to develop touchless kiosks to make the technology safer for the COVID-19 era.

There’s no question that self-ordering kiosks do require a bit of an upfront investment, which may feel hard to justify during a time when revenue is scarce. However, experts predict that the demand for self-ordering kiosks isn’t going away any time soon. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, self-ordering kiosks are expected to only grow in popularity thanks to the many benefits they offer customers and restaurateurs.