The use of self-service kiosks is rapidly growing in businesses across the world, especially in the quick-service restaurant industry. A recent study of kiosk success at Taco John's, a large Mexican fast food chain, found that the average check at a kiosk is $11.28 and the average check at the cashier is $9.78. This $1.50 increase in average check represents nearly a 15% increase over orders at the cashier, yielding an increase in revenue of about 400%.
In this blog we will discuss some of the ways self-service kiosks can enhance your restaurants and greatly impact your bottom line.
Serve more customers
One of the most important goals of a quick-service restaurant is to serve several customers and to do it in a timely manner.
Picture this, it is the lunch rush at your fast food establishment, your drive-thru is full and the lobby is getting crowded. Between the drive-thru and two indoor terminals you only have the capability to take three orders at a time. But let’s say you add two self-service kiosks to your restaurant lobby. You now have the potential to take five orders, resulting in faster speed of service and quicker moving lines!
Increase profit
Kiosks have the ability to boost your business sales in a variety of different ways.
Ever have a customer walk in, see a long line and walk right back out the door? Kiosks can help prevent this loss of business from happening by getting dine-in customers served a lot faster and making lines a lot shorter.
Kiosk can also increase sales with their upselling capabilities, because they give people the ability to add on as many items or modifications as they would like.
Many people would actually prefer to add two extra portions of bacon to their order via digital screen instead of saying that to someones face. People love bacon, they don't love to be judged. Kiosks give people the confidence to order whatever and however much they want at the command of their own hand.
Customer satisfaction
The fact that kiosks can help you serve more customers in a timely manner will greatly impact the way they perceive you as a business, giving you a higher probability of returning customers.
We also tend to live in a tech-forward world with many people who enjoy the use of technology. Some people even prefer digital interactions over human interaction simply because, in their opinion, it makes life easier.
Order accuracy
Okay, this one may seem obvious but it is still worth mentioning. Giving people complete control over their orders can significantly help reduce the margin of order errors. Kiosks, for the most part, will eliminate the headache of someone coming back and saying "You got my order wrong!"
This increase in order accuracy will help to keep the kitchen moving at top speeds and not waste time and money by redoing orders.
Physical distancing safety
Due to the coronavirus pandemic the installment of kiosks in restaurants is on the rise for many reasons.
For one, many restaurants have been forced to work with smaller amounts of crew members. Installing kiosks helps relieve some of the burden on employees from having to take so many orders and it allows them more time to focus on other operations.
Secondly, using kiosks also grants customers the ability to practice social distancing which is something that has become very important to do in the past several months. These touchscreens will greatly reduce face-to-face interactions; but it is still important to maintain other safety measures, such as regular cleaning or individual sanitation methods that customers can use between each transaction.
With proper precautions in place adding a kiosk or two into your restaurant is great move to make to give your customers some peace of mind during these apprehensive times.
The future of fast food
While the fast food industry has done an exceptional job at providing people with convenient services and tasty food for the past century it is important that restaurants continue to evolve with the modern times to meet consumer demands. Kiosks are a great way to provide speedy and customizable services in a tech-forward way for your customers.