Article

Food-ordering gets big bite of NACStech

C-store tech show grows as industry relies on self-service to meet customer demand.

May 9, 2007

*About the author: Joseph Grove is the associate publisher and a vice president for NetWorld Alliance, Self-Service World's parent.

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —When it comes to the growth of self-service technology, few industries are as fertile as the convenience-store industry. High traffic generates a need for speed, and the range of demographics that use c-stores means a variety of services will appeal to at least some customers. In addition, low profit-margins force operators to do ever more with and for less.

 

Those factors met head-on April 30 through May 2 at NACStech, the annual technology show of the North American Convenience Store Association.

 

 

George Bartlett demonstrated the pump-side QSR application of Gilbarco Veeder-Root.

Jim Phelps, chief executive of CompuShop Services, recounted the history of self-service at c-stores in a session called "Automated Retail Applications: Convenience Retailing for the Future."

 

Phelps cited self-service's evolution, from ATMs, pay at-the-pump and car washes to automated-retail kiosks. As operators meet greater demand for self-service, he said, they can simultaneously realize benefits from lower labor costs and increased sales.

 

That's not to say there are not challenges along the way. Jeff Kline, president and CEO of Island Vending Magic, said operators must learn what technologies customers will use, and then be able to overcome the software barriers that prevent disparate technologies from playing nicely together.

 

But the industry promises the traffic to make overcoming those obstacles worthwhile.

 

NACS president and CEO Hank Armour said that in the 12 years since the first NACStech, industry sales have quadrupled, from $150 billion in 1995 to more than a half-trillion in 2006 — much of the expansion juiced in through the cords and wires of technology.

 

"I think a lot of us would agree that the biggest change since that first NACStech is in technology," he said. "We as an industry have gone from technology laggards to leaders, whether with consumer-facing technology or back-office applications."

 

This year, the NACStech expo covered more than 19,500 net square feet and featured more than 114 exhibiting companies.

 

At the show

 

 

CSS showed a new safe that works with kiosks to isolate—and better control—their cash from POS monies.

CSS(Corporate Safe Specialists), which provides safes of multiple security levels, showed a unit designed to work with kiosks that tracks and holds cash for access only by authorized people, such as store operators or even Brinks drivers. The protection is designed to help prevent store employees from blaming the kiosk for shrinkage.

 

FISCAL brought a pump-side kiosk for truckers needing fuel. The kiosk, wholly designed by Fiscal, recognizes drivers based on their cards and guides them through questions such as how many miles are on the truck at the time of fill-up. About 250 are in the field, said Fiscal representative Dennis Phillips, and all are integrated with in-store POS to save the trucker a trip inside the store.

 

GILBARCO VEEDER-ROOT showed its Encore S food-ordering kiosk, which allows users to adjust even the level of condiments on their orders. Later this year, the pay-at-the-pump QSR solution is expected to also allow payment for food orders.

 

INCOMM KIOSK SOLUTIONS partnered with KING Products and Solutions for the deployment of a financial-services kiosk that offers bill-payment and prepaid services, such as wireless. Users can also buy song downloads from Napster by paying for credit and receiving a PIN to be used later on Napster's site. Fifty machines are expected to be deployed at Valero racetrack this month.

 

OVATION, which recently beat out luminaries such as Sony to be named Microsoft's partner of the year, showed pay-at-the-pump technology that lets motorists pay via Wi-Fi. Wireless phone close at hand, the user stands by the pump and prompts it to connect. The pump can then retrieve credit-card information the user has stored on the phone and send a receipt to the user via text message. The application is in beta at The Home Depot fuel islands in the Nashville area.

 

 

Pinnacle, a POS company, is launching a QSR kiosk developed by xPedient.

PINNACLE showed its Palm.Kiosk food-ordering unit, branded with xPedient to give the POS company additional credibility as it makes its first run at kiosks. The machine is designed to work with Pinnacle's Palm POS platform.

 

RETALIXwas another company showing self-service food ordering. Developed with IMK and NCR Corp., the kiosk prints a barcode receipt for users to take to the point of sale. Doug Fick, Retalix, said a significant percentage of screens can show advertising.

 

VERIFONE showed a self-service food-ordering solution with software that can be tuned to help deployers track the production process, including the popularity of individual sandwich ingredients such as ketchup and onions. In its early stage, the device requires customers to print sandwich instructions and give them to kitchen workers.

 

Four companies have installed a total of 11 units so far at five sites.

 

Editor's Note: Information for the above story also was provided by NACS.