Article

Which Wich franchisee upgrades with self-serve kiosks

One Which Wich franchisee is breaking with the formula by deploying digital signage, kiosks and facial recognition technology.

August 5, 2019 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story ran on Digital Signage Today, a Kiosk Marketplace sister publication.

Many quick service and fast casual restaurants struggle with integrating technology due to the cost of installation, maintenance and simply training people to use it. It can also be a major challenge to get franchisees on board with the latest solutions. Some franchisees, however, choose to lead the way with technology, rather than waiting for the franchise to push it out, such as one Which Wich location which recently opened in New Albany, Indiana.

Which Wich Super Sandwiches is a sandwich fast casual franchise founded in 2003, and it now has 431 locations in the U.S., Guatemala, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Bahrain, Panama, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Joshua and Hope Bergen, co-owners of the New Albany location, were drawn to the franchise due to its fun vibe and its mix of different sandwich offerings.

The tech

Most traditional Which Wich locations feature brown bags with menu items listed on them. Customers can use a provided sharpie to check the menu items they want. This new location, however, instead features self-service kiosks and three menu boards deployed by Nextep Inc, a technology provider.

"Our front registers are both self-service kiosks," Joshua Bergen said in an interview. The kiosks only accept cards, so customers can pay up front with a cashier if they want to use cash.

With the kiosks, customers can use their phone numbers to look up previous orders so they can easily reorder one of their favorites. The kiosks also feature facial recognition technology, which customers can opt into to identify themselves and their favorite items.

The restaurant also features a  kiosk in the drive-thru where customers can order and pay with card.

Joshua said the most important thing these kiosks do is improve order accuracy. "It will cut down on miscommunication," he said. "If you want mustard, you press the button. It will cut down on the human error factor."

The entire system, including the two kiosks, two employee point-of -sale and drive thru units cost approximately $50,000, according to Bergen.

Future tech

This Which Wich location isn't just going to be using kiosks and menu boards as static tools. In the future, the location plans to integrate a wide variety of its other systems.

"We are going to be integrating with our loyalty program to capture a lot more data," Bergen said.

He also said that the location will use a Nextep point-of-sale system which will integrate with the menu boards, inventory and the loyalty systems.

With these systems, he said they will be able to capture more customer analytics and deliver a better customer experience as a result.

The ultimate goal of these technologies is to "push the definition of what a sandwich shop can be," Bergen said.

Photos provided by Wich Wich.

About Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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