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Putting self-order kiosks on the menu
Since McDonald's rolled them out, restaurant kiosks have been all the rage. This makes sense considering that QSR kiosks improve customer service, attract millennials and increase overall efficiency.
July 11, 2016 by Kiosk Marketplace
Self-service kiosks are bidding to take the restaurant world by storm. Big players such as McDonald's, Wendy's and others are beginning to plan or deploy new self-service kiosks.
Amid the excitement, some news outlets have labeled kiosks as a tool that ultimately will kill restaurant jobs. But this isn't necessarily the case when the operator of the self-ordering kiosk keeps the device's proper role in mind.
Firstly, it's important to consider whether kiosks drive more in-store traffic. Most QSRs get the majority of their business from drive-thru customers. After all, the purpose of QSR is to get food on the go.
"We at Hengstler don’t necessarily see that self-ordering kiosks increase traffic indoors," said product manager Anne-Christin Kupferschmid. "We would rather say they turn a restaurant into a vending machine with the only difference [being] that the food is freshly made to order."
If kiosks are not meant to increase in-store traffic, what is their purpose? According to kiosk experts, there are three primary goals for QSR kiosks: Improve the customer experience; draw in millennials; and improve efficiency.
Businesses obviously want to improve the customer experience, and one way to achieve this is by letting customers to craft customized orders. For example, McDonald's "Create Your Own Taste," kiosks allow users to create custom burgers with their choice of toppings.
This can also help improve overall order accuracy — a key component of customer satisfaction. As Frank Olea, CEO of Olea Kiosks, wrote in a blog:
Because the user is entering their order directly into the QSR kiosk, the accuracy of the order is improved, which increases customer satisfaction and encourages the customer to customize their orders on future visits. With a human order-taker, there is potential for something to be lost in translation between customer, order-taker and line cooks, but with a QSR kiosk, the customer’s order is communicated directly to the kitchen, thus increasing the likelihood that the order is filled with 100 percent accuracy.
Secondly, kiosks can help draw in the largest U.S. demographic — millennials. There are 75.4 million millennials, making this cohort even larger than the baby boomer generation. "McDonalds want to speak the language of the millennials and the language of the millennials is digital," Kupferschmid said.
Kiosks answer the needs of millennials in two key ways: They create an omnichannel experience by enabling a familiar, mobile-style ordering experience; and they give millennials the power to customize their order. In the information age, customization is king.
Finally, kiosks can help improve efficiency. With a kiosk front and center, there's no need for a cashier, so employees can spend time filling orders rather than taking them. "Self-ordering kiosks eliminate the role of the cashier and redirect labor to the kitchen making the quick service industry more efficient," Kupferschmid said.
Note, however, that self-service kiosks do not eliminate the need for employees. Restaurants, can't reduce the time of food preparation for safety reasons. So if the kiosk is bringing in more orders more quickly, it's imperative to have more employees to meet that demand, not fewer, according to Rahi Roshandel, vice president of hardware engineering and product management at PAR.
Self-service kiosks can be a great boon to restaurants, improving customer service, drawing in millennials and reducing costs. With the right deployment, they can put "quick" back on the menu at the QSR.
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