News

Kiosks allow diners to send tasty gifts electronically

April 1, 2004

CHICAGO-Windy City restaurants Portillo's and Gino's have figured out a neat way to distribute their popular food items across the land: touchscreen kiosks located on site.

Insight 360 Degrees, a Chicago-based website and business software provider, is the technical brainchild behind this marketing push. Customers use the kiosks to order and ship the restaurants' signature mail-order foods anywhere in the United States. Gino's touts its deep-dish pizzas, while Portillo's promotes its "Chicago-Style Hot Dog" and "Italian Beef Sandwich."

"Insight 360 Degrees is technologically advanced in bringing public use kiosks and perishable mail order together in an extremely user-friendly touch screen ordering format," said Dave Milazzo, vice president of marketing and sales, in a press release.

Milazzo said Insight 360 Degrees spent over a year developing the kiosks, incorporating colorful graphics, large buttons and a smooth-flowing ordering process. The bottom line is the customer can complete a transaction in an average of only four minutes, he said.

One of the key features is the kiosks' USA address directory, which locates any listed US address, using just a last name and city, then imports the chosen recipient's name, full address and phone number directly into the "ship to" information field. A special calendar function allows users to choose any exact delivery date, and have gifts delivered the next day or whenever they choose.