Using kiosks eliminates the risk of human error in order placement. Orders go directly to the kitchen and back-of-house in real-time.
Kiosks also provide upselling prompts and recommendations based on customer profiles to drive higher average checks. Using these techniques helps increase sales and improve the customer experience.
Convenience
The self-ordering kiosk allows restaurants to upsell and cross-sell without staff interaction. Touchscreen menus display enticing images of additional items to motivate customers to spend more on their orders. This also allows restaurant managers to monitor customer spending habits and create targeted campaigns that increase revenue and profitability.
Today, customers are used to the convenience of ordering food online and expect the same level of ease, choice, and personalization when they visit a restaurant in person. A self-ordering kiosk allows diners to place orders and reduces wait time during busy times.
It also allows the restaurant to reduce front-of-house staffing and save on labor costs. Additionally, restaurant ordering kiosks collect and record sales data, allowing restaurant owners to understand the popularity of certain dishes, the effectiveness of marketing, and more. This helps to optimize kitchen workflows, cook time, and service efficiency and provides customers with a personalized experience. The technology also minimizes human errors that can lead to dissatisfied customers and lost revenue.
Speed
Restaurant kiosks allow customers to quickly browse menus, build and pay for orders, and pick up at their own pace. This automation reduces wait times, increases customer satisfaction, and improves operational efficiency.
Few things irritate restaurant guests more than receiving the wrong order. Mistakes happen due to employees keying in incorrect items or miscommunication between customers and employees. Fortunately, self-serve kiosks help to eliminate many of the potential for errors.
Kiosks also offer cross-selling and upselling opportunities that are only sometimes possible with traditional services, such as bundling, automated suggestions based on shopping patterns and complementary items, and time-limited deals. By offering these prompts, restaurants can increase value per customer and boost overall sales.
In addition, as kiosks are not subject to the same limitations as human cashiers — including getting tired or sick – they function consistently even during your busiest times. This helps to ensure that your guests receive a consistently satisfactory experience leading to higher tips. It also allows you to push high-margin products such as add-ons and beverages without the cost of hiring additional staff.
Accuracy
Nothing irritates customers more than receiving the wrong order. Whether a simple miscommunication or a forgotten item, ordering mistakes can quickly add up and wreak havoc on the guest experience and operational efficiency. Self-ordering kiosks reduce the number of order-related errors by eliminating human error. Customers can review and approve their orders on-screen, ensuring they receive exactly what they ordered.
Guests can also build their orders without feeling rushed by a server, encouraging them to make additional purchases. The digital interaction also allows restaurants to push targeted and intuitive upsell prompts, like suggesting a drink or side with a specific dish.
Kiosks can also help address labor shortages by freeing front-end staff to work on other tasks that boost sales and improve the customer experience. With POS reporting and analytics, owners can use kiosk data to improve marketing strategies and better understand their customer base. This enables them to tailor their menu and product offerings accordingly, increasing customer satisfaction at lower costs. The result is a more significant return rate and increased profits for the restaurant.
Reliability
A self-ordering kiosk is a freestanding digital device often found in fast casual and quick service restaurants. Typically, the system is equipped with a touchscreen (often a tablet) and an easy-to-use digital menu that walks customers through your restaurant’s entire ordering process – from building their order to payment and pickup. Many kiosks also integrate directly with your point-of-sale system to ensure that orders are correctly tracked end-to-end, eliminating the potential for human error.
Long wait times irritate guests and lead to dissatisfaction, especially during peak business hours. Kiosks help reduce wait time and increase revenue per checkout by allowing guests to order at their leisure – even in high volume.
In a restaurant industry struggling with staffing issues, kiosks help eliminate the manual process of taking customer orders and allow restaurateurs to redeploy front-of-house employees to other crucial duties like food prep, serving, and food packaging. This increases productivity and cuts down on labor costs without sacrificing service quality.
Flexibility
A self-ordering kiosk is a virtual waiter that empowers guests to order and pay without interacting with restaurant staff. By reducing touchpoints and eliminating human error, kiosks increase restaurant service efficiency.
Guests can walk up to the kiosk, build their order, and pay with a few taps of a screen. This saves customers time and irritability in long lines while freeing up staff to take additional orders and provide a better customer experience.
In addition to speeding up the ordering process, self-ordering kiosks help restaurants increase average check size by drawing customers’ attention to high-margin menu items and prompting them with special offers or menu modifiers they might not have noticed otherwise.
Additionally, a self-ordering kiosk can collect and analyze guest data, which is critical for small businesses looking to refine marketing strategies, improve product offerings, and enhance the overall customer experience. These valuable insights can lead to more significant sales and retention for brands.
