Finding the Right Self-Service Kiosk
Recent years have seen self-service blossom in the restaurant industry. It brings all the speed, convenience and profits that businesses dream about. That’s why it’s so important for restaurateurs to choose self-service devices that suit their specific venue’s needs and optimize the process, as it will benefit both their customers and their business.
Self-Service Kiosks are one of the most revolutionary inventions for food service professionals because they make ordering quick, easy and more profitable than ever before.
Are Kiosks all that?
Evolving technology typically puts increasingly greater emphasis on speed, accuracy and automationand that’s exactly what any good kiosk ordering system vendor will promote too. The ideal machine will:
Reduce lines and wait times by providing a faster ordering experience. Self-service eliminates the middleman, where you have first to relay orders to a waiter, while still giving the customer time to browse the menu at their leisure.
Improve order accuracy when human error is restricted. Self-service machines, especially paired with other high-tech devices like Kitchen Display Systems, send orders accurately and directly to the kitchen for prep without getting lost in translation on a paper ticket or misheard, misrecorded or misread by staff members.
Increase average check size by giving customers a chance to add to their ticket without fear of judgement. Additionally, you can program Kiosks to automatically prompt modifiers, add-ons and deals when customers make certain choices, which encourages them to add more to their orders.
Optimize employees’ time by allowing them to divert their focus to areas of the business that need more attention. When a machine handles order-taking, your employees can focus on providing excellent customer service and paying attention to all the little things that might otherwise get swept under the rug.
Improve table turn time by avoiding excessive lines, customers get seated, eat and pay much faster which means you can fill more orders each day
Lower labor costs more reliably than any other method of doing the same. Whether you get a Kiosk that integrates with your current POS system or stands on its own, you’ll make back its cost within days comparative to paying an employee for the same job. On top of the savings you make at face-value, a machine will never call out sick or take a vacation.
Increase customer loyalty once they experience the ease, speed and accuracy of self-service at their favorite local eatery.
All of these benefits and more are quickly available to every restaurant once they start using Self-Service Kiosks. These devices’ upsides are only compounded as you begin to integrate them into the rest of your online ordering platforms. When you connect your Kiosk to a compatible POS device, you’ll localize all of your on- and off-premise ordering into one system which lets you easily view and analyze data, reports and customer information from one smart device hub.
How can the Kiosk work for me?
Finding the right vendor is the first and most important step toward choosing a Kiosk for restaurants that suits your particular needs.
Every establishment has a different customer base, different staff, and a unique location and atmosphere, all of which come together to make it unique. When choosing the right Kiosk, you need to first identify how your operations could improve, where your current system already works as is and what you need from a service provider. These questions will help you begin to narrow down how big of a role you want your Kiosk, or Kiosks, to fill so you can shop around for vendors with a strategy already in mind.
Consider a vendor like eatOS, whose Self-Service Kiosk can operate on its own or integrate with our Point of Sale system and associated devices so you have an experience tailored to your needswhatever those are. Whether you like your current POS or want to upgrade all of your machines to cater to the modern consumer, our easy-to-use Kiosk improves operations while reducing costs. You’ll wonder why you ever used anything else. Schedule a demo today.
Once youve settled on a Self-Service Kiosk, youll need to maximize its effectiveness. Make sure that it’s situated in an optimal location in your store so that customers will easily notice it, which can mean hanging a sign above it; placing it right beside the entrance, in front of the cashier’s line, or somewhere else extremely visible and well-trafficked; adding extra lighting so its easy to spot; and clearing out space around the Kiosk for easy accessibility. Don’t forget to follow the ADA guidelines for Kiosks or risk noncompliance.
For the best possible experience with your Kiosk, train your staff on using and troubleshooting it. You don’t want your new device breaking down in the middle of a busy rush, or to need 15 staff members for what could be one person’s quick-fix.
Your Kiosk will quickly become a fixture of your restaurant, a necessary and profitable machine that will reduce labor costs, improve efficiency and leave your customers much happier than ever before. Consider a Self-Service Kiosk today and learn how to move your restaurant into the future of food service.
