Restaurant Brands International Inc. (RBI) has announced plans of modernizing the drive-thru experience at more than 10,000 Burger King and Tim Hortons locations by 2022.

In addition, Popeyes is beginning its own rollout later this year.

More than 40,000 outdoor-rated 1168-mm (46-in.) screens, powered by Stratacache Media Engines, will be used as part of RBI’s drive-thru modernization process. These engines are clustered together, redundantly, for high availability—meaning if any one of the four digital screens in a standard drive-thru loses communication with its primary media player, the secondary media player will take over and ensure that content continues to be displayed correctly.

Stratacache is providing proactive 24-7 network monitoring to RBI’s thousands of restaurant sites from its national operation centres in Ohio and Montreal. From these centres, the company has the capability to manage any digital screen and to update or modify menu board content across remaining digital screens in the event of a hard screen failure.

Further, the new installations are using enclosures that have been designed to withstand the heat of the southern United States, the cold of Canada’s north, and the corrosive, salty air from cities along North America’s oceans. The enclosures are also IP56 certified—meaning they are fully waterproof and can sustain continuous water pressure, even from powerful waterjets. Existing installations will be retro-fitted to this level of protection to ensure the long-term integrity of this important guest touch point.

The screens will also be installed with ‘predictive selling’ technology, integration with restaurant loyalty programs, and the ability for remote, contactless payment.

“Our guests have sought out our drive-thru lanes for our iconic food and beverages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—even in the face of mandated dining room closures around the world,” said RBI CEO Jose Cil. “We believe strongly it is time to modernize our drive-thru lanes throughout Canada and the U.S., to provide quicker and contactless service for our guests.”

The following are some highlights of the modernization process:

Predictive selling

The digital drive-thru menu boards are designed with ‘predictive selling’ technology designed by RBI’s in-house guest intelligence team, allowing for special promotions to be tailored based on previous orders, regional weather patterns, time of day, and many other factors. This home-grown technology can learn preferred ordering habits and also show the latest and trending menu items most-ordered in any specific location.

Integrated loyalty programs

The menu boards have been designed with the ability to integrate loyalty programs, allowing for customized menu options to be displayed based on customers’ favourite purchases and redemption history. This functionality is currently live and being tested at 30 locations in Canada with the Tims Rewards loyalty program. All digital drive-thru menu boards in the U.S. and Canada have been designed to accommodate scanning, Bluetooth, or near-field communication.

Remote, contactless payment

The digital drive-thru menu boards also are able to add immediate, remote contactless payment to allow guests to order and pay simultaneously and speed up drive-thru lanes. RBI has partnered with payment solutions provider, Verifone, to develop a new global remote contactless payment device for a drive-thru lane. The first prototype is currently installed at a Tim Hortons restaurant in Canada, with 15 more locations to test its functionality by January 2021.

As of September, Tim Hortons has installed digital drive-thru menu boards at approximately 800 locations in Canada and the U.S.; Burger King has installed digital drive-thru menu boards at more than 1500 locations in the U.S.; and Popeyes is starting installation at new locations later this year.