Digital Signage: Making a difference behind the QSR counter

by all | 10 December 2015 10:03 am

By Sharon Sonesh
In recent years, operators of quick-service restaurants (QSRs) of all sizes and types around the world have discovered how changing their menu boards over from printed substrates to liquid crystal displays (LCDs) can boost sales and ensure timely and accurate information for customers. They are also now using digital signage in their staff-facing areas, where the medium is making tangible improvements in training, operational efficiencies and communications.

Maximizing menus
The digital conversions of static menu boards above or behind QSRs’ service counters, most of which network-connect them to content management systems (CMSs), is happening for several reasons:

1. The prices of displays and related technologies have dropped enough that conversions make sense in budgeting terms, when all the previous costs of printing, shipping and mounting new signs throughout the year are factored in.

2. Many QSRs have introduced breakfast items, so they need to be able to make changes to their menu displays at different times of day.

3. Eye-catching dynamic graphics for special promotions, test products, underperforming items and/or higher-margin offerings, automated by the CMS, can help drive desired sales. In the U.K., for example, McDonald’s found the use of digital signage boosted sales by up to 11 per cent.

4. Long-expected rules in Ontario, the U.S. and other markets may soon require QSR chains to include nutritional information, such as calorie counts, on their menus. With its dynamic nature, digital signage allows QSR operators to test presentation strategies for optimizing menus with the required information.

While getting menu items and prices on-screen is relatively easy, challenges come with larger-scale digital signage rollouts, since what sells in one city may be very different from what’s popular in another. A sophisticated software platform is needed to tie into ordering systems and databases and to change promotions based on QSR locations’ specific performance metrics, inventory levels and customer demographics.

Some QSRs’ menus conversions have been so subtle, few customers even notice printed boards have been replaced with screens, since the displayed static content is the same as before. Other projects have embraced the opportunities of the medium, running full-motion content within feature zones or occasionally taking over the entire menu array, which can be a powerful way to command customers’ attention.

Many QSRs are using menu boards to promote community and charity programs. Some even display curated social media content posted by happy customers.

Tim Hortons, for example, has gone beyond its digital menus to dedicate dining-area screens to TimsTV, a channel for news, entertainment and customer-focused promotions of the chain’s brand values, community activities, mobile apps, etc.

Another new area of focus has been outdoors, where an increasing number of QSRs are installing displays visible by day or night in enclosures that ensure reliable operations under extreme temperatures and weather conditions. This trend is understandable, given market research that suggests as much as 70 per cent of a typical QSR’s total sales come through the drive-thru. Here, not only can promotions help pre-sell items to motorists as they wait, but digital signage can also confirm their orders, tie in suggestions to the time of day or weather conditions (e.g. “It’s a hot afternoon. Time for an iced cappuccino?”) or display a send-off video thanking them for their business.

As such systems become well-integrated with mobile apps, beacons, web services and other technologies, more customers will be able to pull up for personalized service (e.g. “Would you like your usual order?”) and/or pay right from their phone.

Another trend has been the introduction of interactive screens where customers can order and pay for their food without even talking to staff, before heading to a pickup counter. This scenario offers both convenience for the customer and faster transaction processing—with less handling of cash, as customers pay by debit or credit card—for the QSR operator. Interactive kiosks can minimize the risk of order errors and, thus, reduce food waste.

“Both mobile ordering and interactive kiosks grant consumers the ability to create and customize their orders at their own personal pace, which usually translates into a larger amount spent per transaction,” says Jon Strawbridge, manager of digital systems for Everbrite, which has designed and manufactured point-of-purchase (POP) displays since 1927 and currently specializes in digital menu boards, among other applications.

Enhancing employee environments
For most employees, working at a QSR is a short-term job, not a lifelong career. In fact,
a typical QSR will see its staff fully turn over annually. That creates an ongoing need to deliver important messages to the employees who cycle in and out of a QSR every day. As mentioned, digital signage is increasingly answering this need in staff areas out of customers’ view.

Back-of-house digital signage can address a number of areas through corporate communications. For one thing, content can support workplace equipment and safety training. QSR kitchens are full of ovens, sharp utensils and slippery surfaces, so it is always important to train new staff how to use them safely. It is also essential to reinforce food safety. For the QSR operator, such measures reduce liability and lost workdays.

Some QSR chains use touch screens for initial training, then follow up with ‘refresh’ training that focuses on how to use specific types of food-preparation equipment, which can vary from employee to employee.

Tying in somewhat with menu boards, back-of-house digital signage can also train employers with product knowledge, so they are informed of new offers and can speak effectively with customers about them. In today’s hyper-competitive QSR industry, after all, many businesses thrive or suffer based on their quality of customer service and engagement.

Digital signage is also important for more traditional corporate communications, given most QSR employees do not even have a work-related e-mail address, let alone sit at a desktop computer where they could receive messages. The most effective way to ensure important human resources (HR) messages reach these employees is to use the screens they invariably see throughout their shifts.

“When combining the 100 per cent store staff turnover with a workforce that is not in front of computers, the need for digital signage to communicate with, educate and motivate employees is critically important,” says Ifti Ifhar, CEO of digital signage hardware and software developer ComQi. “This is why the benefits of staff-facing digital signage positively hit QSRs’ bottom line immediately.”

Finally, screens can be integrated with management systems to display key performance metrics, like drive-thru order and delivery time.

Picking the path
The global QSR industry is diverse and vast, as are its options for digital signage technology and services. It would be very challenging for each operator to go through all of these options to determine which best meet his/her needs.

Hence, there is a strong opportunity for sign shops and audiovisual (AV) integrators to expand QSRs’ digital signage capabilities, in both customer- and staff-facing applications. By taking an open design approach and working with experienced technology vendors, they can assemble the various components to create the optimal, comprehensive platform for their clients’ communication challenges, ensuring QSR operators are where they want to be, now and for the future.

Sharon Sonesh is product and marketing communications manager for ComQi, which develops hardware and software for the digital signage industry. For more information, contact her via e-mail at ssonesh@comqi.com[5].

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/digital-signage-making-a-difference-behind-the-qsr-counter/

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