restaurant kiosks
Adding technology
to the menu
Eating out is a popular social activity, and
technology has finally taken its place at the table
By Avril Arthur, Sentios
The restaurant industry is huge, and
with 12.9 million people employed
over 970,000 locations it shows just
how popular it is too. These days, the
main way restaurants carry out their
marketing is through social media, and
looking at a study carried out by the
National Restaurant Association, 95% of
restaurants say they will be on Facebook
and twitter in the next two years.
Not only is social media great for
marketing and promotion, there is
also a growing number of consumers
that pre-book their table, download
vouchers and special offers, and also
leave rating and reviews after their
experience.
And it doesn’t stop there, apart
from technology being used at home
prior and post to eating out on
personal devices, some restaurants are
now implementing table kiosks that
customers can use at the table during
their dining experience.
Once seated customers can now read
through the menu on this electronic
device, select which option they would
like and process their order. The order
16 KIOSK solutions
is then sent through to the kitchen and
when it’s ready, will be brought out to
the table by the waiter. This results in
ease for both the customer and the
staff. Customers don’t have to hang
around waiting for their waiter to come
and take their order, and waiters are
a lot less stressed rushing around
the tables trying to memorise every
customers order.
Another benefit to this system is that
the restaurant can easily update their
menu accordingly and notify customers
if something is not available. Therefore
the customer can be sure they are
reading the latest options available to
them.
Once an order has been placed,
customers can take the opportunity to
experience the entertainment that’s
available to them via the kiosk while
they wait. This is particularly great for
children as it helps to distract them
while they wait for their food to arrive
if they get fidgety or bored. It’s also a
good opportunity for restaurants to
generate additional income because
they can charge a small fee for
customers to use the games, either
by a set charge for unlimited use
throughout the evening or a charge per
individual game.
The final feature of the electronic
device is that you can also request for
and pay for your bill. This is great if
you’re in a rush and don’t have time to
wait for the server to bring you your
bill. You can simply click on the icon
that says ‘pay bill’ and swipe your card.
Alternatively, if you want to pay with
cash, you can view the total amount
and leave the cash on the table to be
collected.
Overall this technology is a great
way for restaurants to save on costs
and improve the customer experience.
– fewer staff are required, and the
restaurant no longer need to fork out to
get menus printed and updated. It will
also increase the customer’s temptation
to order more, as it’s so simple there
will be less hesitation to order extras.
It will make restaurants a much more
independent experience, meaning you
rely less on your waiter/waitress and
can take things at your own pace. n