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If the ups and downs of the last few years weren’t enough, the current economic climate is presenting new challenges that organizations of all sizes have to confront.
Add in an upward trend in customers’ desires for personalized, efficient, and digital-first shopping and dining experiences, it’s clear that businesses need new tools to keep their customers happy without breaking the bank.
This perfect storm of operating pressures and customer expectations has led more quick-serve businesses to look toward self-ordering kiosks to thread that proverbial economic needle. Whether your organization is already trying out kiosks or just beginning the research phase, here are some key factors you need to consider:
The Ins-and-Outs of Self-Ordering Kiosks for Quick-Service Businesses
Businesses in all industries—from banks to restaurants—are considering self-ordering kiosks.
This is in response to the fact that in 2019—even before the COVID-19 pandemic—73 percent of consumers were in favor of self-service technologies to improve the retail shopping and dining experience and reduce staff interactions. Digitization and automation also allow quick-serve restaurants to refocus staff time from processing payments and managing cash to delivering personalized, fast customer service.
Kiosks can be free-standing, wall-mounted, or tabletop and can integrate your branding, marketing, and other features.
The Benefits of Self-Ordering Kiosks
Give your customers the contact-free and quick service they want. More than half of Americans are now comfortable using contactless payment methods, and the convenience for your business and customers cannot be overstated.
Most customers don’t require someone to take their order. They know what they want and don’t mind using a kiosk to place an order and be on their way.
Of course, some customers need a little extra attention for special requests. Self-ordering kiosks free up your staff to address these specific customer service needs.
Kiosks can also boost sales. According to Tillster, 65 percent of customers said they prefer ordering through a kiosk and might visit a restaurant more often if self-ordering kiosks were readily available.
Utilizing self-ordering kiosks delivers a more personal experience via suggest-selling, up-selling, couponing, and loyalty programs. A Publishers Clearing House study found that incentives are a primary reason customers will return to a quick-serve restaurant, so it’s critical you utilize the customization a self-ordering kiosk provides.
In the back of the house, self-ordering kiosks go a long way in reducing the opportunity for shrink. Money is safely stored, and cash handling and reconciliation are automated, eliminating shortages due to theft or human error. With a kiosk, your business can also lower the burden on staff and offer flexible deployments that fit your footprint and needs.
Your self-ordering kiosks can be programmed to take a variety of payment options, which is an important factor to at least 86 percent of customers surveyed by Toast. Cash might always be king, but using electronic cash apps makes it easier for customers to pay and increases payment security.
If you decide to implement a self-ordering kiosk at your quick-serve business, you can receive real-time support and maintenance when you partner with a leader in the industry like Burroughs. You’ll have the confidence that comes with having backup from a company focused on self-service, cash automation, and IoT technology solutions that make businesses run more efficiently, regardless of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
Embrace Change with Innovative Solutions from Burroughs
For more than 135 years, Burroughs has been a leader in cash automation and payment transaction technologies, helping businesses take advantage of innovations such as self-ordering kiosks.
Burroughs’ OEM-agnostic approach and experience across a wide range of hardware, software, and middleware technologies allow our team to offer a consultative approach and the flexibility to recommend solutions that best meet your business needs. Plus, you'll be backed by full lifecycle management support, industry-leading response times, and a digital-first resolution focus across North America to better support your customers.
If you want to stay in the loop about self-service technology changing the face of businesses like yours, subscribe to the Burroughs blog.
