Self order kiosk image

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant industry has had to make some drastic adjustments to keep up with different changes. The biggest of these adaptations are that of self-serving kiosks. Listed below are some of the reasons why kiosks are beneficial to both restaurants and businesses.

What Are Self-Serving Kiosks?

As one might guess, self-serving kiosks give customers the power to order and pay all by themselves. Kiosks not only make it easier for the customers by giving them the freedom to customize, pay for and pick up their orders but restaurants as well through reallocating employee time and upselling towards customers. But what exactly are the benefits of offering a self-serving kiosk at your restaurant.

What Are The Benefits?

Time

Self-serving kiosks save time, and promote an easier, more convenient way to order while improving customer experience in the process. By offering self-serving kiosks, restaurants will also save time for their customers by allowing them to quickly place their own orders without having to wait in long lines or wait times. These self-ordering kiosks also allow employees to reallocate time that was previously spent taking customer orders to focus on dining services and the overall customer experience.

Control

By offering kiosks in your restaurant, customers are given control of their dining experience. In other words, with kiosks these restaurants enable their customers to choose how and when they want to order, pay, and receive their order. Moreover, the integration of applications to mobile phones allows customers to order through their smartphones as well.

Automation

Kiosks are automated, meaning customers will have control of how the ordering and payment process goes. As consistency creates credibility, the automation of kiosks creates a reliable experience for customers as they know exactly what they want and what they will receive. Automation through kiosks also improves ROI for the restaurant as it encourages customers to explore more of what the restaurant has to offer.

Increased Profitability

Another great benefit of kiosks is increased profitability, which allows restaurants to promote different products without feeling intrusive to what the customer wants. This can help restaurants promote, cross-sell, display promotions while displaying appetizing images of the actual product. According to a study from McDonald's, customers ordering via their kiosks tend to spend 30% or more than those ordering through a staff member (REDYREF). In other words, this indeed indicates that kiosks substantially boost sales and promote products in restaurants.

Better Order Accuracy

At times, restaurants can be a bit frenzied with employees making orders and getting each of them to the customer as soon as possible. Within these chaotic moments, errors on orders can be a common occurrence, especially during the busiest times of the day. With kiosks, order input errors are much less common as the customer sends their order directly to the kitchen, ensuring their order wasn't botched from the beginning, in turn making the customer wait longer. This makes certain that the customer is getting exactly what they wanted the first time, and limits the amount of waste that may occur if the order needs to be remade.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

Offering kiosks also helps ensure a better customer experience which in turn increases overall customer satisfaction which can bring them back for more. Along with giving customers the ability to submit their own orders, employees are then able to focus more on complex tasks such as improving each customer's experience.

Shorter Wait Times

In one study, a business reported losing roughly 75% of customers due to different wait-related issues (Tšernov). In other words, restaurants and businesses can lose out on major profit which could simply be solved by using self-serving kiosks.

Reduced Labor Costs

With customer orders being automated by self-serving kiosks, this gives staff a better chance to improve on more engaging aspects of the job such as customer satisfaction. Different restaurants can save on labor costs as well due to kiosks taking care of customer orders while ensuring the customer order arrives quickly. This allows employees to get the food out faster, increase overall profitability and improve dining service/customer experience.

The Future of Self-Serving Kiosks

According to the National Restaurant Association, self-serving kiosks have reduced costs at restaurants by $3 billion per year and have increased convenience for customers (Chew). Moreover, the United States Self-Serving Kiosk Market should grow from $2.0 billion in 2022 to $4.5 billion by 2028, a compound growth rate of 16% (Stratagem Market Insights). First impressions do matter, and one bad experience can send a customer away forever, so start off right by giving your customers the ability to order through a self-serving kiosk today.