People running, managing, or owning restaurants want to know how their customers feel about every aspect of their dining experience. So, picture ‘Mick’. Mick has just gone through 2 years of a global pandemic, much of which was spent in lockdown and enduring restrictions where in-restaurant dining was kept to a minimum. Now able to dine-in once again, like many, Mick has reservations (pun intended) about ordering face-to-face.
Mick isn’t alone. Restaurant owners like ‘Linda’ have been forced to change during the pandemic. Now that society is opening again, she can see the advantages of continuing with some of the contactless practices employed in recent times. Simultaneously, she plans on bringing in more new technologies proven to increase the number and size of sales, improve order accuracy, and boost kitchen efficiency. She also aims to make customers happier; Linda knows patrons enjoy a faster ordering process and a personalised overall dining experience.
Mick: ‘I don’t want to be rushed, and I want to know all my options.’
‘There’s nothing worse than going to a restaurant you’ve never been to before where you have to order at the counter. You need to crane your neck to see the menu on the wall behind the staff, not to mention when the guy in front of you in the queue is as tall as a professional basketball player. Then there’s the fact that I don’t understand what half of the meals are because there’s no photos. I often just end up asking the cashier what’s popular and going with that. I know I’m missing out.
Also, if I see a long queue, I may just leave and go to a different restaurant altogether. I hate queues.’
Linda: ‘Customers order more, and staff efficiency is better because we have more hands-on-deck.’
‘Since we brought in our first self-ordering kiosk, customers are happier than ever. As the kiosk connects to our POS system, we’re now able to get better data on what our guests really want. We have less labour costs because we’ve been able to reduce front-of-house staff, but the staff we do have on hand are able to give patrons their full attention (after orders have been made) instead of intermittently looking up and down from behind the old-fashioned cash register we used to use.
Having self-service kiosks has helped us in other ways too. Customers can take their time to order, see photos of all our meals, and easily apply add-ons to their orders. It’s streamlined our entire restaurant operation. Orders go straight to the Kitchen Display Screen (KDS), which is super-efficient, and we make less mistakes because the orders are accurate – no more dealing with staff handwriting or mental focus issues!
Our bottom line is better too. Faster ordering and comms with the kitchen have meant more sales, plus the self-ordering kiosk offers guests add-ons they can easily see. I don’t think they would have bothered ordering extra items if they were worried about impatient people standing behind them in the queue. To cut a long story short, the size of our orders has grown by an average of 20%!’
Self-ordering is transforming the Aussie restaurant industry
In this era of digital technology, restaurants and customers are discovering the true value of self-ordering. In a time when we need to be safer than ever, self-ordering kiosks are contactless, which means all parties involved benefit from a boost in COVID safety practices. Want to find out more about an online food ordering system for restaurants? Give Abacus a call now!