One of the greatest benefits of technology is the supreme convenience it can offer that ultimately reduces the need to rely on expensive and often-inconsistent manpower. Self-ordering kiosks are a prime example of such technology. Be it at a fast-food restaurant, cafe, and even independent restaurants, a self-ordering kiosk is beneficial to both the business owner as well as the restaurant.
Self-ordering kiosks are machines that allow customers to order and pay the order bill by themselves. Each machine consists of a touchscreen that customers can use to access dining options, and a payment system that lets them pay the bill. Self-ordering kiosks provide business owners the chance to keep their staff lean and consistent and offer customers a chance to order directly into the system. It is a uniquely win-win solution, which is also the number one reason for its growing popularity.
But self-ordering kiosks offer a number of other benefits too, to all parties involved. They are, therefore, the future of placing orders. Let’s take a closer look.
Increased Order Sizes
One of the most important benefits of self-ordering kiosks to businesses is the higher probability of bigger orders. When a customer speaks with an employee taking the order, the employee is usually trained to highlight higher margin options and expensive add-ons. This is part of the upsell process that all businesses are accustomed to. But often, this information can be misheard or missed altogether when the details are being offered face to face, especially at a crowded fast-food joint. With the self ordering kiosk, this kind of upselling or promotion can be highlighted easily upfront on the touchscreen. There are also many more occasions for offering discounts and other promotions during the whole process of touch screen ordering. Various fast-food joints such as McDonald’s and Taco Bell have found value in this type of ordering and have increased their sales.
Greater Accuracy
The din of a fast-food joint or simply human error during face-to-face ordering can sometimes lead to an inaccurate order being taken. But a self-ordering kiosk has a well-designed visual menu with intuitive choosing options that make sure that the order is taken down just as the customer desires. Besides, self-ordering kiosks offer the chance to modify or delete the order several times before the actual payment is done, allowing the customer far more time to decide exactly what they want. Customers also get to go back and edit the order if they see other dining options later into building the order. This also ensures fewer customer complaints and negative reviews.
Lower Wait Times
A number of fast-food joints are modernising their stores with these kiosks since they greatly reduce the time taken to place an order. Customers having to wait for the meal when they are in a hurry or hungry are more prone to feeling frustrated and leaving bad reviews or getting into arguments with staff. But at a self-ordering kiosk, all it takes is a few taps to send the order directly to the kitchen without needing to verbally repeat or clarify orders. In many cases, the order time can be reduced by as much as 40%, ensuring much more efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
Lower Payroll Costs
Self-ordering kiosks help businesses keep leaner but better performing staff. Since machines are doing a lot of the heavy lifting, restaurants need to hire and pay for fewer employees. This lets them pay more to higher fewer but higher performing people. This also allows restaurant owners to move staff to other tasks easily.
Greater Convenience
Self-ordering kiosks offer greater convenience to both customers and employees. The kiosks allow customers their privacy and peace of mind to order exactly what they want and how they want it. Staff, for their part, do not have to stay hyper-focused to place orders quickly and correctly, especially when it is noisy or busy. Greater customer and staff satisfaction translates into better business practices and margins.
Self-ordering kiosk technology is evolving to cater to a number of business sectors besides the sector of food and dining. Self-ordering kiosks are thus set to introduce a paradigm shift in the way customers order their purchases.