How Self-Service Kiosks Benefit Businesses In the Food & Beverage Industry

In recent years, self-service kiosks have become increasingly prevalent in the food and beverage (F&B) industry. I’ve seen McDonald’s in Paris, where locals prefer “le kiosque” over human interaction. I’ve witnessed how a small taco truck in Austin utilized a compact kiosk to manage a sudden influx of South by Southwest (SXSW) attendees.

Each experience added a layer to my understanding. These kiosks aren’t replacing human touch; they’re enhancing it. They’re not just taking orders; they’re gathering insights, boosting sales, and shaping customer behaviors. From a hipster coffee shop in Melbourne to a bustling University cafeteria in New York, the impact is undeniable and fascinatingly diverse.

This is precisely why the global self-service kiosk market is expected to increase by $10.62 billion by 2028, a CAGR of 14.17%. [Source] This data led me to ask the next obvious question: What are the benefits of self-service kiosks for businesses operating in the F&B industry? This blog elaborates on the answer.

For customers, self-service kiosks offer a level of untapped convenience. But it’s not just the customers benefiting from them; businesses are benefiting, too. Let me explain the specific benefits of self-service kiosks in different F&B businesses.

1. Fast Food Chains

• Ability to Accommodate More Customers and Helping Keep the Meaning of ‘Fast’ in ‘Fast Food’ Relevant

It was a sweltering July day in 2018 when I found myself at a McDonald’s near Disney World in Orlando. As families poured in after a day at the parks, I braced for chaos. Yet, despite the volume, the line moved shockingly fast. More families came in, placed their orders, and ate happily. Nobody questioned, “How long does it take to get a burger and fries ready?” 

This was because of self-service kiosks. Kiosks introduce multiple ordering points, allowing more customers to place orders simultaneously. This not only significantly reduces wait times, especially during peak hours when lines can get long, but also enhances the overall dining experience.

With faster service, more customers can be served within a shorter time frame, leading to a substantial increase in sales and revenue. Moreover, the improved efficiency and convenience of self-service kiosks contribute to a higher level of customer satisfaction, fostering stronger customer relations.

• Streamlined Operations During Peak Hours

Kiosks automate the order-taking process, reducing the workload on cashiers during peak hours. This frees up staff to focus on other critical tasks like food preparation, order fulfillment, and maintaining cleanliness. It also minimizes confusion and errors that can occur when cashiers are overwhelmed with a high volume of orders.

• Efficient Staff Utilization

Kiosks handling routine orders allow staff to be redeployed to higher-value tasks. These could include focusing on table service, assisting customers with kiosk usage, ensuring food quality, or upselling additional menu items. This optimization allows for a leaner staff structure while maintaining excellent customer service.

It also assists fast-food restaurants in delivering customer service that is often less expected from fast-food chains.

• Reduced Costs 

Fast food restaurants constantly look for ways to cut costs, especially because they have limited menu items to promote fine dining services. In such cases, they must cut costs to save big and maximize profits. 

While kiosks require an initial investment, they can lead to cost savings in the long run. This one-time investment reduces reliance on cashiers, which translates to potentially lower labor costs. Additionally, kiosks minimize order errors and waste associated with remakes.

• Enhanced Upselling Opportunities

For fast food chains, the ability to upsell is a strategic approach to maximizing revenue. Due to limited menu items, fast food restaurants rely heavily on customers purchasing additional items or meal options. 

Kiosks can be programmed strategically to display high-margin items or suggest tempting add-ons alongside a chosen entree. Unlike a server who might feel pushy, kiosks present upselling options subtly. Customers can browse visuals and descriptions, leading them to discover and add desired items to their orders. This increases the average order value and boosts revenue.

2. Casual Dining Restaurants

• Integration of kiosks with table service

In casual dining restaurants, self-service kiosks can be integrated with traditional table service to provide a seamless dining experience. Customers can place their orders through kiosks and have their food delivered to their tables by waitstaff.

This allows customers to place orders at their own pace without waiting for a server to take their orders. 

This also allows restaurants to maintain a personal touch that is expected in a dining setting while benefiting from technological efficiency.

• Improved Table Turnover

Kiosks empower customers to browse menus, customize orders, and pay at their own pace. This reduces the workload on wait staff during peak hours, leading to faster service and, hence, faster table turnaround. More customers can be served quickly, boosting the restaurant’s revenue potential.

• Better Handling of Customization Requests

Dine-in restaurants receive more customization requests than many other types of businesses in the F&B industry. Let me share an experience with you. 

At an Indian restaurant in Nashville, the chef blends Southern and Indian cuisines. Her “Hot Chicken Pakoras” is a hit, but customization was a challenge.

“Some want Nashville-hot; some prefer Andhra-spicy,” she told me. As more people came in, these customization requests became more challenging to maintain, mainly because the staff needed clarification and caused errors. So, their solution was to introduce kiosks with customization options. Since then, the diners have picked their preferred chili type, heat level, and cooling sides.

So, with kiosks, customers can directly input their desired customizations. This eliminates the possibility of misunderstandings between servers and patrons, leading to fewer mistakes and a higher chance of receiving precisely what they ordered.

• Improved Service

With kiosks managing order placements and payments, waitstaff can concentrate on delivering excellent customer service and attending to guests’ needs.

Staff can spend more time interacting with customers, addressing their concerns, and providing a more personalized dining experience. Waitstaff can manage their time more effectively, balancing between serving food, refilling drinks, and attending to special requests.

• More Opportunities for Kid-friendly Menu Items

Traditionally, dine-in restaurants had to have a different menu printed for kids or add a few items to one menu itself. This limited their ability to craft a well-organized kids’ menu, which is essential for families dining in. 

Kiosks can display separate menus designed for children, allowing parents and children to choose their meals independently with clear visuals and easy-to-understand descriptions.

Parents can easily view and select items from the kid’s menu, which often includes additional nutritional information and allergen details.

Highlighting kid-friendly items can encourage families to return to your restaurant and order more.

3. Coffee Shops

• Handling Complex Orders

Coffee shops offer highly customizable beverages and food items, with various options for milk types, sweeteners, flavors, and add-ons. Self-service kiosks can easily handle this complexity. 

Customers can visually navigate options, choose specific dairy-free milk or sugar-free syrups, and even adjust portion sizes, ensuring their personalized coffee creation is ordered precisely.

Kiosks also make it easier for customers to select their preferences without feeling rushed, improving the overall ordering experience.

• Data-driven Menu Crafting

Kiosks can track customer ordering data, revealing popular combinations, preferred add-ons, and even specific milk alternatives with high demand. This real-time information allows cafes to optimize their menus based on customer preferences. Less popular items can be adjusted or replaced, while high-demand options can be strategically highlighted, leading to increased sales and reduced waste.

This feature is essential for coffee shops because as the season changes, the trends change, too. For example, customers ask for pumpkin-spiced lattes or similar beverages at the beginning of October. To keep up with such trends, self-service kiosks can be the ideal partner to recognize and implement strategies to accommodate changing customer needs.

• Faster Order Servicing 

Coffee shops rely heavily on traditional order-taking processes and customization accuracy. The higher the accuracy, the quicker the beverage will be served. However, many coffee shops and cafes lack 100% accuracy. 

With kiosks, customers directly input their selections, minimizing the risk of errors during order taking. This leads to fewer remakes and a smoother overall experience for both staff and customers.

• Modern Appeal

To compete with the big guns (like Starbucks), coffee shops need to project an image of a modern and savvy establishment. 

Integrating self-service kiosks gives cafes and coffee shops a contemporary and innovative image, appealing to tech-savvy customers and enhancing brand perception.

Younger customers, typically more tech-savvy, value the convenience and novelty of self-service kiosks. This can aid in attracting a wider customer base.

4. University and Office Cafeterias

• Reduced Lunch Lines

Lunchtime in universities and offices often witnesses a surge of students and employees struggling to get their orders as quickly as possible. This is so they can finish their meal well in time and not miss their next class or an important meeting. So, long lunch lines can be a significant issue, leading to frustration among students, employees, and the staff serving them.

However, self-service kiosks streamline the ordering process, reducing wait times and improving the flow of students and employees. Kiosks allow multiple people to place orders simultaneously, speeding up the order-taking process and reducing congestion. 

Shorter wait times also lead to a more pleasant dining experience, encouraging students and employees to utilize the cafeteria services more frequently. This means increased revenue for the cafeteria owners.

• Improved Dietary Customization for Students and Employees

Cafeterias in educational institutions and organizations serve a diverse population with varying dietary needs and preferences. Some want gluten-free food, while others are vegan or lactose intolerant.

People with strict diets often avoid cafeteria food due to insufficient ingredient information. Also, it gets frustrating for staff members to ensure all customization needs are met accurately, not to mention they often end up making errors.

But with self-service kiosks, all these problems can be curtailed:

• Kiosks provide a platform for detailed menu customization, allowing students and employees to tailor their meals to their specific dietary requirements.

• They can easily customize their orders to accommodate any dietary restrictions, allergies, and personal preferences, ensuring they get meals that meet their needs.

• Kiosks can also display detailed nutritional information and ingredient lists, helping students and employees make informed choices about their food.

• Direct input of customization requests minimizes the risk of miscommunication and ensures that meals are prepared accurately.
  
  
• Multiple Language and Accessibility Options for Students and Employees of Different Cultures

Educational institutions and multinational corporations (MNCs) often have a diverse student body and employee base. This includes international students, employees from other countries, and those with various accessibility needs. Self-service kiosks can offer multiple language options and accessibility features to cater to this diversity. 

This benefits cafeteria owners by accommodating more people to consume cafeteria food. The following features help achieve that:

• Inclusive Dining Experience: Providing menu options in multiple languages ensures that non-native speakers can easily navigate and understand the available food choices.

• Accessibility Features: Kiosks can include features such as adjustable text size and high-contrast displays to assist students with visual or hearing impairments.

• Cultural Sensitivity: By accommodating different languages and accessibility needs, cafeterias create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all students and employees.

• Catering to Digital Natives

Today’s college students and young office-goers, often called digital natives, are accustomed to using technology daily. Self-service kiosks align with their tech-savvy preferences and enhance their dining experience. 

Touchscreen kiosks provide an interactive, engaging ordering experience that appeals to tech-savvy youngsters. Also, kiosks can integrate with mobile apps and digital wallets, allowing them to use their devices for a seamless ordering and payment experience.

5. Food Trucks

• Reduces the Constraints of Limited Space

Unlike restaurants and cafes, food trucks have limited space. Often, only one or two people who prepare food and manage the cash register can operate behind the counter, so every inch of space is essential.

Self-service kiosks can be a game-changer here. They can help streamline operations for food truck owners in their compact environment.

Kiosks can be installed on the exterior or within a small section of the truck, freeing up space that would otherwise be used for taking orders. With kiosks handling orders, staff inside the truck can focus solely on cooking and assembling orders, enhancing overall efficiency.

• Ability to Change Menu Based on Change of Location

Food trucks often move to different locations, each with its customer preferences and demands. Self-service kiosks allow easy and quick menu updates to match the new location.

Operators can adjust the menu based on local tastes, seasonal ingredients, or special events, making it easier to cater to different demographics.  

Also, food truck owners can update kiosk prices easily based on location, time of day, or specific promotions, allowing for flexible pricing strategies.

• Opportunities to Participate in Food Festivals and Events 

Food festivals and events often draw large crowds, and efficient order processing is crucial to capitalize on these opportunities. Self-service kiosks can handle high volumes of orders quickly and efficiently. 

With kiosks managing orders and payments, staff can focus on preparation and serving, ensuring smooth and efficient operations in such high-traffic events.

Self-service kiosks across the global F&B landscape are making huge strides. I’ve witnessed these digital devices surviving and thriving in surprisingly personal spaces.

Kiosks have rewritten efficiency rules in fast-food chains, transforming bottlenecks into breezeways. In casual dining, they handle complexities, allowing staff to amplify hospitality. Third-wave coffee shops use them to capture nuanced preferences, while cafeterias leverage them as cultural bridges.

Yet, some benefits resonate universally: data-driven menu evolution, peak-hour alchemy, operational clarity, and scalable personalization. All of this makes kiosks compelling enough to be utilized in your business.

And now that you are on board, why not join hands with EZ-Chow? One of the leading corporations in self-service kiosks and other digital ordering solutions, EZ-Chow is transforming the F&B businesses with one kiosk at a time. Go ahead and request a demo today to discover our advanced ordering features.

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