Kiosk Technology in the Food & Beverage Industry

The hospitality industry contains five different sectors and today we are going to dive into how self-service kiosks are impacting the Food and Beverage industry.

The food and beverage industry is considered the most visible sector that crosses over into all the other areas. To understand how big the food and beverage industry is, just drive down any street in your town and you will get an idea – businesses that prepare meals & beverages for consumption on and off premises.

There is also a lot of overlap where you can have food and beverage within lodging, recreation and entertainment. There can also be many different experiences that are created when there is an overlap. The customer should be front and center for all experiences – a customer first approach in which kiosks enable that approach.

Examples of the most common food and beverage type businesses: Restaurants, Bars, Taverns and Pubs, Cafes and Delis, Cafeterias, Fast Food Restaurants and Catering. With each of these examples above, they are all impacted by rising costs, labor shortages and in some instances, a poor customer experience.

The Self Service Kiosk

Self-service kiosk is a technology that allows a customer the ability to order their food or beverage, at their pace and without having to interact or engage with staff making the process streamlined to integrate straight into your point of sale system. When businesses are struggle with staffing shortages and high cost, the self-service kiosk is a solution that helps businesses where they need it the most

Some common uses of a kiosk are for order taking, payment processing, cafe and cafeteria ordering, table reservation, loyalty programs and menu along with specials/promotions.

Let’s check out a few of the benefits of a self-service kiosk

  • Increased Revenue
    With a kiosk, you can learn more about your customers, more about your inventory and can use data to help you understand your business and to also make decisions based on that data. The end result is increased revenue since you have a pulse on what is going on and can react when needed.
  • Decreased labor and time cost
    A kiosk allows you to reduce labor costs so that your staff can focus on the customer. Imagine a crowed restaurant with a limited staff…the kiosk enables your business to continue running by putting the customer in control of their order and experience.
  • Improved customer experiences
    The kiosk technology makes it easier to order, easier to pay and takes less time which help improve customer experiences and customer expectations.
  • Order accuracy
    How many times have you place your order only to have your food come out wrong? Like most people, this happens more than it should. Giving the customer the ability to order without the “middle person” allow the customer to accurately order from the touch-screen experience.
  • Upsell amenities, extras and services.
    A kiosks allows you to promote products, promote offers and to upsell/cross-sell to customers based off their order history and past orders.

As you can see, there are many benefits to self-service kiosks for the food and beverage industry that improves the experience for both the staff and the customers and you can also see how the entire industry overlaps with each sector.

See EZ in action – Visit Sicilian Pizza & Pasta Downtown, 627 S 4th St, Louisville, KY. The location is right next to the historic Louisville Palace.

EZ at the Sicilian Pizza & Pasta Downtown Location

Click here to learn more about EZ and the EZ-Chow self-service kiosks.

Over the next couple weeks, we will get into the specific areas of the hospitality industry and how self-service kiosks can be implemented…up next, Lodging (Hotels, resorts).

EZ-Chow has solutions such as an Online Ordering Solutions and Self-Ordering Kiosk Solutions that integrate into your existing POS systems. To learn how EZ-Chow can help you with these initiatives and more, get started by contacting us here.

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Author

Bernie Fussenegger
Bernie Fussenegger
Marketing,Branding & e-Commerce -Consultant
Click to learn more about Bernie Fussenegger

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