12 September 2024
How to use your digital menu to cover rising labour costs
Learn how to use digital menus to increase ATV and reach the full potential of every order, helping you cover those rising labour costs.
The development of new tech has played an enormous part in the direction of the hospitality industry in the last few years. Self-serve kiosks, Mobile Order & Pay, third-party delivery, and other services have all become regular touchpoints for diners. However, one of the big questions is whether customers want all this tech?
The short answer? Yes, they do.
When implemented in a way that makes the customer experience frictionless and easy, the stats show that customer preference is firmly leaning towards digital ordering channels.
Read on for a deep dive into data that demonstrates just how important tech is if you want to deliver your customers the experience they expect…
Do customers like using kiosks?
In our report ‘Building a restaurant of the future with self-serve kiosks’ in partnership with KAM, we found that 64% of consumers said they would order more via self-serve kiosks.
This jumps to 92% for Gen Z customers and 82% for Millennials.
60% of people would be influenced to choose one outlet over another based on its kiosks, and 64% say they would visit more often if they were available.
The main reason is that customers find them quick and easy to use.
46% feel that not having to queue is a benefit, while 63% say browsing the menu on a kiosk is easier than via a menu board.
And these findings are echoed across the industry.
In their report, The Digital Divide: Technology, the Metaverse and the Future of Dining Out, PYMNTS reported that 51% of grab-and-go customers say ordering through a self-service kiosk would positively impact their satisfaction.
Their research came with a warning, though:
“For restaurants, there is such a thing as too much technology,” the report states. “39% of consumers said restaurants have become increasingly less personal. 77% of restaurant customers said staff friendliness is the most important feature a restaurant needs to provide.”
But restaurant tech doesn’t have to come at the expense of a personal and friendly experience.
Personalisation must be built into digital ordering
Mastercard recently pointed to smart personalisation as a key trend for the industry in 2024.
“When a diner uses their app, visits the site or orders at a digital kiosk, contextual factors and data can be used to tailor the diner’s experience and suggest items based on past purchases, current trends, time of day or even weather.”
Similarly, Forbes noted a real demand for personalised dining experiences “with consumers expecting restaurants to cater to their individual preferences.”
“Technology is crucial in this trend,” Forbes says, “as data analytics enable restaurants to understand customer behaviour and tailor offerings accordingly.”
For a real-world example, Alexander Jerejian from Salsa Shop points to how data alerted their business to the particular needs of younger customers.
“The younger generation doesn’t come out during our peak time, because it’s lunch, and after that traffic goes down,” he says. “But through the data, you can see in the location where we have kiosks that the younger generation are coming and using the kiosk after peak. So that makes your entire day high traffic.”
