Over the last few years, enhancing the customer experience has gained a lot of traction among restaurant business owners. In fact, Deloitte’s 2019 report on restaurants discusses how good quality food is basic table stakes, while the customer experience is what takes a restaurant to the next level.
You could call the restaurant industry the canary that indicates the health of the economy. When things are good, people love to eat out — and that’s certainly one reason why, right now, the restaurant business is growing. A recent report from retail industry analyst IHL projects $744 billion for total 2019 sales — an increase of 4.2 percent. Moreover, new location openings are up, with 2,346 new QSR stores and 565 table service restaurants on tap for 2019.
Self-service innovations in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space, including mobile order-ahead and in-store kiosks, are booming. The self-service kiosk market is expected to reach $30.8 billion by 2024. This ramp-up is likely because these innovative ordering and guest service options have been shown to improve order accuracy, increase average ticket value, reduce wait times and help collect data to inform how to better serve guests. This makes QSRs happy and it also delights the guest (or so that’s the goal). When implemented properly, these new technologies can create a positive and memorable guest experience. However, if it’s not implemented properly, that memorable experience may not be a good one.
One of the most impressive features of a quick service restaurant (QSR) is the unrivalled customer turnover in a day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from 2013 to 2016 roughly one third of adults consumed fast food on a given day. Coupled with the fact that 95 percent of people fail to wash their hands well enough to kill harmful bacteria, many surfaces and frequently handled items such as tables and payment terminals are subject to hundreds of fingers, sneezes and other potential sources for germs.
According to a new report by Tillster, the self-service kiosk market is expected to reach an estimated $30.8 billion by 2024, with a significant portion of that growth coming from the food and beverage industry. Quick Service (QSR) and fast-casual restaurant chains continue to make headlines about plans to implement kiosks or touting success stories such as Panera’s.
