When digital signage first emerged, it came in the form of a basic television set with a VCR that boasted information about a product or sale.
As the signs and their capabilities progressed over time, the screens matured into large, commercial-grade LEDs or LCDs. Today, commercial-grade displays come in all shapes and sizes. From flat screens to round screens and kiosks both short and tall, it seems there’s nothing you can’t accomplish with a digital display.
Throw in a well-polished, cloud-based content management system(CMS) and you’re on your way to a digital menu board that can be a game-changer for your business.
Despite all of the available options in hardware and software, many restaurateurs are still not using menu boards to their fullest potential.
Why is this? Plain and simple, they just don’t know what options are available to them. But we do. And we’re going to share some of those options with you.
Digital menu boards are more than just digital screens because:
1. Digital Menu Boards Increase Sales
Digital menu boards aren’t just nicer looking static screens. A powerful digital menu board is meant to attract customers, entice their appetites, and boost your bottom line. They’re meant to enhance your menu options, not replicate them.
If you’re simply putting numbers and images up and calling it a day, you’re not taking advantage of the various ways a menu board can serve you. When done right, menu boards can create a completely different atmosphere that pulls people in.
Here’s a prime example:
Tim Horton’s serves more than just coffee. The Canadian quick-serve restaurant (QSR) uses multiple digital menu boards throughout their stores, with bold lettering and graphics to grab customers’ attention.
Then they take it a step further…
They turn one of the menu boards into a clock or, as they call it, a “cookie countdown”. The idea is to make customers aware of when the next batch of fresh cookies will be ready. What makes this board so incredible is that it is a classic example of driving an impulse purchase.
If you can cater to the senses with smells and images, you’ve found a unique way to improve your ROI.
This approach really is unique, too. How many times have you walked into a restaurant or café and seen something like this? The more unique your digital menu, the more customers you’re apt to attract.
2. Digital Menu Boards Can Be Integrated
One of the primary reasons digital menu boards are so important to restaurants is their ability to integrate with POS systems.
That’s huge.
It means when inventory runs low, the POS system can alert the digital menu and the item can automatically be removed. No more disappointed customers when the fries run out, and no more dragging ladders in and out of the workspace to change or remove the item from a static menu.
A POS/digital menu board integration also simplifies promoting upsell items to customers. Asking a customer if they want the large meal deal or an extra side is one thing, but giving that customer those choices with images on a screen can be much more effective.
People tend to respond better to images. So when beautiful, enticing pictures offer options (as opposed to a server offering options), customers are more apt to upgrade their meal or add an additional side. Only digital menus can provide this type of powerful upsell option.
Both of these benefits (integration and upsell) are reaped by one of the largest coffee franchises in America: Dunkin’ Donuts.
After a 100-store pilot of digital menu board technology in 2014, the chain embarked on a full system-wide deployment in 3,000 locations. That full deployment included POS and menu boards talking to each other.
When digital menus are connected to the POS, price changes can be updated instantly. Before this integration, static menus were often out of date. When customers caught the price discrepancy, Dunkin’ Donuts offered them a refund. Over time, those refunds added up.
Jason Stuehmer, IT product manager for Dunkin’ Brands at the time, said the refunds were a constant issue. Originally implemented to offer managers incentive to keep their static boards up to date, it appeared to do more harm than good. The digital menus have eliminated the refunds issue.
You may not think of these small refunds as a big deal, but they add up. By integrating your POS system with your digital menu boards, money is saved, customers are happy, and more products fly out the door.
3. Digital Menu Boards Reduce Perceived Wait Times
Look…
I’m not telling you a huge secret when I say that no one likes to wait. Especially today. We have instant access to information thanks to smartphones and tablets, so we’re conditioned to getting what we want right away.
And while we can access our phones while we wait, one can only play Candy Crush or scroll through a Facebook news feed for so long. Knowing this, restaurants are using digital menu boards on tabletops to entertain waiting customers. It’s like magic. The next time you’re in an establishment that offers these, watch a family engage in a game while they wait for their food.
Toddlers fuss less and parents smile more.
These magic time machines also take advantage of the wait by showing promotions between games. The more times an image in a promotion is shown, the more likely a customer is to buy what that product.
Tabletop tablets let customers place orders, join rewards programs, play games, and pay their tab. This digital interaction is a data source that enables the restaurant to provide more personal service at future visits. They also contribute to faster table turnover.
4. Digital Menu Boards Can Be Updated Quickly
I know we mentioned this before, but it’s worth diving back into, especially because you’d possibly be breaking the law if you didn’t listen to me. Well not really, but here’s what I mean…
Healthcare laws are dictating part of what needs to show up on your menu boards.
Title IV of the law states that: ‘Restaurants which are part of a chain with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name must disclose calories on the menu board and in written form.’
Can you imagine all of the time and energy that goes into updating this kind of information on a static board? And once you do, wouldn’t it just rain on your parade when corporate sends down a new summer menu and you have to do it all over again?
Greg Smart, co-founder of the 14-unit Slim Chickens, a fast-casual southern food restaurant based in Arkansas, upgraded his stores to digital menus and is pleased with the results.
Smart likes the idea that the corporate office or the restaurant can customize the boards and update an offer or highlight certain promotions. Sales in all stores have increased and hours upon hours of manpower have been saved.
“It’s really fun, really exciting stuff to play with,” Smart says. “I feel like it’s really in its infancy.” (Courtesy: QSR Magazine Online)
Updates lead to sales, sales lead to increased ROI, and increased ROI leads to more opportunities to grow your brand through the digital medium.
Conclusion
In the restaurant industry alone, the use of digital signage is booming.
One by one, fast-casual and family restaurants are implementing digital options to streamline menu boards and enhance the customer experience.
With so many options to order at the counter or at the kiosk, digital menus are proving to do more than a traditional menu ever could.
Videos are selling. Pictures are talking. Restaurateurs are profiting.
Thanks to the integration of POS systems with cloud-based software, inventory is managed much more efficiently.
When a product runs out, it can be removed from the menu in an instant. When a new product comes in, it can be added to the screen as soon as it’s available.
This saves the establishment time and money, as we’ve seen in the examples above. And really, that’s one of the primary purposes of implementing digital menu boards.
The other purpose is to greatly enhance the customer experience. The customer is your ticket to running a profitable operation. Give them the very best in every way possible, and you’re winning.
How have digital menus improved your business? How have they changed the way you and your staff run the restaurant?
Last updated: 11/22/19
