So you have decided to open your very own quick-service restaurant (QSR)? Or, you have decided to rethink the way you are currently doing things. Well, besides the no-brainers like your menu offerings, staff, interior design and all the red tape you need to rip down before opening, I would recommend that you put some thought in to how you make people order. The operative word in QSR is quick and choosing the right approach for your restaurant can and will go a long way in determining your overall turnaround time, customer satisfaction and profitability. Each style has its own unique advantages for a given environment, so… choose wisely!
Can I Take Your Order?
August 22, 2012 By Origin Display Group
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Display Fixtures, Industry News, Menu Boards
5 Tips to Make Your Menu Board Approval Process Go Smoothly
August 15, 2012 By Origin Display Group
It seems like a simple concept. You receive your menu board layout, and you send back the changes you want made as well as what you like and don’t like. For the most part that is accurate. However, there are areas and ways to go about it that will minimize the amount of revisions and the time it takes to get your menu boards in hand.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Drive-thru Menu Boards, Menu Boards
Menu Board Story Time
July 26, 2012 By Origin Display Group
A wise man once told me, “Awareness is curative.” Specifically in business, there has been no other saying that has resonated with me more. On paper it is a simple concept. It is a glorified way of saying “learn from your mistakes.” However put in another light, awareness is also something you can arm yourself with. You gather enough information so that you can make an intelligent decision while knowing what the potential snags could be. You may be wondering what I am getting at. Well, as a business we have grown to notice that in both scenarios the main problem is the fact that people cannot get out of the way of themselves. They will not admit that they made a mistake and instead play the blame game, or they hear what they want to hear and discredit the information they were given. With this in mind, I have identified three instances that have occurred in the last year. I have selected one from each area that we do the most business.
So grab your morning Joe, make yourself comfortable and get ready, because today is story time.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Drive-thru Menu Boards, Menu Boards
Digital Menu Board Solution – Or No Solution at All?
July 19, 2012 By Origin Display Group
The term “solution” is one that gets tossed around a little too easily nowadays. In math, the solution is the answer; it is black and white with no grey area. So why is it that when it comes to consumer goods and services, this is not the case? In a lot of circumstances, the actual solution is nothing but a state that has become more and more nebulous. I remember when I bought a CRM solution for our business. I was shown all the bells and whistles and was convinced that what I was buying would help grow our business and take it to the next level (Digital Menu Boards: The Message is (NOT) Clear – see #3). As it turned out, it handled the sales and business development side of our business just fine, but fell short in all other areas of our operations.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards
Digital Menu Boards: The Message is (NOT) Clear
June 27, 2012 By Origin Display Group
I was lying in bed the other night on the heels of a three demo day thinking to myself, “I really nailed those digital menu board demos today.” I had checkmarks beside everything I was looking to achieve:
- Qualified on price prior to the demo being scheduled… √
- Discussed their objectives in detail, dug deeper and spoke to their pain points… √
- Reviewed the benefits of the software and all it could do for their business… √
- Established a clear next step… √
Despite this, I got to thinking, did those three that I demoed the software for, or even the last 20-50, go to bed feeling as good about the demos as I had? Do they realize the control they possess? Do they understand the true capabilities of a ditial menu board system?
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards
Breaking Down the 12 Benefits of Digital Menu Boards
June 22, 2012 By Origin Display Group
On May 13th, 2012 Digital Signage Today published the “12 Benefits of Digital Menu Boards.” What they did was survey quick-service and fast casual restaurants that have already installed digital menu boards and had them define these benefits based on their experiences. They then had these operators weight the impact of each, which yielded the percentages below.
Although the benefits may seem straightforward to some, digging a little deeper may open some eyes to areas they would have otherwise never considered.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Digital Signage
5 Reasons to Use Commercial Grade LCD Screens for Digital Menu Boards
June 14, 2012 By Origin Display Group
So you have decided to go the digital menu board route, which is excellent. You are forward-thinking enough to see the value in such a system – the ability to test market items, control inventory, promote specials and limited time offers, change your content quickly and easily and the list goes on. All of this is great, but our kudos comes to a screeching halt when you decide to go the consumer or residential LCD route for your display purposes.
We get the mentality, “I can buy two 40” LCDs from Wal-Mart for less than one of those commercial grade LCDs.” A compelling argument and one that we at Origin Displays tend to not do battle with… but maybe we should. You see, there are stark differences between consumer televisions and commercial grade LCDs and choosing the incorrect LCD will cause nothing but frustration and wasted time and money.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Digital Signage
5 Benefits of Digital Menu Boards in the Cloud
June 6, 2012 By Origin Display Group
Digital menu boards in the Cloud, now what does that mean? In a post made by Doug Bannister on networldalliance.com he describes it as such:
Cloud computing is a term used to describe a wide variety of online services which provide remote, scalable computing resources that are accessible by means of the Internet rather than present on a local computer or network.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards
Digital Menu Boards for Digital Menu Boards
May 29, 2012 By Origin Display Group
This is a tale of a company (we’ll call them “Truffys”) looking for the ideal digital menu board solution. Truffys however, is not a start-up, they are not building out, they aren’t renovating and certainly aren’t in the business planning stages. They are a well-established staple in their community and have been so for over 25 years. Their renovation took place three years ago. With electricians and contractors crawling around their place for a month plus, you’d think it would have been a good idea to go digital back then. It turns out, they thought it was a good idea too, which is why they did install digital menu boards. You see, Truffys is now looking for the ideal digital menu board solution because they picked the wrong one 3 years ago and it has become the bane of their existence.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Digital Signage
The Digital Menu Board Search – We’ve Been There!
May 21, 2012 By Origin Display Group
When Origin began to look to add digital menu boards to our product line, we were in the same situation I’m sure many of you find yourself in. We knew what we wanted, but the industry had become so saturated, where were we to start? A similar predicament you may be facing – where to even begin your digital menu board search. I’m sure you’ve read our blogs about ‘pitfall this’ and ‘shortcoming that’ when it comes to digital signage. Trust me, we’ve spent hours doing the research about which solution works best in what situation. Since we’ve already done the research, there’s no need for you to waste your time re-researching what we’ve already found.
Filed Under: Digital Menu Boards, Digital Signage
