Having been involved in the menu board industry for as long as I have, you get to know the questions that are going to be asked well before they actually are. ”What sizes do you have? Do you do the design work? How long will it take for me to get the menu boards? (and obviously) How much do they cost?” However, the question that I want to address and what comes up more often than not is, “Do your menu boards have strips and digits?” The way in which this question gets asked differs from time to time but the underlying reason is always the same, they want to know if they will be able to change their menu board items and pricing whenever they want. However, is this the best way to go about it? Would using full graphics make more sense? There are compelling arguments to each side.
Menu Boards: Strips & Digits or Full Graphics?
How Digital Menu Boards Impact Fine Dining
When talking about digital menu boards for restaurants, why is it that for the most part the marketing focuses on the quick-serve or fast casual restaurants? What about the fine dining establishments? Can they also benefit from the use of an effective digital menu board solution? The answer… YES! Having been involved with restaurant digital menu boards since its inception, I always make sure that my fine dining clients recognize that there are simple benefits that work in QSRs that can transcend to the fine dining side as well. Some such benefits include:
Speed of Service Affected by Poorly Designed Menu Boards
Christa Hoyland noted in a recent article for QSRWeb that “50% of consumers polled by QSRWeb say that menu boards have become harder to read and that speed of service is taking a hit as a result.” This is the last thing you want when operating a fast food – quick service restaurant. It is a pretty easy formula, a quicker turnaround means greater efficiency → more patrons served → more dollars in your pocket. Unfortunately, menu board development and its execution are often afterthoughts when looking at a restaurant’s branding as a whole, when in fact they should be at the forefront. There is no other area of any restaurant where you have the onlookers at your fingertips, fixated by their need for information. This notion of “captive audience” is at the 101 level of running a restaurant. However, trying to capitalize on this knowledge is where many get themselves in to trouble… many times without even realizing it.
Although there are several areas that people can shore up their menu boards, we are going to touch on the 3 main issues that seem to keep rearing their ugly heads.
How to Avoid the Many Digital Menu Board Pitfalls
The ever-evolving digital menu board and digital signage industry continues to see more and more companies join the party. There are several reasons for this, but for the most part, it is due to its forward-thinking appeal and the general consensus that the shift from traditional signage to digital will continue to gather more and more momentum. As a result, consumers are left with a myriad of platforms and number of different payment options to choose from. Combine that with “this software can do this,” and “that media player can do that,” and it can become very overwhelming in a hurry. So how does one minimize the risk of making a bad decision? Where do they even begin their search?
3 Tips to Help Make Your Digital Menu Boards Stand Out
In a White Paper on FastCasual.com, entitled “Three Strategies to Make Digital Menu Boards Stand Out In a Crowd,” author Richard Slawsky discussed the increase in overall sales seen as a direct result of properly deployed menu board systems. Slawsky says, “According to industry experts, the deployment of digital menu boards can lead to overall sales uplifts of as much as 5 percent or more. In addition, spotlighting a promotional item on a digital menu board can boost the sales of that item by as much as 60 percent.”
