TRADITIONAL MENU BOARD VS DIGITAL MENU BOARD
IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
In this world of new technology, digital menu board has become a clever concept for the hospitality industry. The digital menu board has been widely used in the fast-food restaurants, kiosks, movie theatres, cafes, etc. As mention in the article, cafes in movie theatres have emerge faster in this technology by replacing traditional static menu board.
Nowadays, customer can makes purchase decision in a minute by looking at the attractive menu that being placed at the service counter. Besides that, the digital menu can be more interactive by showing the menu of the day or the promotion of the month. This technology surely can attract more customers to come by especially children and youngsters. With the buying power, they can influence other to come and experience the fastest service. Customers are informed of current trends in music and cinema as well as the latest hot tips for DVDs and video games. In addition, brand loyalty is reinforced by the familiar commercials.
Two examples are the advertising campaign with football star Oliver Kahn and the charity initiative for RED NOSE DAY. In conjunction with the Burger King customer magazine
"Immigrating", the result is a unique campaign for successful branding. Burger King is completely committed to this new solution, as shown by the length of the project, which is scheduled to last three years. Burger King will equip each new restaurant with the new technology from the outset.
Comparing to the traditional menu board, digital menu board include some video content, and for instant, some video clip about their new product can be shown. At the same time, they can lower their cost by doing the campaign or promotion at the television or other distribution channel. Therefore, most of the movie theatre and fast food restaurant began to change their menu board to the digital interactive in order to help increase the value of sales, lower the ongoing costs for signage and they can improve the way of managing prices and promoting.
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People are eating out now more than ever, and smart restaurateurs are using digital technology to engage customers on a deeper level. As the idea of quick and inexpensive meals gained national appeal, more quick-serve restaurants came on the scene. The result was a battle for attention in the fast food sector. Customers have more choices than ever, all of them competing for attention. Digital menu boards allow operators to use dynamic messaging to convey brand information, advertise specials and deliver highly targeted promotions.
Formula Kino as mention in the article is a cinema network that operated in
Moscow. It consists of 14 modern and comfortable movie theatres that installing 13 digital menu board. The Adissy Company is the one who responsible for installing the digital signage and interactive system to all cinema theatre. According to Mr. Andey Alikberov, IT
Director Formula Kino he said that the effectiveness of this new technology able to reduce cost and time, together with their modern features and fashionable design that attract more customer.
Therefore, movie theatres today simply recognize the need to modernize their cafes.
The benefits are many, while the investment is easy to justify. From inferior visual displays to slow content transitions, traditional backlit menu boards are a burden on both day-to-day operations and the overall appearance of the café itself. The most immediate and tangible benefit of a menu board is the ability to instantly modify or rotate its content. Besides that, many restaurants prefer to promote specific dishes with pictures of these dishes on menu boards or in the menu itself.
However, there some troublesome that arise when using the digital menu board.
The process of selling digital menu boards must involve several departments, whereas selling traditional boards usually involves only one or two. Menu boards are critically important element to any restaurant. They can’t operate without it. By using traditional menu board, the problems are pretty much nothing comparing to digital menu board.
Whatever does happen, the operators know they can repair it themselves with no down time. But, digital menu boards are different. Operators worry about what they do when a
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digital board goes down or they lose their Internet connection. These concerns are valid and have to be addressed during the selling process. One important feature of the software is sending out alerts when something is wrong or about to go wrong. The software can also be used to spread all the content over the remaining screens when one screen goes out.
Another concern is the cost of digital menu boards. Even though there are savings in some areas, the original equipment cost is about double that of traditional boards. That means the ROI on the extra cost has to be addressed. The question "Why should I pay more?" has to be answered.
Some restaurants are even moving to supplemental digital menus at individual tables. Servers can easily operate these individual boards to display drinks and appetizers when greeting a table, and coffee and desserts while tables wait for their entrees to arrive.
For restaurants without table service, these digital displays can still advertise desserts, seasonal fare, and other promotions. For the bar alone, digital menu boards can be a revelation for some restaurants.
Additional to the review, there are some advantages of Digital Menu System such as powerful marketing to walk-in customers, improve corporate identity and presentation, always display high quality graphics and animations, save money on backlit print media, posters and installation, faster response to the changing market, automate menu changes from breakfast, lunch and dinner, centralized or local level content management, digital
Signage is a proven method of increased sales, ease waiting time with changing menu items.
So, clearly, the usage of this new technology somehow or rather can be positive or maybe negative impact. Whatever the reason, digital menu boards expand the option considerably and this technology is often the fastest, most cost effective way to get it done.
Written by,
Aylin binti Kamaruddin
Tourism & Hospitality Department
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D igital menu boards at cafés in movie theatres
April 04, 2011
The latest digital IT technology continues its expansion into familiar areas of our lives. Formula Kino is a large cinema network consisting of 14 modern and comfortable movie theatres all over Moscow. The company Adissy installed 13 digital menu boards in three Formula Kino movie theatre cafés replacing static menu boards with dynamic digital menu displays with more cinemas to follow soon.
A menu is traditionally a central element of a fast food restaurant. Today, dynamic digitally enhanced menu boards with attractive images of dishes and prices are being placed at the service counter. This is the point where a customer makes a purchase decision within seconds, the attractiveness of the message on the menu boards plays an important role in this decision making process and can influence the sale.
Digital interactive technology is entering the hospitality industry in a rapid pace, replacing traditional static menu boards. The digital era brings numerous opportunities and possibilities to support sales and product marketing. Animated images attract attention and provide the option to demonstrate multiple products. In addition, restaurants have gained the ability to demonstrate not only static but also video content, for instance, video clips about new products and special promotions. Some restaurants even use touch functionality as a way to interact with customers or even have them order via their own menu screen.
The biggest business advantage for multi-store companies is the ability of remote centralized content management, promoting uniform messaging and the ability of changing the message ondemand with one simple click. Using the traditional way of static menu boards, one would need to print the new images and distribute them to all the different locations. With the latest digital technologies companies can save costs and time in a matter of ways and make better use of advertising and promotional activities. Interactive boards are also finding their way to the shops, making use of social networks and personal preferences. The future holds personal advertising with the ability to record buying behavior: providing the customer with the best personal offer.
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The Solution
The solution at Formula Kino was installed by Adissy, a leading solution provider for building networks of Digital Advertising LCD Displays, run by a single control center on wireless communication channels (Wi-Fi/WiMax) through the Internet in Russia. Adissy uses: Friendlyway®
(composer 9 software), a leader in the area of Digital Signage software; AOpen as the Media Player provider with its Digital Engine® (DE7000) the world's most reliable and powerful Digital Signage PC provider; Philips public signage display solutions (LCD-monitor BDL4251V 42 inch multimedia Full
HD) designed for optimal image reproduction in a broad range of public areas.
According to Andey Alikberov, IT Director Formula Kino "The integration of dynamic menu boards is related to, first, technological effectiveness: now, we have the ability to change display information in a time and cost effective manner, controlling the system from one central remote location.
Besides its modern and fashionable design: it also accentuates visitors' attention on the fact that our movie theatres use cutting-edge technology,” At the moment Adissy started with three movie theatres including 13 digital menu boards of Formula Kino. "In the near future: in all movie theatres of Formula Kino, starting with the largest ones, existing static displays will be replaced by dynamic displays. Along with that, we plan gradual integration of technologies for interaction with our visitors," added Mr. Andey Alikberov.
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Burger King uses Scala-powered digital menu boards to
increase sales in UK restaurants
December 13, 2010
Burger King Customers across the UK can now get a taste of digital signage with their flame-broiled Whopper. SSP, operator of more than 700 food outlets, has been replacing static light-box display menus in their Burger King restaurants with digital menu boards powered by Scala. Working closely with Signature Digital Menus Ltd. (SDM), a company dedicated to bringing digital signage to quick-service restaurants, SSP has been introducing digital menu boards to its Burger King outlets as an operational tool to help increase the value of sales, lower the ongoing costs for signage and improve the way SSP manage prices, day-parts and promotions.
"We found Signature Digital Menus to be a better solution because they offer more than just the hardware. They offer a content solution," said Ian Hetherington, Brand Manager of SSP. "They can analyze things like demographics, day parting and site trends — all of those things that we really need in our business."
SSP's new digital menu board system was introduced at Burger King Restaurants at Victoria Train
Station in London and at Birmingham Airport. The London site has two 46-inch Samsung LCD screens, and the Birmingham site has six 32-inch Samsung LCD screens. Each screen uses an embedded PC for content playback, and they run on Scala 5 software.
The digital menu board system that SDM developed uses high-definition graphics and text that specifically targets customer demographics. A team of content editors and technicians from SDM continues to create customized branded content for the digital menu boards and remotely manages the screens at all the sites.
With this Scala-based solution from SDM at the Burger King restaurants, the digital menus are able to deliver real results to the bottom line, improving sales and providing a valuable return on investment. Since installing its first menu boards in 2009, SSP has seen as much as a 63-percent sales increase for some Burger King items.
"Burger King's new digital menu board system has set new standards for the quick service restaurant industry. This system is fully flexible, truly customer focused, reliable and scalable," said Oscar
Elizaga, Vice President of Scala, EMEA and Emerging Markets. "The synergy between Scala and
Signature Digital Menus has opened new commercial doors for SSP in its communication on the restaurant floor."
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Selling digital versus traditional menu boards
3/23/11 - Scott Sharon
I have been designing and selling traditional menu boards to the Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) market for more than 30 years and digital menu boards more than 10 years. My experience has been that it is more difficult to sell digital menu boards. Although some of that difficulty is due to digital boards being a new emerging product that has taken several years to be fully developed, there are other reasons. Following are some of the difficulties I have experienced:
1. The process of selling digital menu boards must involve several departments, whereas selling traditional boards usually involves only one or two. Digital menu boards require involvement from marketing, merchandising, IT, operations, engineering, finance and top management. The proper use of digital boards requires such a major change in the overall operation of the organization, all these departments should be involved at some point in the process.
2. Marketing or merchandising would normally be leading the process, but when you discuss all the benefits of digital boards with them they may only be concerned with how it affects their department. As an example, they may not be interested in labor and energy savings or ease of operation, but other departments would. Selling to all the departments involved and controlling the process becomes a major task. The smaller the chain is, the easier this is because there are fewer people involved in the process.
3. Menu boards are critically important to any QSR. They can't operate without it. Think about what can go wrong with a traditional menu board; pretty much nothing. They won't ever just go out.
Whatever does happen, the operators know they can patch it up or repair it themselves with no down time. Digital menu boards are different. Operators worry about what they do when a digital board goes down or they lose their Internet connection. These concerns are valid and have to be addressed during the selling process. You have to answer the questions, "What happens when a board goes down?" and "How long will it take to get it back on line?" There are solutions to all these concerns, but they need to be addressed up front and a plan put in place. One important feature of the software is sending out alerts when something is wrong or about to go wrong. The software can also be used to spread all the content over the remaining screens when one screen goes out.
Redundancy in the system is important.
4. Another concern is longevity. How long digital menu will board last? QSR operators are used to traditional menu boards lasting as long as 15 years, even though they may change them out long before then. However, that's the number they use to compare digital boards. This concern has to be addressed in the selling process. This and item number 3 can be resolved with a good warranty and backup service plan.
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5. Another concern is the cost of digital menu boards. Even though there are savings in some areas, the original equipment cost is about double that of traditional boards. That means the ROI on the extra cost has to be addressed. The question "Why should I pay more?" has to be answered.
I believe the ROI on digital menu boards make them a great investment as many QSR chains are learning, but you still need to provide the evidence. At some point this will be common knowledge, and this step will not be as critical.
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