In Part 1 we talked about The “I Want To Hit You In The Face” Effect and how you can increase your revenue with digital signage menu boards.
Part 2 touched on the patron’s Time To Choose, or TTC. TTC is important to the food provider and digital signage menu boards can assist the speed of service resulting in accomplishing the food provider’s many objectives.
In Part 3 we covered cutting costs. We also discussed how adding digital signage when a renovation is needed can give the patron the illusion that they’re in a fresher environment.
In this part, we will consider reducing the time it takes to update menus and how digital menu boards can help.
There are multiple ways that digital signage can be deployed and managed. The benefits of an enterprise level system for a food provider with multiple sites is not only obvious but can influence the way that food providers will operate in the coming years.
A common way to deploy an enterprise level digital menu board solution is to have digital menu board screens located at each of the individual QSRs. The players that drive those digital menu boards connect to a central server located at the corporate offices. The players should be able to connect to the central server system via the internet. Everyone involved in the corporate offices should have access to each of the players by using the design/management software via the internet or Local Area Network (LAN). If the GM for each QSR is given some flexibility with what they can put on the screens, they can be given targeted access to the menus or just the promo screen for local marketing opportunities etc… They connect to their menus via the internet as well.
With the popular deployment method that we just discussed, there are some obvious benefits:
1. No time wasted for distribution of updated collateral.
2. No costs with regards to shipping the collateral.
3. Menu Board Uniformity. This is especially important if the marketing department for the corporate offices or the marketing company that is responsible for the corporate image of each QSR wants them to have the same look. Consistency is everything. Digital signage proves to be an excellent tool to excel with consistency.
4. If there is an error, corrections can be made quickly.
5. Seasonal looks can be deployed in a much more timely manner.
6. Product testing can be performed much more efficiently.
7. Regionally unique specialty food items are easily managed.
Content also plays a large part of reducing the amount of time involved in working with the digital menu board solution.
For example, lets say that you have 5000 QSRs in the USA, and there is 1000 stores in each region (west coast, mountain, central time, and east coast). This is an ultra-simplified way of looking at this; for the sake of this example, please bare with me. Perhaps each region requires unique content. Each region’s menu content can be supplied by a database dedicated for that region. Here’s the fun part. These “databases” can be the same Excel document that may be used to record all of the current menu items, their prices, descriptions etc… The digital signage can be set to look at that Excel document for the latest information. Whenever there’s a price change, just update your Excel sheet and all 1000 QSRs in that region gets updated automatically. The work flow gets even more automated when you have a database that shares items across all regions. For example, when the price is changed for the Bacon Cheeseburger, and all 5000 locations offer that product, all 5000 locations will automatically be updated. The advantage is that the digital signage software would not have to be touched, which means less time having to train staff at the headquarters.
Most think that you can’t buy time. With properly configured digital menu boards, you can buy weeks of it! You would think that time would cost a lot wouldn’t you? Well, check with Noventri. Time has never been so affordable!
What is involved in enhancing the corporate image? And, what effect can digital signage have on the corporate image? In Part 5, we will discuss how digital signage can enhance the corporate image and how an enhanced image will help benefit you.
