Our eyes were designed from day one to see motion. Using our peripheral vision to help us spot a food source or a potential predator were the key to survival, motivating us to move closer or further away from the action. Today, this survival mechanism might help us in different situations—dodging moving cars or rogue bicyclists—but it still definitely exists.

What does this have to do with your restaurant menu? Well, it only makes sense as a business owner to apply this same principle and give consumers what their eyes seek—a motivation to move to action. Whether it’s displaying a slow-motion video of crispy chicken tenders bouncing into a basket of fries, or capturing a drizzle of caramel cascading down a fresh scoop of ice cream, digital video menu boards provide the perfect channel to bring motion into your business.

Using video can help achieve a variety of business goals. It can attract consumer attention, amplify your brand, elicit new purchases, and so much more. In fact, an average 30% of video viewers make unplanned impulse purchases. Before utilizing video on your digital menu boards, it’s important to consider your business’ key messaging goals.

Try this now: Take a step back metaphorically to consider what your business goals are, then take a step back physically and see if your menu boards are helping you accomplish those goals.

If your restaurant goals are to display and showcase your menu items, best-sellers, and daypart goods in the best (most alluring) way possible, a static menu isn’t doing as much as it could. If you’re noticing the untapped potential in front of you, it may be time to consider implementing a video strategy for your digital menu boards.

Utilizing video on your digital menu boards does not have to break the bank. Consider using video assets you already own and use across other marketing channels, like television or social media. Conversely, if you do need to create new files, make them with those same channels in mind and squeeze the most use out of every video asset. Consistent messaging across multiple touchpoints creates a cohesive brand story and customer experience. Don’t forget, when it comes to video, the quality of the file can impact the consumer’s perception of your business and product. Sometimes, it’s good to call in the pros.

If you are presently using only still images on your digital menu boards, you have a major opportunity to influence and motivate your consumers through the use of video menus.

The battle is over and the winner is clear. When it comes to your fast-casual or quick-service restaurant menu strategy, digital menu boards are tremendously more effective at driving sales and scaling operations than static menu boards.

As any restaurant operator could attest, the environment within the food service industry bustles with fast-paced activity and stiff competition. And perched above the action on the floor, the menu boards are perhaps the most important objects in the restaurant. They tie the story together, showcasing everything the store has to offer.

That’s why it’s important to carefully consider the type of menu boards you use. More and more restaurants have been transitioning to digital menu boards, and it’s not hard to see why. Digital menu boards offer a host of benefits not found with static, printed menu boards. Large printed menus are cumbersome, not durable, time-consuming, and more.

If you still use static menu boards in your multi-unit operation, it might be time to rethink your restaurant menu strategy. Consider these benefits of digital menu boards as you think about making the switch from static.

As restaurant companies grow, it can be difficult to ensure consistency across locations. With static menu boards, it can be a guessing game to determine if all your restaurants received the appropriate materials from your marketing team and have implemented them correctly. Is your messaging consistent? Is the brand aligned? Are customers confused?

Digital menu boards take away that uncertainty and empower restaurant operators to display the same branding, design, and content across all stores.

Instead of having multiple employees in different locations continuously climbing ladders to update static menu boards manually, digital menu boards allow you to change all menus across all restaurants at once with just a few clicks. This increases franchisee control, enabling them to display content and engage customers by changing price points and swapping out LTOs. It also saves you time and frees up your employees to focus on more important things, such as the food and the customers.

It’s easy to tie merchandising messages to web, print, or TV in real time. You can also highlight national advertising messages to promote recollection and brand loyalty with your customers. Digital menus are endlessly versatile and flexible no matter what each day brings.

Have you ever considered how much it costs to print, ship, and deploy materials on static menu boards (that may or may not be used properly)? Digital menu boards eliminate those costs. They decrease the time and payroll costs associated with updates and changes, with everything done on one computer through a central management platform. Unlike static menu boards, digital menu boards cut down on time and money spent making seasonal, campaign, and daily menu changes.

Alongside reducing the cost of printing static materials and the labor to put them up, digital menu boards can actually help lower food costs as well.

There’s no disputing that wasted product eats away at the profitability of any food service establishment. Digital menu boards help control food costs and reduce waste by allowing you to easily highlight items close to expiration, remove items that are out of stock, and achieve a higher margin per transaction (the gold accounting standard in the restaurant business). Saving money and food should a be a part of any modern restaurant menu strategy.

A limited-time offer or a manager’s special may be exactly what’s needed to encourage sales and reduce the odds you’ll soon be tossing untouched product into the dumpster. And promoting higher-margin items on the menu board can help lower food cost percentages, ultimately increasing profits. Did you know WAND guarantees all enterprise-level customers a 3-6% sales increase when they team with our team for menu design?

Today’s customers already incorporate technology into all aspects of their lives, from mobile phones and tablets, to flat-screen TVs and voice-activated home assistants. Consumers have come to expect a digital experience tailored to their needs, and the last thing a restaurant operator wants to do is create the impression that their business is old, tired, and inconsiderate of changing customer needs.

Customers correlate digital menu boards with restaurants that are modern and clean. That increases their brand loyalty and encourages them to return, tell their friends, and share their customer experience on social media. Digital menu boards help customers make clearer and quicker decisions, which gives them a better experience and strengthens their connection to your stores. 

Digital menu boards also offer the opportunity to deliver a brand’s message in new and exciting ways. Static boards are there to simply display menu items; digital menus are there to tell a story and enhance the overall design of your restaurant. Bright imagery, subtle motion, and video menus also diminish wait times, further enhancing your customer experience.

Use your digital menus to call out signature dishes and high-margin items and to showcase your brand’s personality. A digital menu board doesn’t just offer the opportunity to show off your best menu items, it allows you to put your brand on display.

All restaurant operators (and customers) know there is a huge difference between a restaurant that is run efficiently and one that is not. Digital menu boards can help enhance that efficiency, improve operations, provide better food and service, and ultimately boost the bottom line.

It’s not enough, though, to simply stick up a digital menu board and wait for the profits to mount. As with most things in life, when it comes to digital menu boards, you get out of them what you put into them. Like any technology, the more you understand it and use it to your advantage, the more you’ll benefit from having them in your restaurants.

At the end of the day, though, it’s clear that digital menu boards can offer tremendous benefits for the operator and a vastly improved experience for the customer. If you’re still using static menu boards, is it time to make the switch? Let’s update your strategy and get your bottom line growing. 

Although technology will never completely replace the need for humans in quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, digital menu technology can greatly assist your current sales force. Tossing in dynamic video, vibrant imagery, and timely details not only enhance your team’s efforts, but it could be the secret weapon to boosting restaurant sales overall. 

“The conversation I usually like to have with a lot of our clients is about how they’re interacting with and engaging their guests from the moment they walk through the doors,” said Patrick Berner, QSR and fast-casual consultant with WAND.

“For example, do they hire employees to greet people at the door, walk them through the menu, talk to them about their menu offerings, make suggestions, things like that? Obviously the answer is ‘No’ … their margins are already slim and it would be tough financially for a restaurant to hire another person to focus on those duties. Instead, they cross-train the person who works the register to try and upsell a cookie or a beverage, but most times when somebody approaches the register, they already have their mind made up on what they’re ordering, so that’s not as effective,” Berner said.

When used correctly, digital menu boards are doing a job, just as an employee might do. “When you present the right content and the right message to people who are walking in, you can capture their attention and influence their purchase before or while they’re in that decision-making process,” said Berner.

Blending industry expertise, strategic marketing, specialized creativity, and advanced technology, digital menu boards tie all the other promotional efforts together and help enhance the customer experience, as well as increase sales and boost the bottom line.

In the past, all an operator could do was organize their menu in a static presentation and hope for the best. Now, with digital menu technology, they find out what works and what doesn’t, make quick adjustments, and use their in-store menus as one of their most effective selling tools. With technology that combines creativity, resources, and real-time capabilities, operators can seize upsell opportunities, influence customer behavior, and boost sales in new ways.

If you’re a restaurant owner or operator looking to optimize your menu strategy, you probably already know that switching to digital menu boards helps amplify the customer experience and reduce perceived customer wait time. But, did you know that switching to digital menu boards can actually save you money, too? We’re not talking just marginal savings. We’re talking about up to 95% cost savings over static menu boards, as reported recently by one of WAND Digital’s large concept restaurant brand.

Digital menu boards provide up to 95% cost savings over static menu boards for WAND customers.

From menu offerings to smart dayparting to imagery and descriptions, your menu strategy can take many forms. However, one of the most fool-proof ways to ensure consistency, ease of use, and flexibility is by adopting digital menu boards before all else. 

Essentially, large concept restaurant brands save tens of thousands of dollars each time they make a menu change on digital menu boards compared with static menu boards. Additions and deletions can be made instantaneously by a computer instead of manually by multiple employees, saving time and payroll expenses. Reduced costs of perennial materials to create static menu boards also contribute to profits. In addition, food costs and waste are more easily controlled by easily highlighting items close to expiration, removing items that are out of stock, and achieving a higher margin per transaction.

Digital menu boards also emphasize brand reliability, displaying the same branding, design, and content across all stores. This dependability increases customer attraction; visitors recognize the steady consistency and feel comfortable ordering menu items regardless of the location of the franchise. Such familiarity increases business traffic and results in higher expenditures. A key menu strategy if you’re running more than one location is this consistency that not only helps your customers, but it also bolsters your brand. 

Significant savings represent just one of the many reasons to invest in digital menu boards in your multi-unit operation. Transitioning restaurants to the 21st century by using digital menu boards also creates an impressively clean presentation of merchandise. Modern customers desire this connection, and they will communicate their satisfaction on social media and in conversation, increasing consumer interest and spending. Investing in WAND digital menu technology results in significant savings and undeniable benefits.

Until the laws of physics and/or the physical location of your restaurant change, you can only fit so many guests in your restaurant, and foot traffic may never be your greatest asset. Even if you could bring in more diners, studies show it costs five to 10 times less to upsell to a current customer than it does to attract a new one.

Boosting profits is more often than not a matter of building up every individual guest check. By upselling, servers amass incremental sales that look small but add up to a significant amount over time. Digital menu boards can help.

The issue with the server-led approach to upselling is that everything from training inconsistencies to staffing issues can cause your sales numbers to tank. Customers may feel that a cashier is too aggressive in pushing the eatery’s new loyalty card or be so rushed during the ordering process they don’t even have time to consider augmenting their purchase.

Digital menu boards offer an interactive, on-demand experience operators can customize with whatever high-margin items or promotional deals are currently most beneficial. Rather than having an employee tack on a “Would you like fries with that?” as part of the order-taking process, a multimedia menu board could display a tempting video of fries being prepared and dished up with a “Make it a combo for just $3” tagline at the end.

Printed menus are a passive form of sales. You’re hoping that the guest has enough patience, interest and energy to decide what will best impact his or her dining experience. You’re also hoping that those decisions are what’s best for your restaurant. That kind of gamble almost never pays off.

Digital menu boards are eye-catching–using animation, video, design elements and color psychology to guide consumers’ attention wherever you want it to go. Everything from tiny icons signifying vegetarian and organic options to bold “upgrade your gyro” lists act as persuasive copy to help soft sell guests on additional items.

While upselling is most often linked to sales, it’s also an effective way to give your guests a better experience. A family may come in for chicken sandwiches and leave satisfied because the food was delicious, but the visit isn’t particularly memorable because it went exactly as expected. Introduce your guests to a mouthwatering new dessert or sell them a travel mug for their specialty coffee, and you’ve delivered added value that turns an otherwise ordinary event into something a bit more special.

WAND Corporation’s digital menu boards are part of the WAND TRM, a cloud-based restaurant management platform that facilitates operational control from any device anywhere in the world. The uses for this innovative software are almost endless, but for the purposes of upselling, the ability to customize menu offerings is invaluable. Highlight extra shots of espresso in the morning; extol the benefits of adding a serving of locally grown avocado to sandwiches in your California stores; or introduce happy hour customers to the $5/hour gaming tablet available to bar patrons.

Digital menu controls also help eliminate those potentially costly “oops” moments — such as a manager forgetting to reset promotional prices or neglecting to dial in a featured item in time for a seasonal product launch. Automatically scheduling start and stop times ensures all customers have the opportunity to learn about their options and your brand has the opportunity to showcase choices that benefit your bottom line.

Your restaurant deserves a cutting-edge management platform that works seamlessly whenever and wherever you need. For more information on how we can guarantee a 3-6% sales lift, call (800) 786-9263 or visit our Services page.

When considering strategies to drive sales at your restaurant, you have to think of way more than just what’s on the menu.

The term “digital menu technology” encapsulates so much more than just electronic menu boards. It’s a complex system that when used right, can be one of the most powerful sales drivers in a restaurant. It blends industry expertise, specialized creativity and advanced technology to tantalize your guests and boost profits. Simply put, digital’s dynamic imagery looks better and gets results. Plus, by going digital, you can impact in-store customer behavior like never before.

Here are six characteristics of digital menu technology that drive sales and take your restaurant to the next level.

For starters, your digital strategy should include video, motion graphics, and a color palette that elevates your brand. Consider how you can use your digital menu boards to drive sales through advertising and limited-time offer campaigns promoting a value offer.

It’s all about the upsell and upsize. Get your audience excited about moving to more profitable, high-dollar items. Using the golden triangle, put a tantalizing image of your feature front and center — your value offer on the right and other items on the left.

Show bacon sizzling on the grill. An icy drink with beads of condensation running down the glass. Much more so than static images, digital images let you entice your guests with dynamic, moving pictures that arouse emotion.

In the past, all you could do was organize your menu in a static presentation and hope for the best. Now, with digital menu technology, you find out what works and use your in-store menus as one of your most effective selling tools. Images can be updated to reflect each daypart. Unlimited coffee with an appetizing combo promotes a prolonged stay and increases sales.

WAND Digital’s total restaurant management technology combines creativity, resources, and real-time capabilities, so you can boost sales in new ways. Quickly refresh content and seize upsell opportunities on the fly by directing customers’ attention where you want it.

We’re hunters by nature. Our peripheral vision is attracted to movement. We can’t find car keys lying on the counter, but we can spot motion instantly. Digital menu boards play to this.

“Upsell bugs”— those bright, animated menu graphics that attract attention—are simply irresistible, and highly effective at prompting larger checks.

In Puerto Rico, Wendy’s developed a “4 for $4” value offer. When guests came in for that deal, the in-store promotions upsold them to premium combos. The campaign was so successful, the U.S. quickly followed suit.

Customers are drawn to certain places because of the food, ambiance, and service. Smart digital menu technology reinforces all three factors.

Digital does more than showcase menu selections. Through quality creative, digital menu boards tell a story and present your brand with a mouth-watering, tempting visual appeal.

Digital technology educates and entertains guests. Guests perceive wait times to be shorter, taking orders is quicker, and it even improves order accuracy.

Stunning digital menu technology enhances the dining experience in surprising ways. After a restaurant did nothing but install digital menus, customers complimented its renovation and improved food quality. Nothing about the food changed, but the welcoming environment drove sales anyways.

Cost fluctuations. Labor expenses. Sourcing local, serving fresh. Shifting regulations. Nutrition updates. Time of day. Demographics. All these dynamics spark custom menu needs.

With digital technology, you can stay in step with your operators. You get easy access to instant switch-outs so you can execute changes instantaneously and save money.

Digital capabilities let you create exceptional communications that support your sales strategy, trigger increased revenue, and promote customer loyalty.

Whether guests use the drive-through, select from an inside menu board, or order online, they get a consistent message.

Consumers have come to expect a digital experience. Infuse each encounter with creative, smart technology. With the digital medium, you can easily repurpose content created for TV, web, and print.

Digital capabilities show guests something fresh and new each time they visit. You’re shaping repeat customers who’ll come back for decades.

Mobile technology lets customers find your stores, see promotions, “like” your offerings, scope the menu, and purchase additional items. Cash in on this popular platform. Feature offers and what’s going on in your stores with social media.

Millennials value a balanced lifestyle, are heavily influenced by peers, and like to share their experiences. Make sure you’re using social media to add to the conversation.

Big data is huge for a restaurant business. It helps optimize everything from pricing strategies, marketing campaigns and product mixes, to operations and resource allocations.

Investing in digital menu technology gives your marketing group deeper insights and flexibility. They’ll spend less time on general campaigns, and more time on effective efforts across your entire network.

Easily track which campaigns ran where, and tie that to POS financial data to quickly measure effectiveness and capitalize on critical success factors.

Test everything: price limits, new products, different marketing in different locations or operational levels, and more. Based on results, roll out successful strategies to fit specific situations. Then, refine and repeat.

Which is more important for growing sales: digital menu technology, or dynamic creative that motivates human behavior? Actually, it’s the combination of both.

Not only should digital menu technology be sophisticated enough to give you the flexibility and control to make quick changes, it should also come with the expertise, resources and knowledge to help you take full advantage of this platform. Better communicate with your in-store clientele. Influence them. Experience the true purpose of digital signage — an increase in your revenue.

Did you know that 4-10% of food purchased by a restaurant is discarded before ever reaching a guest?

Each day, millions of pounds of food are thrown away by restaurants — much of it before it has even been touched by a customer. There’s no disputing that wasted product eats away at the profitability of any food service establishment. Not to mention the fact that consumers are now taking a more active role in reducing their own waste and supporting like-minded businesses who are doing the same.

Thankfully, in the world of quick-serve and fast-casual restaurants, there are three main ways that digital menu technology can be applied to help in the quest to minimize product waste. Here are our top three tips on how to minimize waste at a restaurant with digital menu technology.

1. Promote Expiring Food with Limited-time Offers

Did your team overproduce a menu item? Are there cases of products in your cooler that are nearing their expiration date? In either situation, time is not on your side. A limited-time offer (LTO) is exactly what’s needed to encourage sales and reduce the odds you’ll soon be tossing untouched product into the dumpster. It’s a simple but effective strategy when determining how to reduce restaurant waste.

WAND’s digital menu technology makes it quick and simple to feature any product prominently on the menu board so it’s easily noticed by customers. LTOs on the menu board can range in execution:

LTOs not only increase customer awareness of the featured product but also the likelihood of purchase, resulting in less product waste. It’s just one-way digital menu boards play an important role in influencing purchase decisions in-store.

2. Push Impulse Purchases by Time of Day

The digital menu technology takes LTOs one step further by allowing you to schedule them by daypart. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, this functionality makes it easier for you to feature products during stagnate sales times.

Scheduled promotions provide opportunities for increasing ticket size, increasing menu awareness, and most pertinently — reducing product waste. If you’re typically pouring out gallons of untouched soup at the end of the day, a scheduled dinner-time promotion for “soup on the side” might be just enough to increase end-of-day purchases and reduce excess product waste.

3. Get Local with Digital Menu Technology

Product sales vary by location, so what sold out in Store A may be on the verge of expiration in Store B. Although many owners utilize global management of multiple restaurants’ menus through WAND’s Digital Menu Technology Platform, in some instances, local menu customization is key for reducing product waste.

For Texas Dairy Queen and its 600+ restaurants, brand consistency between stores is a top priority. But when some locations closed in December with a surplus of candy cane products — leftover from the “Candy Cane Chill” Blizzard of the Month — those locations continued featuring the Blizzard on their digital menu boards into January. This simple, no-added-cost effort reduced product waste that’s typically chalked up to seasonality.

Improve Restaurant Operations, Increase Sales, and Create Positive Customer Experiences

The restaurant industry faces challenging times. Sales are down at traditional restaurant concepts, both domestically and internationally, consumers are shifting how and where they spend money, and higher labor and commodity costs make for difficult operations. Tight margins and rapidly changing markets demand restaurants do something different to get sales and profits back on track.

Digital menu technology creates a better customer experience, increases sales, and improves restaurant operations. From quick-service restaurants (QSR) to fast-casual and even traditional family-style restaurants, the impact of digital menu tech can be felt from customers to bottom line. To get a better idea, check out some of the ways adding digital menus and signage to your shop could up your ROI.

Digital Menu Board ROI Comes in Many Forms

Maximizing food, beverage, and dessert sales is a top priority for restaurateurs. Changing customer behavior at the point of sale predominately impacts consumer buying habits. Engaging customers in innovative ways captures interaction with your brand, builds trust, and differentiates your restaurant from competitors.

Your customers’ experiences from the moment they enter your restaurant contain multiple soft and hard ROI touch points and opportunities to positively impact both their purchasing behaviors and allegiances to your QSR or fast-casual restaurants.

In addition to financial gains and customer experience, operations must be efficient. When it comes down to making a technology investment, it must be easy to operate, reliable and dependable, and versatile to fit your unique needs and customers. 

In this short guide, you’ll learn how your digital menu board strategy will more than pay for itself by:

Digital Menu Board ROI Comes in Many Forms

“From talking to a variety of sources on both sides of the digital menu boards divide, both providers and end-users, is about 3 to 5 percent uplift in sales.”

— Networld Media Group Digital Menu Boards and ROI Study

While industry studies highlight a 3-5% lift, a study conducted at WAND showed a 2% incremental sales increase for an average digital menu implemented at a single store.

This efficiency in scale jumps for a 10-store deployment as all updates to a digital menu board can come from one single point of management. Therefore, a one-store system would incur generally the same operational costs as a 10-store system, making digital menus a practical and scalable alternative to static boards.

Compare the cost savings between one person sitting at a computer clicking a few buttons and instantly changing menus at 10 stores with 10 people at 10 stores climbing ladders to swap out menu translates on five different boards.

Snythesize Data to Maximize Premium vs. Value Offers

By reviewing menu mix reports, a store can discover that premium item sales are declining. To quickly solve this, a store can digitally launch a new monthly LTO that will feature new premium items where the average food cost of the LTO items are more ideal.

Key in this process so that digital menu boards, used properly to promote LTO items, can influence 1 in 5 customers (20% or more) to positively influence and change purchase decisions. Digital menus can quickly move sales from the value menu to premium LTOs, therefore, increasing sales and margins while decreasing food costs. 

Digital Menus Receive 10x More Eye Contact Than Static Menus

It’s true. Even a slight amount of movement engages customers in a way that static menu boards simply can’t. Bright moving graphics, icons, food imagery, and beyond are all opportunities to bolster your brand, engage with customers, and enhance their experience where they may have historically been passive or disinterested. 

Did you know that…

How Digital Menu Boards Can Save You Money

“The fact that we can update content digitally during our 13 promotional periods saves us money not having to print the promotional translites and ship those out to each restaurant.

We also have great flexibility to do takeovers for LTOs or special items, five to ten seconds and then switch back to the regular menu board. So the laundry list goes on and on for the capabilities that you have with digital menu boards versus static.”

— Georgia Margeson, Senior Director, Advertising at Church’s Chicken

Deploying a digital menu board solution can help you cut costs in short order while also reaping longer-term, more strategic cost reductions. By replacing static menus, content, and manual processes, you can:

For example, a typical QSR with 10 locations running monthly offers is likely to save on static menu costs in the following categories: 

Total hard cost static printing, shipping and deployment savings for 10 stores = $39,000/year

Digital menus pay for themselves in printing costs alone. Additionally, expenses for translite for menu boards should be considered; the typical translite costs approximately $100, so a four-board menu system with four changes each year adds up to $1,600, at least.

On top of this, many restaurants are charged rush printing or shipping fees when menu changes must be made quickly. Multiply those costs across hundreds of stores and you end up with costly ROI-damaging bill.

In addition to reducing the cost of printing and shipping static menus, digital menus give franchisees the ability to promote items they need to clear out or remove items they do not have in stock.

For example, if a franchisee has $500 in beef product left for the week but sales have been slow, anxiety sets in that the beef will expire before it sells. The franchisee can swiftly promote burgers and other beef items on their digital menus to help move this product out before it spoils. Conversely, if they run out of chicken, they can replace their chicken sandwiches with burgers so as to not lose out on sales.

“WAND actually helps us with our food stock so we can make quick changes to focus on surplus items and get those perishables moving; it’s a big help on food supply costs. If something is not moving, or if we want to create an upsell, I have the flexibility and speed to do it right and reap the benefits.”

— Renee Nowak, Franchisee, Sun City Dairy Queen Stores, Inc.

Unexpected Benefits Dished Out by Digital Menu Boards

“The greatest benefit of using WAND allows us to quickly swap out menu content to promote a new item or run a new LTO. Because Texas DQ creates its own digital menu content and deploys it on-site, we are able to have complete control of what is playing, where, and when. The digital menus have also allowed Texas DQ to respond quicker to operator requests. If an operator is running a special, even for just one day, Texas DQ can quickly create and deploy the promo in their restaurants so the operators can capitalize on more sales.” 

— Gilbert Torres, Senior Digital Media Director, Texas DQ. 

Digital menus don’t just impact sales and marketing departments, they make significant impacts companywide. Your choice of technology partner shows up and reflects within your brand.

Customers associate a digital restaurant as modern and clean, encouraging them to return. Restaurants are able to tie merchandising messages to web, print, and television in real time.

The ability to highlight national advertising messages can promote recollection and brand loyalty. A digital menu solution fosters a consistent message and schedule, and it can achieve 100% brand compliance. 

• ENHANCE YOUR BRAND – All store rebranding and expansion efforts will be enhanced through digital menu deployments. 
• EMPOWER CUSTOMERS – Customers will make clearer and quicker decisions and enjoy a more pleasurable customer experience. 
• UPDATE YOUR STORE – Digital menus instantly create a more modern, clean, and positive aesthetic image compared with static menus. 
• SAVE TIME AND MONEY – Simultaneous brand and promotional consistency can easily be achieved nation-wide through digital menus without needing dozens of people to implement. 
• CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS – The consumer feels more connected to stores featuring dynamic digital menu content that leverages customized, timely, and seasonal offerings. 
• PROMOTE FRANCHISEE INDEPENDENCE – The franchisee is given a new option for displaying menus in their stores and engaging their customers, as well as the ability to change price points and swap out LTOs (as pre-determined by the marketing team). 

“New restaurants are getting digital menu boards as well as those needing a re-image so it’s critical to have WAND in place to update or maintain 200 restaurants, and that list just keeps growing.” 

— Georgia Margeson, Senior Director, Advertising at Church’s Chicken 

Take Advantage of a Digital Transformation in Your Restaurant

Digital menus provide not only real, tangible, and rapid ROI but also intangible benefits that allow multi-unit restaurant chains to manage their operations more efficiently and to create positive customer experiences. In this study we learned the following key facts: 

• Digital menu ROI can be instantly gained from a customer experience perspective as well as from cost savings and increased revenue standpoints. 
• Digital menu break-even points can commonly be achieved in as quickly as 9 months. 
• Soft digital menu ROI can take multiple forms but are wide in scope and long-lasting in terms of impact. 
• Digital menus enable stores to be more flexible and nimble to achieve Higher Margin Per Transaction (HMPT, aka the gold accounting standard in the restaurant business). 

“At Texas DQ, we wanted to ensure greater brand consistency in all of our restaurants and WAND has really been the conduit and platform to achieve this goal from a digital technology perspective.” 

— Gilbert Torres, Senior Digital Media Director, Texas DQ. 

As a restaurant operator, you have to make countless decisions every day. One of those decisions is how to influence what people are buying after they walk through the doors. Many operators unintentionally overlook ways they can increase customer loyalty, promote key products, and inspire last-minute sales. That’s why it’s important to optimize your in-store signage and promotional areas to your advantage and increase sales to hit your goals.

1. Don’t Overlook Front Doors, Windows, and Ceilings

First impressions count, and the front doors are often the first contact your customers will have with your restaurant. They’re a great place to promote specials and other materials that are being marketed on a national level. Often national promotions will trigger recognition with the customer, and they’ll be more likely to choose that promotion when ordering. In addition to displays on the front doors, don’t forget to display POPs throughout the restaurant on windows and hanging from the ceiling. Make sure that whatever you display, it’s in sync with what you’re offering on the menu. A customer who sees the same promotion twice is much more likely to select it.

2. Freestanding Point of Purchase at Line Entrance

First impressions count, and the front doors are often the first contact your customers will have with your restaurant. They’re a great place to promote specials and other materials that are being marketed on a national level. Often national promotions will trigger recognition with the customer, and they’ll be more likely to choose that promotion when ordering. In addition to displays on the front doors, don’t forget to display POPs throughout the restaurant on windows and hanging from the ceiling. Make sure that whatever you display, it’s in sync with what you’re offering on the menu. A customer who sees the same promotion twice is much more likely to select it.

3. Digital Menu Boards

As the most important marketing tool in your restaurant, the menu board ties all the other promotional items together and helps enhance the customer experience. Make sure you display the latest and greatest menus from the corporate office, whether they’re static or digital. If you’re advertising on the radio, TV, or online, the menu board should highlight those items.

Review your menu boards frequently to deemphasize items that are sold out, underscore high margin items, or highlight special limited-time offers (LTOs) that should get more attention. Digital menu technology makes changes like this a breeze and empowers store managers to assist with keeping your marketing materials current. Digital menu technology also allows you to have fewer items on the boards, especially if you run multiple dayparts. That makes it easier for the customer to read and will increase the speed of service. If you’re looking for a new static POP board, reach out to your corporate team and request it. It’s likely that if you want to promote a certain menu item, other operators do as well.

4. Customer-facing Point of Sale Screens

Most restaurants now have customer confirmation screens on the customer-facing side of the point of sale to confirm orders. (If you don’t have these, look into getting them.) These screens are a great place to display promotional messages both between and during orders. You can market an item for upsell or inspire a last-minute purchase. If you need help, contact your corporate marketing team and see what they can do. Often the point-of-sale systems are managed by IT teams, not marketing folks, and they forget to include promotional messages.

5. Order Pick-up Area

When a customer is waiting for their food, the pick-up area is a great place to use table-top displays for promotions. Since they’ve already ordered their meal, try encouraging them to purchase a drink or dessert. You can also build customer loyalty by promoting your social media channels, websites, or mobile apps. To build loyalty with local customers, share where you source your food (if local), post a note on a local charity you support, share a local community event that’s coming up, or post personal pictures/stories of your employees or management team supporting local events or causes.

6. Enhance Experiences at the Table

Everyone knows that tables are an excellent place to put promotional materials such as table-tent POPs displaying specials. But the new twist with tables is the growing popularity of table-top games, whether on tablets or built into the tables themselves. These games are growing in popularity and, in addition to giving your restaurant a more modern feel, they can also be used to promote marketing messages like national web and TV ads. If you have a restaurant design that includes table-top games and your guests are engaging with these on a regular basis, ask your marketing team to incorporate promotional messages into these displays.

7. Tap into Your To-go Bags

Although it’s not a new practice, putting promotional messages on bags is an easy way to communicate with your customers and build brand loyalty. As a restaurant operator, you don’t always have flexibility for what is printed on the bags, but you can add personal touches. It can be as simple as having your employees write a friendly message, smiley face, or hashtag on the bag. It enhances the customer experience because it’s a personal touch that people remember.

8. Your Trays Are Another Promo Channel

If you don’t already, make sure you use marketing messages on your paper tray liners. They typically come from your marketing team, but sometimes restaurant employees forget to put the liners onto the trays and the message isn’t used. Tray liners are perfect ways to get promotional messages in front of your customers. They’re simple yet can be extremely valuable: customers spend five or ten minutes eating their meal, so those tray liners get plenty of attention.

9. Restrooms Are Great Promotional Real Estate

This one can be controversial, but restrooms offer valuable real estate for your restaurant and should be used to display signage. Use signage where it makes sense, like on the doors, inside the stalls, or by the mirror or paper towels. Make sure this key real estate is working to your advantage.

10. Video Walls Are Immersive Experiences

Video walls are appearing more at quick-service and fast-casual restaurants around the world to create an engaging customer experience. Video walls help set the mood or change the atmosphere of a restaurant, and many operators are using them to give their restaurants an instant makeover. From a marketing perspective, a video wall is hard to miss, so it’s the perfect place to promote your high margin items and best sellers.

One more tip for your in-restaurant signage: Restaurants, especially quick-service and fast-casual, may find paper signage challenging. Between the heat and grease of a QSR or fast-casual restaurant, static boards can get dirty fast. Management teams should swap out old, dirty paper signage on a regular basis with new, cleaner signage. Of course, making the switch to digital menu technology will not only last longer and require zero staff time to update, it increases average ticket size and boosts revenues as well.