Food on the Move: Removing the Unknown with Order Metrics Screens

Have you ever been to an airport and thought to yourself, “I want a decent restaurant meal before my flight, but not sure if I have the time?” I do a lot of traveling, and I’m always wondering where to get food on the move based on my boarding time. A “grab & go” operation wins typically, as I can be sure to get something at least. My dining experience is usually short and to the point, involving finding a quick place to sit, lunch in lap, eating as quickly as possible. That’s the way it is right — or is it?

What Is a Restaurant Metrics Screen?

Some solutions can show prospective guests exactly how long food is taking on a screen outside the restaurant. These innovations enable guests to make an informed choice on whether they have time to dine in the restaurant based on their flight.

1. By presenting this information, the restaurant stands to gain more customers, confident they have time to dine.
2. Those guests have a better, more relaxing pre-flight experience.

This technology presents new opportunities for operations like airports, where guests are time-poor. These screens operate by using kitchen display technology, which records how long each meal takes to prepare in the kitchen. Since it displays the data out on a screen in front of the restaurant, guests can decide before they even enter. What if the service time is high? Won’t that put new guests off and negatively impact your business? Yes, it could, but it’s not nearly as bad as the hit your reputation will take if you allow the guest to sit down under a false promise and serve them late.

Restaurant Wait Times

The key is to make the service times as low as possible and the choice easy for the consumer. There are plenty of hints and tricks that restaurants use to ensure this.

1. A kitchen order metrics screen enables the operation with more efficiency and effectiveness. A practical kitchen solution will help to time and coordinate orders to help keep service times low.
2. Some restaurants reduce their menu specifically for these environments, so they can eliminate the dishes that have long cook times. This reduction ensures that the service times are as quick as possible.
3. Sophisticated food storage solutions can enable operators to cook items in advance and “hot hold” them at excellent quality. I’ve seen products that allow chefs to store a newly fried egg for over 30 minutes and still keep the yolk runny. You might assume that if restaurants are cooking in advance of guests arriving, they’ll waste more food. Portioning is an essential factor in not only reducing food waste but in restaurateurs managing their inventory.
4. Based on hot-holding, there are technological features that allow operators to reduce this wastage. Bin management utilizes historical sales information to help the restaurant to predict the correct number of items to hot-hold throughout the day.

High volume restaurants cope with demand and keep service times as low as possible. Metrics screens can bring this to life and into the consumer’s consciousness.  Some European restaurants utilize metrics screens to enhance their offer when pitching to airports for new sites when they become available. Guest experience is what it is all about for airports today. Order metrics screens enable guests to make enhanced and pro-active decisions based on the information provided. Screens also entice customers to spend more money on a full-service experience compared to a grab & go operation. You’ve now got a win-win-win scenario for metrics screens, where the airport stands to make more profit.

Building Trust

Companies like Uber and Dominos have learned to respect their customers’ time: keeping them well-informed builds trust. Your customers have faith in your product because they know you’re conscious of their precious time. That trust increases your bottom line through loyalty and return visits.  Minimizing unknown factors is the key to helping consumers make better decisions when you have to get food on the move. If you only have 45 minutes, do you have the time to sit down and eat? Metrics provide the best information to make an informed choice. Would the grab & go concept always win if you had this knowledge?

Unknown Factors to Consider

There are a lot of choices to make in a short time when you’re in transit. Here are a few of the unknown factors that guests have to deal with and the solutions that might help:

Is This a Good Restaurant?

Mileage may vary on what you consider “good,” but there are a host of guest opinion-based forums and restaurant review websites and apps that can help. You may even Google your available options are when you land, or while you’re still on the plane. For anything you are unfamiliar with, try sites like Tripadvisor, Yelp, Zagat, Foursquare, or OpenTable to get a feel for what might work for you in your limited time.

What’s on the Menu?

A close secondary factor into what makes for a good restaurant is what the menu offers. Again, most restaurant websites and apps provide the information that you need to make a quick and informed choice. If you notice a lot of items on the menu, look them up on one of the sites above to get a sense of their turnaround time. Be wary of the Paradox of Choice, which not only can bog you down but slow down other guests and the kitchen.

How Long is the Waitlist for a Table?

It’s in this waiting stage where waitlist metrics shine. The information keeps guests updated from ordering to eating. Various restaurant reservation systems also serve to give an idea of how busy a restaurant might be, respective to your time.

Conclusion

The future is bright for passengers who are often in a time crunch. Tech companies have taken notice of the logistics faced by travelers looking for food on their move, with some startups investing in technology to allow guests to order in advance. In the terminal, restaurateurs can help ease anxiety over the length of service by including order metrics screens. It’s the unknown variable -time- that can lead to customer attrition.

QSR Automations’ Blog Honored as Gold Stevie® Award Winner in 2019 American Business Awards®

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About the Author

Mike Wright is our Channel Development Manager at QSR and works with our reseller partners in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia & Australia. Graduating from Cardiff Metropolitan University with a degree in Recreation & Leisure Management, he had always worked in the hospitality industry before joining QSR. He loves craft beers (especially IPA’s) Liverpool FC, field hockey, and visiting theme parks around the world with his wife and three sons.