The dining experience has changed significantly over the years, especially recently after the COVID 19 pandemic. Many restaurants ditched their paper menus as a result of the pandemic, and never looked back. Delivery has increased in popularity, and made its way to restaurants that never planned on delivering in the past. Restaurants are leveraging technology like QR codes and digital signage to provide menus, wait times, entertainment, and more.
Digitizing Menus
Moving to digital menus was a decision made by most restaurants because of COVID 19, although there were some early adopters who made the change prior to the pandemic. The decision was made by many in an attempt to limit contact, but it had some other big benefits. Digitizing menus allows restaurants to make changes to their menu items and prices effortlessly with no additional material or printing costs. This helps restaurants stay on top of trends and offer their customers the latest items or seasonal specials quickly. It also helps them adjust to increased costs of food and supplies much easier.
Learn more about the benefits of digital menus.
Menu Templates and Holiday Templates
Premade digital signage templates are often used by restaurants. They are designed by professional graphic designers, and they make it easy for restaurants to quickly create a digital menu board. In addition to menu board templates, there are holiday templates, birthday templates, and much more.
Learn more about digital signage templates.
Seating and Reservations
Restaurants use digital signage for seating and reservations, both for customers and staff. Customers view wait times and available tables from monitors, or even from their phones. Digital signage softwares developed as PWAs (progressive web applications) allow users to display their content through a URL. This means that customers can see current wait times and available seating options from anywhere.
Displaying Pick up Order Queue
The rise of popular food delivery services such as Uber Eats and GoPuff has allowed restaurants to deliver without their own delivery drivers. This trend has increased in popularity as a result of the COIVD 19 pandemic, and it looks like the demand for food delivery will continue to increase. Restaurants are utilizing digital signage to display order queues for delivery drivers. Since the meals are already paid for, drivers simply need to wait for the order to be ready, see where it is on screen, and take it to the customer.
Better Customer Experience and More Efficiency
Overall, digital signage has a lot of benefits for restaurants looking to improve their customer experience. From digitized menus that allow for quick changes, to displaying wait times and seating availability, to order queues for delivery drivers, digital signage helps keep customers informed and the operations running smoothly. As technology continues to advance, digital signage will likely become even more useful and prevalent in restaurants.