Article
QSR trends in digital menu boards
New technology is driving the industry and changing the way customer's order.
July 11, 2007
* This is an excerpt from the QSRWeb special report, The Top Five Trends in Menu Boards.Click hereto download the special report.
Digital signage is the newest wave of technology to have an impact on virtually all customer-related industries. A digital sign is any flat-panel monitor that is hooked up to a content network.
For the quick-serve industry, menu boards are the biggest opportunity to incorporate digital signage into restaurants. The benefit of having digital menu boards is they solve the problems standard back-lit boards faced with space and item changes. Digital menu boards essentially have an infinite amount of space because the presentation can change multiple times while the customer is making his food selections.
Digital menu boards also can connect to a remotely-operated network. Remote connectivity eliminates the need for employees to have to manually change the signs on site. As fast food restaurants further integrate digital signs into their systems, the on-site employees won't have to deal with menu content at all, as it will be controlled from a central location.
So why doesn't every restaurant have these new menu boards? Cost.
Most menu boards are made up of five or six panels. Some operators expect to use the same number of flatscreen monitors, which can be very expensive. Hybrid solutions, or a combination of fixed and digital panels, are a more affordable, practical and effective solution.
"In the past, flatscreen monitors were somewhat cost-prohibitive for restaurants," said Mike Abbott, vice president of Adflow. "Now the price points, brightness and sizes are better. We should be seeing a lot more digital menu boards in the future."
Although consumer flatscreens run in the neighborhood of $1,500, commercial-grade screens are quite a bit more. They are made from heavier-grade materials and have more hours to their life, as they are left on sometimes all day long.
Couple that number with installation, mounting, content development and integration prices, and it is understandable why the local McDonald's doesn't have an integrated digital signage network ... yet.
Mainstreet Menu Systems, like many other menu- and digital-signage companies, is expanding to include digital menu-board capabilities. Mainstreet offers a digital menu-board solution called VisionQuest. The board can be controlled through a PC where menu templates and information are uploaded from a network or Internet connection, or manually from a compact flashcard. The system allows for content management (scheduling and day-parting) from a remote location.
Nextep Systems, a software-design company out of Troy, Mich., also offers a dynamic digital menu-board solution called the Enterprise.
Like most digital menu-board networks, the Enterprise is connected to the Internet through a DSL line, which gives restaurant owners the power to schedule dayparts and change menu items and prices, and control the menu board remotely from any PC.
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Mainstreet Menus and Nextep both understand that given the cost of flatscreens and Internet service, not all restaurants can afford to go digital right away.
"Most small chains don't have DSL and don't want to pay an extra $500 for the service just to support their digital menu board," said Tommy Woycik, president of Nextep Systems. "Some large chains change menu options all the time and some change once a year. Not everyone needs a full-blown digital menu-board network."
Mainstreet offers entry-level versions of digital menu boards that don't require a network connection to operate. Both systems also have the processor built inside the casing for the flatscreen, so no external PC is needed to control the menu board content. The price for the boards-in-a-box is competitive with that of a new custom stagnant menu board.
As digital menu boards are being incorporated with fixed boards to form hybrids, like the VisionQuest from Mainstreet Menu Systems.
Doug Watson, regional vice president for Mainstreet Menu Systems, says the best and most effective digital menu boards are hybrid systems where one or two of the panels are digital and the rest are fixed.
"On these boards the digital panels serve as advertising, while the others remain informational," Watson said. "This way the customer isn't over whelmed with five moving digital signs and gets confused on where to look."
Going green with electrical packages
More restaurants are using environmentally friendly materials and menu ingredients. Starbucks uses recycled paper to make their cups, for example, and more recycled napkins are being seen in quick-serve restaurants.
Menu boards are following suit, with companies using more energy efficient lamp packages for back-lit boards and drive-thrus. This green initiative isn't so visible to customers, but it is still beneficial for energy conservation and can act as a good selling point for menu boards.
Mainstreet Menu Systems is one such company that has implemented energy saving light packages into their menu boards.
"Normally companies use T-12 fluorescent lamps for their back-lit menu boards, usually 1.5 inches in diameter," said Doug Watson of Mainstreet Menus. "We are now using T-8 lamps that last longer and are more environmentally friendly."
Mainstreet Menus has been testing lamp and ballast technology for the past six months, looking to develop greener fluorescent lamps.
"Ninety percent of lamps referenced in the industry are fluorescent," said Paul Steinbrenner, vice of development for Mainstreet Menus. Steinbrenner explained that the ballasts or transformers on the ends of the tubes are becoming more energy efficient. Mercury, which causes the gas reaction in the tubes that produces light, is being reduced so that the bulbs are safe to throw in the trash.
More restaurants are using environmentally friendly materials and menu ingredients.
Menu boards are following suit, with more energy efficient lamp packages.
Watson and Steinbrenner see this as an emerging trend, one that will become more popular in the future, especially in large city areas where power consumption is sometimes regulated.
