We read an interesting analysis of a recent shareholder meeting NCR held which encompassed kiosks (we have to think any new ones are via GRUBBRR kiosks and Samsung) and for the first time, digital menu boards. We have covered NCR in other related financial and SCO-related articles like Aloha Outage attack, New Lowes SCO. and Amazon Self Checkout Whole Foods.
At the end of this reprint (thanks RR), we’ve included a “bonus” section on Toast and its sudden reversal and removal of the imposed order fee. Restaurants are quick to change providers and actions by Toast could well accelerate that (from them to someone else, or to someone else but not Toast).
All The Red Flags We See As NCR Preps for Split
NCR is splitting its company up after it failed to find a suitor. Because, really, who wants to own a turd? Dung beetles don’t often become private equity managers (PE’s are more likely…
Dung beetles don’t often become private equity managers (PE’s are more likely to be sharks than anything).
As we piece through NCR’s Q1 2023 earnings call we can’t help but see all the red flags in the business.
In order if discussion:
NCR delivered 1% YoY growth, or 4% if you like currency manipulations .
Inflation over the past year averaged 7%. So NCR can’t even match inflation?
God, how bad are things over there…
We continue to have success transitioning from onetime perpetual sales into multiyear subscription-based revenue stream. The nature of these contracts shifted $60 million of high profit revenue from what would have been previously recognized upfront to recurring revenue that will convert over the next several years.
Tim Oliver, CFO
This is a great cop-out for lower revenue numbers, but the question we have is NEW revenue: how much of this revenue is expansion vs new?
Because everywhere we look NCR is bleeding marketshare.
Then Tim comes back to brag that, if not for a strong dollar and a “success transitioning from onetime perpetual sales into multiyear subscription-based revenue stream” NCR’s revenue would have been up 7%.
Which is par with inflation.
NCR is focused on free cash flow.
Why?
It has an enormous mountain of debt to service.
NCR generated $209 million in free cash flow in the quarter…
Over the past two quarters, we have generated over $400 million of free cash flow, allowing us to reduce financial leverage ahead of the separation.
Mike Hayford, CEO
Back in October, we described our desire to generate at least $500 million of free cash flow before the separation transaction to reduce our financial leverage. In the first two quarters, of those $500 million, we’ve already generated $400 million of that bogey.
Tim Oliver
NCR has been cutting labor to hit these goals and pay their debts.
Just so long as management doesn’t take a pay cut.
NCR retail wins are a joke
NCR is rolling out more self-ordering kiosks to existing customers.
That’s it.
No talk about winning new POS business or any other meaningful metrics.
In retail, we continue to deliver on our strategy to be the retail platform company of choice. During the first quarter, NCR expanded its relationship with the second biggest retailer in the U.K. The customer committed to increasing the number of NCR self-checkout units while also signing a special services agreement to a multiyear subscription model to help transform their in-store solutions.
Mike Hayford
We get further hints to NCR’s retail struggles in Tim’s comments on retail lanes:
We increased our number of platform lanes by 33,000 lanes or 125% year over year. At the time of conversion, platform lanes drives an incremental $400 of ARR for an increase of $12 million versus last year. The platform lane increase was driven by rollouts in major convenience and fuel customers.
While platform lanes currently represent less than 5% of our total lanes, we see accelerating momentum for the conversion of our traditional lanes and have a substantial lane conversion backlog. And once on the platform, the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell new features and functionality drives further ARPU expansion.
Tim Oliver
So self-checkout revenues are flat and you’ve only penetrated 5% of your customer base with your newer lanes?
Hospitality is a disaster
NCR mentions useless metrics as if we aren’t smart enough to know any better.
In SMB, our payment attachment for new customers remained roughly 90%, driving a 50% increase of payment site. In enterprise, we expanded our relationship with the world’s largest food — fast-food chain to be the sole provider for digital menu boards in the U.S.
Mike Hayford
NCR should have 100% payments attach rates. What 10% are they losing on payments?
Then their big enterprise “win” was a company using NCR for… drumroll…
digital menu boards.
How often has NCR ever talked about digital menu boards as a successful line of business?
The answer: never.
Because it’s a line of business nobody wants to be in.
Commoditized hardware, very little software, and terrible margins.
Mom: how did you do on your test?
NCR: Oh! I failed! I got the lowest score in the class!
Mom: …
NCR: well the class snake couldn’t even write his name on the test
Given NCR’s anemic performance we’d bet the 6% YoY revenue increase in hospitality is coming exclusively from payments attach rates.
Hospitality revenue increased $12 million or 6% year over year as reported and 7% adjusting for currency, driven by an increase in services and software revenue, including cloud services and payment processing.
Tim Oliver
And once again, we get no indication on NEW sites: just an increase in “platform sites” which is a creative euphemism to avoid saying the obvious:
What’s interesting are the payments margins, which NCR pegs at $4,000 per year.
For a merchant doing $1M in GPV, this would be 40 bps of margin.
The only growth in NCR’s digital banking business came from an increase in user seats.
Digital banking revenue was flat year over year. The two-thirds of our revenue that is driven by user count increased in this quarter on higher used accounts and led to higher recurring revenue.
This increase was offset, however, by lower nonrecurring revenue that can be lumpy. Adjusted EBITDA was down 13% year over year…
Tim Oliver
Bro, you heard of this thing called AI?
Banks are going to be doing more with less.
Expect the seat count to come down over the next few years as white collar establishments like banks adopt AI.
ATMs are dead
NCR is switching their ATM business model to as-a-service for a recurring revenue component.
Whatever.
Their growth is coming primarily from international markets – in particular India – where we have concerns of cash displacement.
ATM-as-a-Service units increased 293% year over year to 17,000 units. We experienced significant growth in India and incremental growth in the United States.
BCG expects UPI to triple to $10T of transactions by 2026, meaning cash will be dying.
In a span of just six years, India, primarily a cash-based economy, now leads the world in real-time digital payments, accounting for almost 40 per cent of all such transactions.
The mass adoption of UPI during the COVID-19 pandemic has extended far beyond the urban to even rural India, an effect that left the experts in amazement.
As the success of the UPI grows, so does its attractiveness and acceptance by other countries; for instance, on February 21, 2023, India and Singapore launched cross-border connectivity between UPI and its equivalent in Singapore called PayNow, enabling low-cost and faster cross-border transactions.
Then you’ve got this more direct and recent analogue of Diebold Nixdorf, NCR’s ATM competitor, declaring bankruptcy.
Diebold has struggled with debt since it acquired Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf AG for $1.8 billion in 2016. After taking on significant debt in that deal, the newly-combined company faced flat or declining sales in its core business of selling ATMs to banks and checkout machines to retail customers.
We were told Clover suspended its ordering fee indefinitely, but being a payments company they haven’t bothered to supply any definitive declaration.
While Toast merchants might be celebrating this in the short term, hear us clearly:
Toast lacks all vestiges of anything resembling morality, and Toast merchants will pay for this shortfall.
What transpired with the $0.99 fee was but a brief taste of what those of us in the industry already know: Toast is truly a monster.
Toast merchants by and large have no idea what the hell is going on and the pushback on Toast’s fee was from a very small percentage of Toast merchants who bothered to (probably accidentally) read an email from Toast.
The problem for Toast merchants now is that Toast is on track to lose $300M this year.
Precisely the amount of revenue the fee would close.
Toast cannot sustain this rate of losses for more than 3 more years before they have to shore up the balance sheet.
Frankly, we’re curious to see how Toast takes this learning to pummel merchants on payments.
We bet that within a year Toast will find a way to make the revenue through direct merchant fees, likely mandating the $0.99 fee but letting the merchants make the call on eating it.
Why did Toast drop the fee?
Not because merchants pushed back.
And probably not because President Biden has made comment on the frustration with unscrupulous fees, even though next year is an election year and this might mean that the FTC takes a closer look.
The legitimate concern, however, relates to taxation:
Toast restaurants are required to recognize the revenue of these fees and remit taxes against such revenue, but they’re not seeing any of the revenue to offset the taxes.
Let’s do the math to show you how bad this is.
A merchant doing $1M a year does $200,000 in digital native orders, or 20%, and that might be conservative.
At a $30 average check, that’s 6,600 checks, or $6,600 in revenue at a dollar fee per order.
Well, now the merchant now has to pay taxes on that $6,600.
What percent of the merchant’s margins were just eroded in additional taxes?
And what happens when a customer wants a refund?
Is Toast managing that?
Who reports changes to the tax authorities?
Does this complication give governments the impetus to directly integrate to POS software like they do in Europe (so that the authorities can audit the taxes due)?
This was going to be a real compliance headache and it puts a target right on the backs of Toast merchants.
We don’t think Toast wanted this exposure in this manner.
With the recent outbreak of coronovirus, flying to Portland or Phoenix or other locations gives one pause when we consider the many surfaces that we will come in contact with. Being fearful of unclean surfaces is 100% rational and I can personally attest to the discouraging ratio of men in airport restrooms which walk out without washing their hands before leaving.
We have generated over 30,000 quotes for kiosks in the last 10 years and rarely have we seen specific line items for “Cleaning and Janitorial Services” which would include wiping down and cleaning all surfaces with an approved germicide capable of killing MRSA and others. We won an award many years back for devising UV cleaning process, but that is not perfect either.
Leave it to the children to devise new measurement baselines for cleanliness and non-clean.
Excerpt:
Jaralee Metcalf is a behavioral specialist who works in an autism unit with students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Recently, she and her coworker – special education teacher Dayna Robertson – found an experiment on the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital website, called “How clean are your hands?”
“We chose this experiment because we had been learning about decaying leaves and mold and flu season was approaching,” Jaralee Metcalf told Bored Panda. “We decided it would be an awesome mold experiment to learn about germs by using moldy bread!”
Together, they put five slices of bread in separate bags. One slice was inserted untouched, another one was touched by kids with unwashed hands, one was touched by kids who washed with soap and water, and one was touched by kids who used hand sanitizer. Finally, they added a slice that they rubbed on the classroom Chromebooks.
Mold started forming on some of the slices in just a couple of days.
And it worked. “The students were very involved, they usually are with hands-on experiments!” Metcalf said. “Since the results were so shocking, the students and staff have taken a very serious turn toward better hygiene. Students from different classrooms in the entire school have come to our class to look at the moldy bread and learn about handwashing.”
Metcalf also wanted to use the opportunity to tell all the parents that hand washing isn’t always enough. “If you send your child to school when they are sick, they put everyone at risk. Including teachers and our families! I’d like to urge parents to keep their sick children at home!”
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Update on Sixteen:Nine mixer by Dave Haynes. After years of talking about it, they are going to have check-in kiosks this year. Ed Crowley with URway Holdings for hardware and KioWare for kiosk software will be handling the crowd check-in. Don’t forget that for DSE that we also offer free passes. We’re official Sponsor for DSE . Code KMA20 for free expo pass.
The Sixteen:Nine Mixer at DSE has been going on in various fashions and places since 2009, and in all that time I have mused about how there had to be a better way to handle check-in and giving attendees badges that help introduce and connect them with others at the event.
Kiosks have been the obvious solution, but I have never really got my act together to put that together. We almost had that sorted a year ago, but my technology partners were next-level hopeless.
Industry vet Ed Crowley and I have spoken for many years about getting a solution together, but while he was eager to help, I was lotsa talk and little or late on tangible actions … until this year. We chatted at InfoComm and resolved to ACTUALLY pull it together.
So … instead of several tables at reception laid out with 400 or so pre-printed thermal shipping labels that have attendee names and their companies, there will be a table with two countertop kiosks on them that arriving attendees can walk up to, boink the screen to enter their last name, confirm, and send a command to a built-in printer that will spit out the label. They’ll then grab a badge blank and lanyard from the check-in team – my wife Joy and her sister Sue, who have been helping me for years and are happily compensated with glasses of Malbec.
This set-up should greatly speed check-in and actually show technology in action, at a tech event! I know, crazy …
Historically, I have printed out 100s of labels ahead of time, sorted them all alphabetically, and then on the day, Joe and Sue painstakingly lay them out on tables and politely deal with people whining that the layout should have been right to left, or left to right. Or something.
Crowley’s company URway Holdings and its solution brand URway Digital are providing the turnkey, countertop kiosks and partnered with Kioware to develop the overall user experience, accessibility and kiosk management. They’ve also made sure everything works, even with consumer-grade Dymo printers that spit out labels like the mound of them generated for a past event. A huge thank you for providing this self-service solution.
The mixer at ISE will also have a couple of kiosks for check-in – which will be especially handy because the entry area for that Barcelona venue is kinda cramped, so speeding people through check-in will minimize attendee log jams. Miguel Fonseca and his team at Braga, Portugal-based DISPLAX are going to help me with that.
We’re also noodling some sort of networking/education event for Porto, Portugal, the week after ISE. Portugal has a very healthy tech community and two of the best queue management/display solutions out there come from Portuguese firms. More details if/as that idea firms up. I’m going to work in Porto for a week, since I’m over that way anyway, it’s winter and I’m Canadian, and that part of the world appeals to me waaaaay more for extended retirement getaways than Florida ever will.
Lots of news this week. A couple of earnings reports and call by Shakeshack & Burger King. They always throw in some points about kiosks enhancing their profitability and we jot them down for our next ppt. Olo is in the news for bad reason. They lost Wingstop which is doing it in house.
And that leads into PAR, Olo and RBI genesis from McDonalds.
Shakeshack (from Yahoo Business)– BTIG walked away from a meeting with Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK) management last week confident that the restaurant chain has multiple levers to pull to continue driving Shack- level margins higher. Analyst Peter Saleh said Shake Shack (SHAK) is leaning on further use of kiosks to reduce labor hours, and still has upside with menu pricing. Kiosks were noted to be the company’s highest-margin channel, due to the higher average check and labor efficiencies that they help generate.
“We estimate that total digital sales are currently around 80% including kiosks, web, app, and delivery. Management noted that over 50% of in-shack sales are coming from kiosks, a figure we estimate is up from 30%-35% a few quarters ago, as kiosks are fully deployed and adoption rises.
Burger King — Nov 2023 from Business Insider — Burger King will double-down on digital order kiosks, which bosses say are better for both staff and customers – and also lead to bigger orders. “We’re starting to make some progress figuring out kiosks,” Josh Kobza, the CEO of Restaurant Brands International, Burger King’s owner, told investors Friday. Digital kiosks are large touchscreens where diners can order and pay in-restaurant instead of ordering from a staff member at a counter. Kobza said Burger King had started piloting kiosks in more company-owned restaurants with “tremendous results.” The “vast majority” of orders in these restaurants were placed using kiosks, he added.
Kobza said that 14% of Burger King’s orders were placed digitally in the quarter, up more than 40% year-on-year, but the figure was 28% at company-operated restaurants with kiosks.
Olo — Shares of restaurant-technology company Olo (NYSE: OLO) got creamed on Tuesday after the company reported financial results for the third quarter of 2023. If you only looked at the numbers, you might think that the stock would be up today. But it looks like the market is concerned about the company losing a really big customer. And that’s why Olo stock was down 23% as of 11:45 a.m. ET, sinking to an all-time low.
In Q3, Olo generated revenue of $57.8 million, up 22% year over year and ahead of management’s guidance of $56 million to $56.5 million. There are now 78,000 restaurant locations using the company’s platform, up 1,000 from the previous quarter. And average revenue per unit that uses its platform increased 33% year over year to $742.
In other words, more restaurants are using Olo, the company is making more money per location, and its revenue is consequently growing at a strong rate.
However, chicken restaurant chain Wingstop mentioned last week that it’s built its own technology platform for ordering. And Olo’s management confirmed that Wingstop may not renew its contract when it runs out in the first quarter of 2024.
With nearly 2,000 locations, Wingstop is one of the biggest restaurant fish in the sea. And losing it has the market feeling down about Olo.
PAR Wins POS, Online Ordering at Burger King in Massive Blow to Global Payments, Olo — See article below — excerpt here –And by the way, RBI is more than just Burger King: Popeye’s, Tim Hortons, and Firehouse Subs.Per sources, all of these brands are in various phases of testing PAR and POS alternatives, which should make incumbent restaurant technology providers nervous. RBI’s brands and franchisees use a blend of Aloha, Micros, Countr, and Xenial for their POS needs. Olo is not currently an RBI vendor, which might be a silver lining since Olo won’t have to explain losing the online ordering business if the cards fall that way.
PAR is a leader in enterprise POS but they’re not a $10B business unit like Micros is to Oracle. They might stumble in the Burger King roll-out, but they have a better shot of keeping the business than smaller POS players. Burger King surely went into this eyes-wide-open having large vendors like Oracle already.
Jordan at Reforming Retail wrote an excellent article (with his usual acerbity). Highly recommended.
The technology history at Restaurant Brand Inc (RBI), the parent company of Burger King, is quite a doozie. Start with this. McDonald’s is one of the only retailers who has built and supporte…
The technology history at Restaurant Brand Inc (RBI), the parent company of Burger King, is quite a doozie.
Start with this.
McDonald’s is one of the only retailers who has built and supported their own POS system.
Frank Liberio worked at McDonald’s for 16 years while McDonald’s endeavored on their own POS, ending his tenure as their Global CIO.
Frank then joined RBI in 2019 as RBI’s Global CIO.
One of Frank’s initiatives was to copy McDonald’s POS strategy and bring RBI’s POS effort in-house.
Which he did.
In 2019 RBI purchased a copy of MediaWorks, a POS company based in Brazil with decades of experience. The link will give a fuller story, but MediaWorks built and supported the POS system for McDonald’s, Subway, and other international brands.
But it didn’t work out as well as Frank would have liked, and he got the boot.
In our experience hardly any retailers could ever justify building and maintaining their own POS, and if any could do it would be the biggest of the big; RBI recognized $5B of 2022 revenue while McDonald’s was nearly 5x that number at $23B.
Feels like it’s a stretch for RBI.
Not surprisingly RBI insiders grew frustrated with the cost to support the system. They felt resources spent on the POS were resources not spent on more pressing needs and the system kept falling further behind.
In 2022, RBI – specifically Burger King – began considering alternatives.
After a number of labs Burger King decided that PAR would be their exclusive and mandated go-forward solution, with Brink for the POS and MENU for online ordering.
This is a bit different from the Focus decision to select Qu for a few reasons.
First, this system is mandated by Burger King corporate. Focus will need to get creative to move franchisees whereas PAR won this at the corporate level with full buy-in. That means that PAR will roll out Burger King much more quickly than Qu will with Focus. A way to visualize the difference is to look at this picture of PAR’s CEO on stage at the Burger King Franchise conference in Miami.
No other vendor presented that we are aware of.
Our guess is that Burger King rolls our PAR in two years to start taking advantage of a unified offering.
Second, Burger King has international locations that greatly increase the complexity of operations. Different jurisdictions have different legal requirements, which makes things like taxes and reporting non-trivial. Focus is US-based and much simpler. PAR is a more robust international product than Qu at this point.
That said, just because there are international locations doesn’t mean they’re economical to serve. We will be interested to see if PAR does decide to support far-off locales or punts the international business to someone else, even though Brink is gearing up for a more concerted international expansion, and MENU was an international product when it was acquired by PAR. We should note that as of today, Micros supports Burger King’s international business.
Third, Burger King isn’t just taking POS but also online ordering. Burger King will be using MENUlink, which is akin to Olo’s Rails product, or Itsacheckmate. Implicitly Qu can also replace a tool like Olo without much modification, but PAR is already there with their MENU product. As some restaurants have claimed, MENUlink is a more modern version of Olo Rails.
This is dangerous for Olo because it’s becoming clear that POS companies are catching up and can own the restaurant’s ecommerce and digital menu; this makes Olo redundant. Given this, it’s been estimated that PAR will be earning $3,000 per store per year. Not great for Toast’s narrative that restaurants will pay infinitely for their POS, but relatively good for the enterprise segment of the market… at least according to those of us that have lived this.
Deals of this magnitude don’t come without their defeated, because enterprise restaurants literally own POS systems for 30 years, taking them off the market for quite some time.
The biggest loser is Global Payments, who’s been trying to convince everyone that they understand software.
Global Payments, through its Xenial division, had a marquee customer in Burger King. Burger King was using SICOM’s POS and digital signage (who Global Payments also owns) and even convinced Burger King to put a payment bro’s POS system (Xenial POS – we know it’s confusing) in their lab and… shit the bed.
Cuz #paymentsbro.
You can’t just buy software and expect it to perform like your job is done: you need real R&D investment to be relevant.
Global’s narrative has just been completely torpedoed. And frankly, there’s no payments margin in enterprise restaurants, so we’re not sure why Xenial is pretending like they’re relevant in this market segment anyhow. Go out and focus on SMBs or wherever you can make your fat payments spreads.
Another of the vanquished is Olo, who is seemingly losing more of these ordering accounts by the month. Many shareholders have expressed their concern that Olo’s online ordering solution is out of TAM, and Burger King isn’t doing that talking point any favors.
NCR is irrelevant so we can ignore them, but this should have been an obvious Micros/Oracle win.
Big account.
Needs a lot of features and support.
International (where Oracle already owns the POS relationship, actually).
Complex.
But it didn’t happen.
In fact, PAR won because they pitched the opposite of a large, establish enterprise: their CEO is known to take calls at 2 AM when a problem arises, and that culture has propagated across PAR.
But that’s extreme ownership, and it may not be super scalable.
And by the way, RBI is more than just Burger King: Popeye’s, Tim Hortons, and Firehouse Subs.
Per sources, all of these brands are in various phases of testing PAR and POS alternatives, which should make incumbent restaurant technology providers nervous. RBI’s brands and franchisees use a blend of Aloha, Micros, Countr, and Xenial for their POS needs. Olo is not currently an RBI vendor, which might be a silver lining since Olo won’t have to explain losing the online ordering business if the cards fall that way.
PAR is a leader in enterprise POS but they’re not a $10B business unit like Micros is to Oracle. They might stumble in the Burger King roll-out, but they have a better shot of keeping the business than smaller POS players. Burger King surely went into this eyes-wide-open having large vendors like Oracle already.
Enterprise retail moves glacially – and painfully – slow. But when something breaks, it makes waves. PAR is on pace to double its POS ARR, which it never would have accomplished without Savneet at the helm.
Bill Payment Kiosks going in at Frankfort, KY from Lane Report — Courthouse Kiosks — Kentuckians will be able to pay court costs, fines and fees at ATM-like contraptions in select courthouses across Kentucky by next year.
The Kiosk Tradeshow and Kiosk Event Calendar is now back in operation! It has been in inflicted hiatus since March of 2020 but big shows in Vegas in August (HIMSS) and we are attending physical show here in Denver in October for Fast Casual.
With the new emphasis on pedestrians and city markets we thought – it is a “kiosk” in Belgium circa 2015. Uses reverse psychology.
Mental Health Kiosks by Amazon — AmaZen kiosks giving off the wrong vibe article from techspot. Everybody likes to beat up on Amazon.
New scanner kiosk from Pyramid — Each wing of the kiosk includes a printer, a kiosk payment module, an optional scale and twelve handheld scanners.
New Fulfillment Channels (Ways to Buy)
New catalog (with pricing) for All-In-One Computers, Touchscreens, Browser Lockdown, Digital Signage CMS and kiosk remote monitoring is live from Digital Business
RFP and RFIs of Note This Week?
100 units or so for internet services for DMV customers at all DMV locations.
There was a big RFP for temperature kiosks this week from Federal Government and so we’ll opt for nice video of the Olea Kiosks production floor with lots of temperature kiosks, both standup and counter, being prepared for shipment. These units also can be repurposed later for visitor check-in worth noting.
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Foodservice operators may be feasting on opportunities as the pandemic retreats, but economic challenges persist. One of the toughest to swallow is the labor shortage.
September was ripe with a robust harvest of hiring for restaurant jobs, signaling a light at the end of the tunnel. But while job seekers filled more than 60,000 positions then, October stood in stark contrast. Just 6,000 were filled in October—less than a tenth of the hires for September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.1
Restaurants and bars ended October with 11.8 million employees—about 500,000 shy of pre-pandemic levels.1 The precipitous drop in hirings reflects a broader economic trend where employment across most industry sectors has been lagging.1
Self-service kiosks are among the foremost tech solutions that major chains have tapped. In fact, kiosk technology is global trend, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 6.5% through 2028.2
Editor Notes: Paneras and Shake Shack got their attention, and also Burger King. The driving article was from NRN
Kiosks, she adds, allow restaurants to run leaner on labor and also reposition existing labor for other tasks, such as expending orders or greeting guests. The chain plans to outfit nearly every restaurant with a kiosk by the end of next year.
Shake Shack isn’t the only company catching on. Last year, Steak ‘n Shake announced it was replacing table service with self-service kiosks, for instance. BurgerFi began rolling out kiosks during Q2 and CEO Ian Baines noted they have provided “a great guest experience, coupled with the opportunity to upsell guests and provide greater order accuracy.” The kiosks have also yielded an uptick in average check size.
During Yum Brands’ Q3 earnings call Nov. 2, CFO Chris Turner said KFC’s systemwide kiosks sales experienced a 40-plus percent increase in sales year-over-year and now make up 6% of the chain’s sales mix. The potential to continue growing this channel is strong, as just 15% of KFC global restaurants are currently equipped with kiosks.
Editors Note – perfectly fine article somewhat tarnished by inclusion of datamart report (Grandview) in order to quote some numbers. The report is another internet scrape example with terrible listing of kiosk manufacturers (except for 2). Why NRN opted to publicize that report escapes us.
What We Think
From our writeup on self-checkout — The biggest reason companies are deploying Self-Checkout now is that they cannot get enough employees to run their stores. COVID helped move the trend further, but retailers must do more with less. There are 3 million fewer retail workers than we had pre-COVID, but 10,000 new stores. So self-checkout helps retailers move employees to other functions like Click and Collect, preparing meals, and picking digital orders. This is just one technology of many that retailers are deploying to help redeploy labor and lower costs. — Greg Buzek of IHL Services
Excerpt: Since we’ve learned that tech is not one-size-fits-all operation, it should be noted that some technology pieces are either “love it or hate it.” Karl Goodhew said that BurgerFi has really leaned on kiosk technology because their customers like the experience and they’re budget-friendly to install and run (about $5,000 for each restaurant). Andrew K Smith said that he thinks though that kiosk technology will eventually fade quietly because the technology sometimes frustrates customers.
WESTMINSTER, Colo., March 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Kiosk Manufacturer Association aka KMA announces our new ADA and Accessibility Chairpersons. Serving as co-chairpersons for our committee is Randy Amundson of Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc. and Mr. Peter Jarvis of Storm Interface. Randy is one of our founding chairpersons and is continuing in his support of KMA and ADA. Peter is a charter sponsor of the Accessibility Committee and now helps lead the way for the KMA.
From Randy Amundson, “Peter Jarvis and I continue to work closely in finalizing the Kiosk Accessibility Code of Practice (CoP). We feel that the CoP will be a useful tool that kiosk manufacturers and their clients can use to ensure that their kiosks are accessible to the widest population of people with some form of disability possible. Peter and I are also working on developing an independent standard that can be used by nationally recognized testing labs in order to certify a kiosk as being ADA compliant”.
Peter Jarvis adds, “First, let me thank the committee’s previous Co-Chair Laura Miller for her work in raising awareness of accessibility issues within the kiosk industry. Laura continues to make an outstanding contribution to the work of the KMA Accessibility Committee but has now stepped into a role dedicated to kiosk accessibility at Vispero. Her commitment, to ensure equality in access to information, services and products, continues to influence the committee’s objectives. As the new Co-Chair (serving the KMA’s European members) I hope to continue the initiatives of the committee and look forward to working with the committee’s US resident Chairperson Randy Amundson.”
We very much thank Laura Boniello Millerwith Vispero our founding co-chairperson for her contributions, support and effort over the last two years.
Visit with the KMA at the upcoming CSUN conference as well as at MURTEC. In May we will be exhibiting at the National Restaurant Show.
See our Affiliations page for more – NRF, NRA, RTN, Accessibility Association, Patent Reform, RNIB and more.
If your company, organization, association, local, city, state or federal agency would like to participate at some level with the KMA either with ADA or with EMV, please contact [email protected] or call 720-324-1837
Join Us at Retail’s Big Show
We’re looking forward to meeting you!
As you plan your agenda for NRF 2024, be sure to schedule a meeting with one of our team members at Booth #4247 to see the latest in self-service retail technology from KIOSK Information Systems.
Demo our innovative new KIOSK Integration Exchange, see how automation is transforming retail returns, test out the next generation of contactless payments, and more. We’re looking forward to seeing you in New York!
Mandatory DFPI filing beginning Jan. 1, 2024 for Digital Financial Asset Transaction Kiosk Operators
Effective January 1, 2024, Senate Bill 401 (Chapter 871, Statutes of 2023), (“SB 401” which, alongside AB 39, constitutes the “Digital Financial Assets Law”) requires a digital financial asset transaction kiosk operator (“kiosk operator”) to provide the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“Department”) with a list of all locations of kiosks that the operator owns, operates, or manages in California. The Digital Financial Assets Law also requires a kiosk operator to submit updates to the Department within 30 days of any changes, and places additional obligations for kiosk operators.
For more information on the law and information on how to submit the kiosk location list, please visit our website: https://dfpi.ca.gov/dfal-kiosk/.
Digital Financial Assets Law: Information for Kiosk Operators
The Digital Financial Assets Law requires a digital financial asset transaction kiosk operator (“kiosk operator”) to comply with certain requirements that go into effect on January 1, 2024, January 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025.
Effective January 1, 2024
Effective January 1, 2024, the Digital Financial Assets Law requires a kiosk operator to: (1) provide a list of its kiosk locations to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (Department), (2) comply with daily transaction limits, and (3) provide receipts to customers with specified information for any transaction made at the operator’s kiosks.
Kiosk Locations
Effective January 1, 2024, the Digital Financial Assets Law requires a kiosk operator to provide the Department with a list of all locations of kiosks that the operator owns, operates, or manages in this state. The law also requires a kiosk operator to submit updates to the Department within 30 days of any changes to kiosk locations. Fin. Code, § 3906.
Who must report a list of kiosk locations?
Anyone who owns, operates, or manages a digital financial asset transaction kiosk in this state must report kiosk locations to the Department. A digital financial asset transaction kiosk (“kiosk”) is defined as an electronic information processing device that is capable of accepting or dispensing cash in exchange for a digital financial asset.
When must a kiosk operator submit its list of kiosk location(s)?
The law requiring a kiosk operator to report its kiosk locations to the Department becomes operative on January 1, 2024. The Department requests kiosk operators submit a list of kiosks to the Department no later than March 15, 2024.
How does a kiosk operator submit its kiosk locations to the Department?
A kiosk operator can submit its kiosk location information to the Department by completing this Excel template with all kiosk locations and submitting it via the Department’s upload site.
The Excel file must contain the following horizontal fields, in the order specified below, for each location:
Name of kiosk operator (legal name)
Name of the location (if inside a retailer, indicate the name of the retailer in the location name)
Street Address
Suite or Unit, if applicable
City
Zip Code
Identify whether the kiosk operator is an owner, operator, or manager
Identify whether the location is being reported for the first time as “Add,” or whether the location is being removed as “Remove”
How does a kiosk operator report a change in kiosk location to the Department?
All updates to a kiosk operator’s list of kiosks must be filed with the Department within 30 days of any changes. A kiosk operator seeking to add a new location should use the Excel Template and update the eighth field. Submit “Add” if the location is being added for the first time and submit “Remove” if the location is being removed from the list, and then submit the document via the Department’s upload site.
Daily Transaction Limits
Effective January 1, 2024, a kiosk operator is prohibited from accepting or dispensing more than $1,000 in a day from or to a customer via a kiosk. Fin. Code, § 3902.
Receipts
Effective January 1, 2024, a kiosk operator must provide a customer a receipt that includes the following information for any transaction made at its kiosk:
The name of the customer
The date and time of the transaction
The name of the kiosk operator
The amount of a digital financial asset involved in the transaction
The amount of U.S. dollars involved in the transaction
The amount, in U.S. dollars, of any fees collected by the kiosk operator related to the transaction
The amount, in U.S. dollars, of any spread between the U.S. dollar price of the digital financial asset that is charged to the customer and the U.S. dollar price of the digital asset as listed by a licensed digital financial asset exchange
The name of the licensed digital asset exchange the kiosk operator used to calculate the referenced spread
Fin. Code, § 3905(b).
Obligations of kiosk operators not engaged in digital financial asset business activity
If a kiosk operator is not engaged in digital financial asset business activity but allows or facilitates another person to engage in such activity via a kiosk that it owns, operates, or manages, the kiosk operator must still comply with all the provisions of Financial Code sections 3901 through 3907. Fin. Code, § 3907(b)(3).
Effective January 1, 2025
On January 1, 2025, the Digital Financial Assets Law requires a kiosk operator to: (a) limit the charges that may be collected from a customer, and (b) provide written disclosures to a customer prior to completing a transaction.
Charges
As of January 1, 2025, a kiosk operator may not collect direct or indirect charges from a customer related to a single digital financial asset transaction that exceeds the greater of the following:
$5, or
15% of the US dollar equivalent of digital financial assets involved in the transaction.
Fin. Code, § 3904.
Obligations of kiosk operators not engaged in digital financial asset business activity
If a kiosk operator is not engaged in digital financial asset business activity but allows or facilitates another person to engage in such activity via a kiosk that it owns, operates, or manages, the kiosk operator must ensure that person complies with the limits on charges effective January 1, 2025. Fin. Code, § 3907(b)(2). The kiosk operator must also continue to comply with all other provisions of Financial Code sections 3901 through 3907. Fin. Code, § 3907(b)(3).
Written Disclosures
As of January 1, 2025, prior to a transaction, a kiosk operator must provide a written disclosure in English and the same language principally used by the operator to advertise, solicit, or negotiate with a customer, as specified, that includes the following minimum information:
The amount of the digital financial asset involved in the transaction
The amount, in US dollars, of any fees, expenses, and charges collected by the operator
The U.S. dollar price of the digital financial asset that is charged to the customer and the U.S. dollar price of the digital financial asset as listed by a licensed digital financial asset exchange
If a method is not provided to reverse or refund a transaction, a warning that all transactions are final and cannot be undone
The disclosure must be clear and conspicuous and provided separately from any other disclosure provided by the kiosk operator. Fin. Code, § 3905(a).
Effective July 1, 2025
Licensing
On or after July 1, 2025, if a kiosk operator is engaged in digital financial asset business activity, the kiosk operator must be licensed in accordance with the Digital Financial Assets Law. Fin. Code, § 3907(a).
Obligations of kiosk operators not engaged in digital financial asset business activity
If a kiosk operator is not engaged in digital financial asset business activity but allows or facilitates another person to engage in such activity via a kiosk that it owns, operates, or manages, the kiosk operator must ensure that person is appropriately licensed under the Digital Financial Assets Law by July 1, 2025. Fin. Code, § 3907(b)(1). The kiosk operator must also continue to comply with all other provisions of Financial Code sections 3901 through 3907. Fin. Code, § 3907(b)(3).
#1 — New add-on for POS and ADA compliance from Taylor Stands. Detachable POS with tether (patent pending). Here is the pitch — ADA Compliance is the Law. Buy the Taylor ADA Blue-Lever™ for your Verifone POS device. Be ADA and PCI-DSS compliant at your checkout! Don’t let your merchants get caught in an ADA Compliance at Point of Sale checkout lawsuit. These ADA fines are sweeping the U.S. [Links to Walmart ADA POS suit given below]
Click for full size
#2 — Tactile Warnings — We have not documented these previously but there are ADA guidelines for surfaces in public spaces to have detectable pattens for blind with cane. They are essentially little domes built into the floor. See section 705 for Detectable Warnings.
#3 — Tax Considerations – Two tax incentives are available to businesses to help cover the cost of making access improvements. The first is a tax credit that can be used for architectural adaptations, equipment acquisitions, and services such as sign language interpreters. The second is a tax deduction that can be used for architectural or transportation adaptations. The maximum tax credit is $5000. The maximum tax deduction is $15,000.
#4 — U.S. Access Board Meeting. The U.S. Access Board will hold its next meeting onJanuary 11from 1:30 – 3:00 (ET) at the Board’s conference space in downtown Washington, D.C. The public is welcome to attend in person or through a live webcast of the meeting. The meeting agenda includes updates on Board rulemaking and other activities.
#5 — ADA Working Group – The Kiosk Industry is putting together a group on ADA which will also cover EMV for now. If interested in participating pls contact Craig.
Case Study – Lilitab Kiosks Help Promote Environmental Sustainability
The Creative Animal Foundation is embarking on a 50-city tour to promote the protection of nature in a 200 sq ft. custom-built tiny house, donated by 84 Lumber. Environmental experts Stephanie Arne (host of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom) and Tim Davison are visiting schools, universities, businesses, and festivals to educate the public. Their biggest obstacle was trying to figure out how to collect survey data from visitors. A recommendation from National Geographic led them to lilitab.
lilitab worked with the couple to find the best tablet kiosk solution, which turned out being the lilitab Wall Pro. Once the kiosks were in their place on the side of the house, Arne and Davison conducted pilot tests with more than a 100 people to tweak the software and make sure the survey process was smooth and easy. The kiosks are using survey software from San Francisco-based software company QuestionPro. Learn more at CreativeAnimal.org.
For questions and additional information contact Michael McCloud: [email protected]
As face-to-face interaction becomes less of a priority in the marketplace, organizations of all types are reconsidering the ways they communicate with their customers. In many cases, they’re incorporating large-format displays to accomplish the task.
Every year at InfoComm we celebrate AV, IT, and digital signage technologies. For decades we have focused on the technical “tools in the toolbox” for AV integrators. While this is certainly still relevant, we have left out the other part of the equation, sales and the buyer relationship.
An interesting trend is emerging in the marketing of large format display technology – projects presented on social media and other avenues as real yet only exist in virtual form. They look amazing but don’t really exist. It’s all CGI.
July’s D=SIGN Power Hour panel addressed multi-display & video wall content creation with moderator Paul Fleuranges of the Digital Signage Federation. Experts Daniel Hurtado of Userful, Digital Signage Creative Director Jim Nista, and Bryan Meszaros of OpenEye Global.
Digital signage is not only more effective at messaging than its static paper counterpart, it’s also more environmentally sustainable. See 5 examples here.
In a time when the future prospects of any sector appears to change daily, AVIXA is out with real actionable intelligence for the AV industry and the news is good.
Market, Business of AV, Digital Signage, Conferencing and Collaboration, Content Distribution and Media, Higher Education
Retailers hit by COVID-19 have accelerated their digital transformations by enhancing operations both online and at their brick-and mortar stores. Here are the emerging technologies that made it happen.
Self-service kiosks provide a fast and secure method for customers to make bill payments in person. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Capable of accepting all forms of payment as well as providing change for cash transactions, Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc.’s bill payment solution extends your customer service hours around the clock and seven days a week.
Placed in convenient locations, municipalities, utility companies, or any service provider can offer a one-stop solution for customers.
Health stations now available at all Roundy’s Supermarkets banners in Illinois and Wisconsin
The Kroger Co. has expanded its partnership with consumer health engagement company Higi to put its self-service smart health stations in Roundy’s Supermarkets in Illinois and Wisconsin, including Pick ‘n Save, Mariano’s, Copps and Metro Market banners.
Kroger and Higi have worked together since 2011, with solutions at 2,100 stores in the Kroger network. The higi stations offer free health screenings and interactive educational content. Consumers can also choose to work with a trusted healthcare organization through the system.
ST. LOUIS (KMOv.com) — On Wednesday, eight interactive Smart City kiosks went online in St. Louis.
Click for full size
The vertical touch screen information centers provide visitors and residents with information on restaurants and attractions as well as local resources and services.
Kyle Sparks was visiting from Cincinnati and used a kiosk a the corner of 4th and Chestnut.
“I’ve only been to St. Louis a couple of times and I was just kind of moseying around trying to find out what I could find and these make it really easy,” he said.
The kiosks are part of the city’s Smart City initiative and have been in the works for two years. The information centers are being paid for without any tax dollars.
While conversational AI circa May 2023 is a hot topic and a big tool in the “buzz bag” aka “we plan on doing that”, conversational voice AI has finally reached actual deployments. Estimates and projections are fine but real data is what counts. Meanwhile Google and Microsoft battle for available oxygen in the AI space (aka what’s our stock price today….). Would be great too if multiple spoken languages auto-accepted.
Recent “big” buzz includes Wendy’s planning on a pilot with Google. Google has been taking quite a hit on its AI efforts compared to Microsoft so its not surprising that they would ramp up their “sure, we’re going to do that” news. Might have a ways to go to catch to the empirical data Valyant has been collecting for a couple of years. Better late than never…
Excerpt from QSR Magazine — A growing number of quick-service chains have turned to AI at the drive-thru. In 2022, Checkers & Rally’s—in partnership with Presto—became the first chain to announce a nationwide rollout of a drive-thru AI solution. CKE Restaurants, parent of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., is experimenting with automated voice ordering solutions Presto, OpenCity, Valyant AI across the country. In addition, Del Taco revealed at the start of 2023 that it planned to expand its drive-thru AI testing with Presto. In June 2022, it was reported that McDonald’s conducted a 24-store pilot of drive-thru voice ordering in Illinois. Accuracy was in the low 80 percent range, below the 95 percent-plus mark the brand was looking for.
Sixteen Nine (Digital Signage site) covered the press release by Google and Wendy’s completely – For that matter if you look at Google Cloud Press Corner it is nothing but AI. I think they are tired of hearing they are behind Microsoft. Will made to order voice ordering minimize digital menu boards.
New system out of Korea is outdoor dual 55s with built-in voice recognition. Autoformatting menus based on height. Pretty cool stuff. KISTI is funding.
Disappointing or Reader Beware — QSR Magazine posted big story on tech trends coming in December 2022. Lots of big trigger phrases but zero mention of conversational AI. Ironically much of the content looks like it was written by conversational AI… — link
Resources
A good discriminating microphone designed for ambient public use is a good start Array Microphone
The guest check-in kiosk solution provides a streamlined self-service option for hotel guests, while reducing critical staffing gaps for hotel operators. It can fully integrate with a property’s PMS and door lock systems, enabling hotel operators to enhance guest experience with a seamless automated check-in option. Features include integration with Deepbrain AI Concierge system, integrated ID scanner, and facial recognition option.
Conversational AI Voice For Shopping Advice and Sprouts
Good conversation with Verneek, based in NYC. Their conversational AI has been deployed in supermarkets for 70+ days and getting feedback. Very impressive since dynamically generated answers are on the table and not picking from a stock stable.
The shopper scans a barcode and then conducts voice conversation with AI.
No downloading of yet another app (eliminates app-fatigue)
no typing, purely voice (but not exclusively). Women with long fingernails will like this…
Multiple conditional factors don’t scare the AI
No creepy avatar
Mobile is required but stationary shopping stations (with print) are an option (ie kiosks)
On tap is the ability to preset negative factors (e.g. never show me high sugar or high fructose for example)
Can suggest “related deals” or better deals much like Amazon does.
All in all, super-impressed with this first generation
Available and shipping. Not the usual pre-release invest in me trial balloon.
One side benefit to this is the enhancement provided to InstaCart-related picks. An employee must physically go out into the store and check stock and potential subs on a typical 5 item picklist. That eats up a ton of CPU cycles so to speak.
Note too that we have an additional demo video which is private but available on request. One of the best demos we have seen in our 30+ years we should add. [email protected] and identify yourself.
Video
Example Questions
One Quin can instantaneously answer any sophisticated question or address requests inside a given digital environment.
Inside a food shopping experience, for instance, consumers can ask:
Where can I find the healthiest dip you carry? No dairy, please! and only ratings higher than 4.
I am going vegan. Let’s add to my shopping list a high-protein snack without bad ingredients, costing under $2.
One Quin is able to provide the type of AI support that is unavailable on Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Search, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
About Verneek
Verneek is a deeptech AI startup in NYC. Verneek was founded in 2021 by a team of Language AI Scientists who have believed that “human language is the new machine language” for almost two decades.
Panasonic has not been an overly visible player in the North American digital signage ecosystem for many years, but the Japanese visual systems and electronics manufacturer is taking a focused run at the business with what it is calling a Complete Digital Signage Solution.
The company has announced what could be called a turnkey solution that covers displays, related hardware, software and services, and suggesting it covers everything from corporate and retail to Houses of Worship.
Digital Signage improves communication across your campus, business or public space, by offering maximum flexibility and better connecting your environment in both indoor and outdoor spaces. Providing you with end-to-end support, we offer options for an effortless experience to give you the ability to better deliver engaging content and drive sales.
Learn more about Panasonic Display Solutions
Professional Displays
Panasonic Professional Digital Displays provide immersive picture quality for an unparalleled visual experience.
Learn the latest drive-thru trends taking place across the restaurant industry that are meeting customers’ needs while increasing operators’ revenues. For more information, you can email [email protected]
Executive Summary
Once considered an adjunct to an established restaurant, the drive-thru has evolved into an essential business component helping eateries achieve profitability and exceed customer expectations. Drive-thrus are illustrative of a case where technology has helped redefine the dining experience. QSR Magazine cites examples of national chain restaurants that have more than doubled revenues by implementing an effective drive-thru strategy. The drive-thru has become the industry’s most popular off-premises channel having accounted for fifty-two percent of to-go orders in 2021. This growth activity represents an increase of four percent over the prior year.
Most industry practitioners believe restaurant success depends as much on service quality as it does on food quality. The speed and coordination in preparation, as well as the wholesomeness of menu items, are critical factors. Consumers have always sought speed and accuracy with a drive-thru order, but pandemic circumstances amplified guest expectations to include personalization and concise communications. From a drive-thru perspective, clear communications, accurate order entry, and secure payment processing are core technical elements for an effective operation. It is estimated that the average American will spend more than $1,200 on drive-thru food this year. This sum represents a substantial annual increase attributable to the restrictions of the pandemic.
Simply stated, drive-thru’s have become the restaurant industry’s most popular off-premises channel, accounting for more than half of all to-go orders in 2021, according to industry researcher NPD. This business volume represents an increase of four percent over the prior year. During the pandemic, restaurant takeout orders experienced exponential growth. As a result, operators need to continue supporting a multiple-channel approach to off-premises dining that also includes delivery services and order-ahead options, including mobile apps.
According to QSR Magazine, no area has seen more digital improvements than the restaurant drive-thru. Many industry practitioners claim the pandemic made the drive-thru an essential part of keeping restaurants open during lockdowns. It was the sole way to serve customers at eateries across the country continuously. To thrive amid elevated off-premises demand, restaurants have begun investing in innovations designed to maximize delivery, curbside pickup, and drive-thru offerings. These plans for futuristic store models include digitally integrated double and triple drive-thru’s to accommodate mobile orders better, and take out, with reduced on-premises dining room space. For example, consider the two-story Taco Bell in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota that according to tacobell.com was developed featuring four drive-thru lanes, including three lanes designated for mobile or delivery order pickups. The fourth lane will offer a traditional drive-thru experience with face-to-face interaction between customers and staff.
Authors
Michael L. Kasavana, Ph.D., CHTP, CFTP
MSU/NAMA Professor, Emeritus
IFBTA Education
and
Amy Fanale
Sr. Product Manager Panasonic Connect North America
The DT5 offers a lower cost of ownership, a more flexible footprint, and improved ergonomics to drive thru customers
Source: www.nextepsystems.com
Very nice drive-thru order kiosk from Nextep Systems.
Excerpt: The DT5 integrates seamlessly with the rest of NEXTEP’s product suite, including POS and mobile ordering. With bold graphics and a clean interface, our POS lets restaurant employees see orders in real-time and process those orders intuitively, thereby speeding up operations. Additionally, guests can order from their mobile devices and use the DT5 to tell the restaurant that they have arrived to pick up their orders.
Related
Watch “Equalizing the Drive Thru” and See how the Touchscreen Drive Thru makes the ordering experience identical for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and any other guest, truly eliminating any stigma or discrimination.
Equalizing the Drive Thru from NEXTEP SYSTEMS on Vimeo.
Learn More on Deaf and Hard of Hearing along with multiple local and national resource listings here:
Square will not require retailers to buy a new version of its Square Stand point-of-sale hardware for next year’s U.S. transition to supporting EMV “chip and
Instead, a countertop version of the EMV reader that Square announced last month will plug into the existing stand through the USB port. Mag-stripe cards will still be processed using the stand itself.
PROBLEM solved with the click of a button. That’s what Mackay police hope after launching their new Policelink self-service kiosk, the first in the state.
About 400 people have used the service in the (two-month) trial which equates to about 15 minutes per use that can be allocated to frontline services. Three public assistance kiosks and three Policelink phone points have been placed in the foyer of the Mackay Police Station.
The global self-checkout market grew 24 percent in 2013, with more than 33,000 shipments, according to research by London-based research firm RBR in a company announcement. Walmart’s “large-scale rollout” played a major role in the global upsurge of self-checkout, the…
Self-checkout at grocery and others got the big bounce (24%) from Walmart finally implementing (NCR is vendor). Arch enemy Fujitsu dropped to 3rd position behind Wincor. According to RBR
The kiosk, accessed by the drive-through off the front parking lot, will be fully automated. No customer service personnel will work at the drive-through window. But the drop-box will remain available for payments.
Don’t be surprised if you walk into a store and see a space where a Redbox machine used to be. Outerwall is starting to scale back after years of growth.
Outerwall now expects to close out the year with as many as 700 fewer Redbox kiosks in operation in the U.S. market. The net reduction of 500 to 700 machines may not seem like a lot for a company with more than 42,000 kiosks in operation. That’s less than 2 percent of its stateside empire, but it could be the beginning of the end.
The American Gaming Association (AGA), with partner Reed Exhibitions, formally announced plans to move forward with Global Gaming Expo (G2E) 2021 as an in-person event with additional virtual components October 4–7, 2021 (Education: October 4-7 | Expo Hall: October 5-7) at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas.Jun 1, 2021
G2E has always been on the top tier “Go To List” for kiosk market people. Player loyalty kiosks have been a great business for Olea Kiosks and many of the casinos are offering more services such as Check-In and Food Order Kiosks. A tremendous amount of digital signage and wayfinders are deeply embedded into Casinos. Here is the Registration Link
KMA Members At The Show
Nanoptix in 2036. Meet Bruno Roy and team. Nanoptix is a global provider of thermal printing solutions and technologies for the gaming, lottery, kiosk, POS and amusement industries. Nanoptix has earned a reputation of excellent value and customer support, with superior technology at a very competitive price. Add to your show plan
SuzoHapp in 4233. SUZOHAPP is a world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of gaming, amusement, and sports betting products. Serving operators and OEMs for over 60 years, SUZOHAPP carries a vast portfolio of components available for immediate distribution and for developing custom built solutions. Add to your show planner.
Other Notables
Advantech and NIDEC Instruments Kiosk Card Readers and Dispensers
Health and Safety Guidelines
Effective July 30, 2021, Nevada adopted the updated CDC Mask Guidance. At this time, in line with state and local regulations, all individuals are required to wear a face covering while attending G2E. We are monitoring this closely and will continue to adjust our face covering requirements to align with state, local, and venue requirements at the time of the event.
For more details on approved face coverings, please click here.
For more information
Contact [email protected] to be introduced and to learn more regarding solutions
This weekend, the electrifying world of Formula 1 racing descends upon Las Vegas, transforming the city into a high-octane spectacle of speed and excitement.
As these engineering marvels race through the heart of the Strip, making their way around iconic landmarks and neon lights, there’s an added layer of excitement for technology and racing enthusiasts alike. Amidst the roar of engines and the cheering of crowds, Acquire Digital’s innovative LED installations stand as beacons of digital artistry and technological prowess. These installations not only complement the dynamic energy of the F1 race but also offer a unique visual experience that parallels the thrill and sophistication of the event.
Las Vegas is one of the most iconic areas in the world for bigger, brighter, and more exciting displays. Acquire is well placed to enable this to happen with an incredibly flexible platform designed for these Spectacular LED displays.
Here’s a closer look at two of our standout digital installations in Las Vegas that are a must-see while you’re immersed in the race weekend festivities.
Digital Pylon LED Installation at the Forum Shops:
Imagine a towering LED structure, brilliantly lighting up the Las Vegas Strip. Our Digital Pylon at the Forum Shops is a marvel of modern technology. Listed as a ‘must see’ attraction by Visit Las Vegas, this iconic sign features a custom-developed pixel mapping matrix, allowing for individual control of its segments, and synchronized audio and other screens along the Strip to provide for an immersive experience of artwork and advertising.
What sets the Pylon apart is its dynamic live transitions, seamlessly blending advertisements with themed transition content, all powered by Acquire’s core engine platform. With content crafted by the renowned Moment Factory, the display showcases innovative designs that echo classical Roman architecture. As the F1 cars speed past, make sure to catch a glimpse of this mesmerizing display.
Step into the Cosmopolitan Hotel and be greeted by another Acquire masterpiece. Our lobby installation is a bold statement in digital art, offering dynamic, engaging content that captivates visitors. Its technological prowess allows for simultaneous, synchronized playout of multiple 4K videos per column, with a failsafe backup player ensuring continuous operation with the minimum of equipment.
The Acquire Studio platform enabled The Cosmopolitan to trigger some new event-led content specially commissioned and launched for the F1 event. Using all eight columns individually but synchronized to tell the story, and unique audio for each part of the space.
The Acquire platform was chosen to replace a previous installation due to the features, ease of use, and stability of the platform, and was installed in an overall display upgrade through 2021-22.
As the F1 race cars blaze their trails down the Las Vegas Strip, they bring with them a spirit of innovation and exhilaration that resonates perfectly with the ethos of Acquire Digital. Our installations at the Forum Shops and the Cosmopolitan Hotel are more than just visual spectacles; they are embodiments of cutting-edge technology and creative expression, mirroring the dynamism and excitement of Formula 1 racing. These installations are not just to be viewed; they are to be experienced. As you immerse yourself in the adrenaline-pumping environment of the race, take a moment to witness these digital marvels.
At Acquire, we pride ourselves on our portfolio of groundbreaking digital installations that redefine creative boundaries worldwide. Are you envisioning a digital installation that stands out and captivates? Let’s collaborate to bring your vision to life. Contact our team today to explore the boundless possibilities of digital innovation with Acquire.
Customers can enter their phone number and will receive a text when it is ready, instructing them to return to the cooler near the kiosk to pick up their order.
Schnucks shoppers can also place their deli orders using the Schnucks Rewards app. Customers can download the Schnucks Rewards app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
And worth noting these fail ADA (thanks for noting that Olea Kiosks) — They protrude more than 4” into the walkway with nothing below 27” to keep someone from bumping into them…we’ve got solutions for that too…
Dive Deli Kiosk Brief
Schnuck Markets has installed self-service kiosks that enable customers to place deli orders in 30 stores, bringing the units to more than half of the Midwestern supermarket chain’s locations, according to a Monday press release.
The terminals accept orders for sliced meats, cheeses and prepared foods, with the items delivered to an adjacent cooler for shoppers to pick up at their convenience.
Schnucks is increasing its use of the self-service deli-ordering units as retailers look for ways to overcome continuing difficulty in hiring workers to staff their stores.
Not very informative insofar as kiosks go
Costco food order kiosk gen1 – Elo, Verifone and Epson
Deli Kiosk Our Take
Old concept which has generally failed.
Not the first time tablets used for taking orders at Deli. There have been many iterations.
The best iteration we have seen would be Costco. I need a hotdog (or slice of pizza).
Costco could probably use a digital display to notify customers when their order was ready but then we wouldn’t hear the employee periodically yelling. I wonder how many times that has triggered me to order something.
Didn’t see a picture of the cooler they talk about here
You get a text msg when order is ready?
Last fall, Schnucks said it would raise pay for associates in its deli, meat and seafood departments at least $12.75 per hour, more than the $12.10 hourly minimum wage it announced for other workers. I think here in Colorado closer to $20
Meat and deli workers are more likely to be union so retailers tend to take a different strategy with them.
I doubt you ever see this at Wegmans
We notice we don’t have a content category for “deli kiosk” as they are rare at best. For this one post we went ahead and made one, just to have one.
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lilitab worked with the couple to find the best tablet kiosk solution, which turned out being the lilitab Wall Pro. Once the kiosks were in their place on the side of the house, Arne and Davison conducted pilot tests with more than a 100 people to tweak the software and make sure the survey process was smooth and easy. The kiosks are using survey software from San Francisco-based software company QuestionPro. Learn more at CreativeAnimal.org.
