Category Archives: Kiosk picks

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Learn from experts and join the community. We are a collective “co-op.” We distribute RFPs (an average of 10 per month) and provide comparison RFPs as templates for other deploying companies to check and compare their RFP composition.

We provide insight, information, open discussion, and opinion. Advertisers do not pay for our content. We support the Kiosk Manufacturers Association (KMA), however the views here do not necessarily represent the official KMA policy stance. For the KMA stance, please visit the KMA site.

Panera 2.0 Initiative Gives Investors 10% Return!

Since 2012, Panera Bread has been driving growth in their restaurants and have invested in tablet kiosks (which is part of their Panera 2.0 initiative) to increase their sales and customer experience.

Source: www.linkedin.com

Nice breakdown on the positive “consequences” of expanding customer choices (aka omnichanneling if I may). In Panera’s case the increased rate of return is what counts to investors (and the Board of Directors).

 

More ways to order mean more orders in this case right? 

Whitepaper – Smart Technology & Interactive Retail

Smart technology consumer products are breaking the interactive retail barrier in creative, educational and experiential ways. Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc. sponsored a white paper, “Interactive retail opens the door to market growth”, delving into this topic and what to watch for in the coming year. An excerpt from the whitepaper: While more and more retailers offer experiential… Read More »

Case Study – Courthouse Bill Payment with MEI BNR

A speedy way to pay your speeding ticket When General Payment Systems, Inc. (GPSI) made the move into courthouse payment systems, they needed a compact solution that focused on a number of criteria including efficiency and reliability. The company found the perfect product thanks to an innovative cash recycler from Crane Payment Innovations. “We were moving into the court space and ultimately… Read More »

Wendy’s Serves Up Big Kiosk Expansion As Wage Hikes Hit Fast Food

Wendy’s will make self-service ordering kiosks available to all of its franchises later this year as minimum wage hikes help market push labor costs.

Source: www.investors.com

6,000 plus restaurants getting selfservice kiosks. Adoption rests with the franchisees. Most have been raising prices. Most of minimum wage is phased in years from now and virtually unchanged in California.

 

  • New York went from 9.00 to 10.50 (on way to 15)
  • CA went to $10 this from $9.00
  • Company owned Wendy stores number is 5% of total stores.
  • Wage inflation seen at company stores is 5%
  • More customers hit bottom line at 3.6% same store sales increase for last quarter

 

Wendy’s President Todd Penegor said, “wage pressures have been manageable both because of falling commodity prices and better operating leverage due to an increase in customer counts. Still, the company is wary about both wage hikes and a possible recovery in commodity prices and is “working so hard to find efficiencies” so it can deliver “a new QSR experience but at traditional QSR prices.”

 

In addition to self-order kiosks, the company is also getting ready to move beyond the testing phase with labor-saving mobile ordering and mobile payment available systemwide by the end of the year. Yum Brands and McDonald’s already have mobile ordering apps.

 

TECA kiosk cooling is latest member of Kiosk Industry Group

TECA Kiosk Cooling & Heating makes a wide range of solid state thermoelectric cooling products, including air-conditioners, cold plates and liquid chillers.

Source: kioskindustry.org

New member TECA which makes thermoelectric cooling units.  TECA split off from Borg a few years ago and makes a terrific kiosk cooling partner.  When space is at a premium the normal condensing HVAC is not going to work and you have to go thermo. Their sizing calculator is outstanding.

Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc. announces promotion

Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc. announces the promotion of Danielle Nelson to Account Executive. Grafton, WI, June 27, 2016 – We are pleased to announce the appointment of Danielle Nelson as an Account Executive with Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc. Danielle’s background as a Sales Associates has given her experience working with brands and retailers to develop cohesive… Read More »

Kiosk Best Practice – Picking a Provider

Picking a Self Service Provider To assist the industry Kiosk Industry Group publishes vendor neutral kiosk best practice studies. Thanks to our sponsors for making this possible. Olea Kiosk for custom and standard kiosks, KioWare with software for kiosks, KIOSK Information Systems, ARCA payment automation, PROVISIO kiosk software, Crane currency management, OptConnect with 3G/4G connectivity for kiosks & ATMs. and TurnKey Kiosks with… Read More »

New Kiosk Software for Android Adds Knox Support & MDM

Android Kiosk Software Adds Knox Support and advanced MDM functions KioWare has released a new version of KioWare for Android (Version 3.9) which moves KioWare significantly into the realm of MDM and adds new interactive digital signage features.   The full press release is found here: http://www.sitekiosk.com/news.aspx?nid=275 Highlighting the relevant points Adds some features specific to Samsung devices (via… Read More »

Marijuana kiosk – Creating a cash-accepting marijuana kiosk

KioWare, Crane Payment and Olea team up in the cannabis market

Source: www.cpbj.com

KioWare is writing the software for the kiosk while California-based Olea Kiosks Inc. is designing and manufacturing the actual kiosk. Malvern-based Crane Payment Innovations is designing equipment for handling money inside the kiosk.

 

“I look at it like the kiosks that are coming into the fast food industry now,” said Frank Olea, CEO at Olea. “You place your order yourself on an electric board, and you take the receipt to the front counter where they hand you your food. That’s how it works.”

 

Read full article. It’s very good.

Retail Kiosks and their ROI

Retail kiosks — a good idea for retailers and a good idea for customers.  Providing self-service option is rapidly becoming not an option.

Source: www.olea.com

New writeup by Olea on rationale and ROI for Retail Kiosks. Some of the advantages discussed include:

 

  • Virtual sales assistance for customers
  • Expanding the footprint of the retailer
  • Reducing labor costs
  • Redeploy staff to increasing revenues
  • Eliminate standing in line (line busting)

 

Good examples of kiosks like this are the ones in REI where you can look up extended stock and sizes, same thing for Cabela’s and also Kohls.

8 Signs of Amateur Touchscreen Kiosk Application

Have you ever been using a self-service kiosk and thought to yourself “that’s obviously not right?”  Anyone who uses kiosks on a regular basis has at some point interacted with a kiosk that was less than professional.  As a kiosk software company we’ve had the privilege of developing kiosk applications deployed across the US and I’ve compiled a list of signs …

Source: blog.kiosksimple.com

Eight big (and usual) “NOT THE BEST IDEA” implementations. Case studies in reverse can be useful. Avoid the usual errors *and assumptions.

McDonalds kiosk – Evolution of fast-food. More people + automation . 

McDonald’s is simply responding to competition from other chains that have offered “enhanced burgers,” said Hilda Fahey, a company representative who was in Simcoe to help with the changeover to the new services at the Queensway East restaurant.

Source: www.simcoereformer.ca

“We have 35 different people we didn’t have before,” Maskell said on a Wednesday afternoon while preparing for an opening that night for the new services.

 

More people are needed in the kitchen, he explained, to service the customers out front.

Pursuant Health kiosks for Diabetes to offer Risk Test

Pursuant Health’s national, in-store health kiosk network will begin connecting consumers to the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Risk Test.

Source: www.chaindrugreview.com

Pursuant Health said the ADA’s test, which helps build public awareness of the risks for type 2 diabetes, will be available through its more than 3,600 health kiosks in retail pharmacy locations, including such chains as Walmart and Safeway. Plans call for Pursuant’s kiosks to offer the test for three years, starting in November recognition of American Diabetes Month.

PCI Kiosk – FreedomPay & Ingenico

EMV Kiosk – FreedomPay EMV Processing October 19, 2016 – YORK, PA.  pleased to announce the integration and certification of the FreedomPay EMV payment processing system.  The FreedomPay solution offers EMV compliance using Ingenico’s iSelf Series of unattended devices with processors including Heartland, First Data, and Elavon. The FreedomPay integration joins a list of other payment solutions that… Read More »

Why retail automation is finally revolutionizing quick service restaurants

Restaurants such as McDonald’s and Panera Bread are leading the charge toward automation in the quick-service food industry, which offers an important example of how the labor market is transforming.

Source: www.zdnet.com

Nice article by ZDNet. “The $15 per hour wage talks spooked a lot of fast food companies and forced them to look at ways to cut head count and augment labor costs,” said Frank Olea, CEO of Los Angeles-based kiosk manufacturer Olea Kiosks. “This technology has been available to restaurants for years, but price was high and labor was cheap. Now it’s getting to the spot where brands can see the ROI.”

A year after the US deadline, EMV compliance lags

EMV system compliance has taken longer than many expected due to the complexity of integrating certified hardware with software and processors. Part 1 in a two-part series explores why the transition has taken so long, especially in the unattended retail sector.

Source: www.kioskmarketplace.com

“It does seem like it could be going better on the deployment side,” said Frank Olea, CEO of Olea Kiosks Inc., a kiosk designer and manufacturer. He said the payment processors have to become familiar with EMV-compliant hardware, which takes time.

 

“The retailers all have to change to this technology, so there is a rush on equipment, and there’s a rush on certification,” said Paul Burden, director of software a Meridian Kiosk.

 

“EMV requires communication in both directions [between the processor and the chip card],” said Greg Burch, vice president of strategic development at payment equipment manufacturer Ingenico Group. “The complexities of that are much more than traditional magstripe.”

 

“It’s a more complicated integration,” agreed Rob Chilcoat, president of operations at UCP Inc., an EMV compliance consultant that assists companies with EMV migration. “Every link in the chain has to be certified.”

 

“These smart terminals actually package and encrypt the data before it ever leaves the device, which is a concept called point-to-point encryption,” Chilcoat said. “Combined with Derived Unique Key Per Transaction, that is what ultimately provides the security assurances to the merchants and the kiosk providers that their system won’t ever be the source of a significant breach of customer card data.”

 

 

Restaurant Tech News – NRA Tradeshow Press Release

Restaurant Kiosk and Digital Menu Board News As noted on APnews and PRnewswire DENVER, Colo., May 17, 2022 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — May 2022 Self-Service News – Association of Kiosk Manufacturers. Since 1996, for 26 years serving the self-service technology market. Here is our collected information for the upcoming National Restaurant Show in Chicago. View image for this story: https://www.send2press.com/wire/images/22-0217-s2p-kma-kiosk-800×600.jpg… Read More »

Automated Bar for Sports Fans w/ Facial Recognition & Age Verification

Automated Bar Service News IDmission brings verification, convenience, and security to TendedBar automated cocktail service Jacksonville, FL – Whether it’s an NFL Game, an Elton John, Metallica, or Bruno Mars concert, or the final round of a PGA TOUR event, the last thing fans want to do is miss the action while waiting in line to get a drink.  TendedBar,… Read More »

Facial Recognition Kiosks – KFC China Goes Facial on us

KFC Biometrics TechCrunch reports that KFC China is going to try facial recognition technology.  Couple that with demographic and historical data and you can begin to approach smart ordering. Baidu and KFC’s new smart restaurant suggests what to order based on your face Baidu is demonstrating some of its most recent tech advancements in novel ways, including a… Read More »

AR Kiosks News – Time for developers to get real

Augmented reality technology blends virtual reality with real-world images to create immersive user experiences. Developers need to get ready — really.

Source: searchcloudapplications.techtarget.com

Gartner believes by 2020, 100 million consumers will leverage augmented reality technology for online retail, an experience characterized as “immersive shopping.” It’s coming quickly; Gartner predicts 20% of global retail brands will adopt some form of augmented reality during 2017.

Automated Retail Kiosk News – Will automation take away our jobs?

Here’s a paradox you don’t hear much about: despite a century of creating machines to do our work for us, the proportion of adults in the US with a job has consistently gone up for the past 125 years. Why hasn’t human labor become redundant and our skills obsolete? 

Source: www.ted.com

In this talk about the future of work, economist David Autor addresses the question of why there are still so many jobs and comes up with a surprising, hopeful answer.