Kiosk News Articles
Couple of new articles out there mainly pointing to Labor Shortage as a prominent driver for self-order kiosks.
Excerpt From Mondelez
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
Resources listed
- One size does not fit all
- 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.
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