The kiosk is not an afterthought
Bite’s Brandon Barton on best (and worst) practices for deploying self-service touchscreens in restaurants
When chain restaurant execs describe the benefits of self-service in-store ordering screens, they use phrases like “driving ticket uplift and streamlining operations,” (Yum Brands’ chief financial officer Chris Turner). Or, they say the screens allow things like “visual merchandising of our menu,” (Katie Fogertey, Shake Shack’s chief financial officer).
Translated, the corporate speak explains that kiosks offer guests a quality ordering experience. So good, in fact, that diners tend to order even more food when they use them. Both Yum Brands and Shake Shack have seen such great success when testing kiosks that they’ve expedited their rollout in stores.
According to data from this year’s National Restaurant Association State of the Industry report, 40 percent of adults believe the single most impactful restaurant technology makes ordering easier and faster. Data from the report also shows that Millennial and Gen Z diners are split almost equally on their preference to use tech like a kiosk and the more “traditional” option of talking to a human to place an order.
Brandon Barton is CEO at Bite, a kiosk and digital ordering provider (soon to announce a round of Series A funding!) that works with hundreds of quick-service and convenience store brands. He’s also worked in restaurant technology for over 15 years — longer than I’ve been covering it — with roles at Avero and Resy before Bite — and at Union Square Hospitality Group before that. I appreciate his perspective.
I also appreciate a tech CEO’s focus on hospitality. “We want to partner with brands that want to make a beautiful guest experience,” Barton told me in a recent interview, a nod to a real best-case-scenario for tech in restaurants. “That’s what we care about.”
Barton also shared more insights during our chat, including common mistakes and misconceptions, the wrong number of kiosks to deploy in any given location, and what's coming next for digital ordering inside restaurants.
Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Expedite: You’ve said — I think on LinkedIn — you see a right way and a wrong way for kiosks to show up in restaurants, and that small mistakes can lead to big problems. Six years in, can you tell me what you’d consider best practices?
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