ITSENCLOSURES Blog

Looking to spice up your drive-thru? 

Consider installing presell digital menu boards. They can help draw attention away from the wait itself. An effective or entertaining marketing message can help reduce the perceived wait time in a drive-thru. Richard Ventura, in his article ‘EDS in Drive-Through Service,’ describes the benefit of digital, “By replacing static menu boards with digital signage, QSRs have the ability to create new marketing opportunities that reinforce brand loyalty and help drive additional sales.” For Quick Service Restaurants, approximately 70% of all business comes through the drive-thru. It is imperative to provide an exceptional customer experience and one that will be remembered after the customer drives away with their meal. People frequent a QSR, not only because they enjoy the delicious food, but because the restaurant delivers what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.  Precisely why Burger King has had much success with its popular slogan, “Have It Your Way®.”

Looking to deploy LCD enclosures in the great outdoors?

Many factors and characteristics should be considered when making an LCD enclosure decision, including the type of enclosure material (stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), LCD size, wiring, gaskets, locks, and windows. Wait a minute… windows are windows, right? They are just a piece of glass that protects the LCD. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Many different varieties of windows exist with an assortment of different films or coating that can be added. With so many options to choose from, this blog will focus on two of the top window materials used when designing and installing an outdoor LCD enclosure.

There are many exciting and beneficial aspects of utilizing vibrant outdoor digital menu boards in a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) drive-thru lane.

Menu boards are sleek, eye-catching, and persuasive by themselves, but what technologies can be used to make the menu boards even smarter and ultimately increase food and beverage sales? A QSR’s menu board is one of the most important marketing and communication tools the store has in its arsenal, so why not maximize the utility of the digital menus and make them extremely intelligent? As technology continues to advance at fast rates, there are a few new ways to make digital menu boards extra “smart!”

Looking to deploy dynamic and vibrant outdoor digital marketing in the New Year?

With dynamic digital menu boards, Quick Service Restaurants have the ability to quickly and efficiently update or change various aspects of the menu.

The entire chain can make a menu change with a click of a button, which saves a great amount of time, especially for large chains like Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Arby’s. With over 70% of the overall business accounted for in the drive-thru, why would a QSR not want to take advantage of the benefits of outdoor digital menu boards? They can save a QSR a good deal of money in the long run.

Considering an outdoor digital deployment in the New Year?

As prices slowly fall on enclosures, LCDs and content, more and more Quick Service Restaurant’s (QSR) are deciding that it is finally time to “go digital” both indoors and out. As Ben Sillitoe discussed in Essential Retail, “Research group IHS released a study in the summer, which predicted that digital signage revenue is set to grow by 10% year [to] year in 2015 and a further 7% in 2016. The organization's Digital Signage Industry Market Tracker indicated that, as the total cost of the technology, continues to decrease each year, expanded deployment is becoming more feasible for a variety of industry sectors.” Starbucks is a great example of a company that will be getting into the game… in a big way! The coffee giant plans on adding 2,400 outdoor digital menu boards in the next year.

With already proven indoor digital signage at many QSRs (McDonald’s, Wendy's, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, Taco Bell) across America, outdoor signage does not have to be a tremendous mountain to climb. In fact, some enclosure fabricators are now offering outdoor enclosures that are landscape oriented, which makes the transition from indoor to outdoor that much simpler. The content does not have to be reimagined, resized, revised, and reworked. It is already completed! Content is just one area that must be explored when planning a digital strategy. What are the five most important aspects of digital to consider from the very beginning?

America has quite the love affair with quickly grabbing breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon drinks/snacks and fourth meal at the drive-thru.

In fact, it is estimated that 60-70% (some chains claim 85%) of all Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) business comes directly through the convenient drive-thru. That is over two-thirds of all quick service restaurant sales! According to QSR Magazine, “Visits to quick-service drive-thru’s were up 2 percent to 12.4 billion in 2014, according to research from The NPD Group, with drive thru representing a larger share of business than either carry-out or dine-in.” Precisely why QSRs should constantly be spending time and money improving the overall drive-thru experience. 

As technologies continue to advance, outdoor digital menu boards have turned out to be far less expensive to deploy and maintain over time.

They are more economical than ever before and quite attractive for Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) to commit to larger roll-outs in their drive-thrus. If QSRs are willing to make the leap (small or giant) to digital both indoors and out, the result could make for a more profitable bottom line.

Realizing a considerable profit is every company’s pricing strategy. With the use of static menu boards, the idea of quickly switching images or prices -- beyond promoting value meals and limited time offers -- is quite rare. Constantly printing new or revised menus, removing and replacing menu board sheets, changing various prices, and adding new decals is very time consuming and extremely expensive for any QSR. This is especially true for large United States chains with more than 10,000(!) stores, like Subway, McDonald’s, and Starbucks. The costs for devising the perfect pricing strategy will add up quickly with static signage. 

Outdoor digital menu boards have made tremendous technological advances since the first introduction to the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) market.

QSRs began expressing interest in digital menus for drive-thru lanes roughly 10 years ago, as they began the transition (across the board) from static to digital, both indoors… and out. The drive-thru is not something that should be ignored when implementing digital signage. According to Steve McDonnell from Demand Media, McDonald’s drive-thru accounts for 65% of all sales and he added, “QSR and Insula Research estimate that about 50 to 70 percent of fast food sales arrive courtesy of drive-thru windows.” In fact, a recent AYTM survey showed that only 6% of those polled would never use a drive-thru… only 6%. The drive-thru is very important to a QSR, which simply means that they should make it the best and most efficient experience for customers. Precisely why QSRs are starting to install outdoor digital menu boards. It is the future, plain and simple. 

To a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), there are numerous benefits to making the switch to digital menu boards inside and out.

Quickly making changes to the menu, featuring Limited Time Offers (LTOs), and swapping out the day part are some of the more obvious reasons QSRs are making the decision to ‘go digital.’ However, digital boards also offer the flexibility to display the FDA mandated menu labeling nutritional content (deadline is December 1^st, 2016).