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 1st, 2016).
As technology advances, QSRs are looking for better and easier ways to provide customers with innovation and education. In January of 2015, Jeff Ittel, Senior Vice President of Avnet Embedded predicted that digital menu boards will soon be seen at many QSRs across the country. The main reason? In the long run, it is cheaper than printing out menus every time an ingredient is changed. Mr. Ittel expanded on his thoughts, “Digital menu boards will continue to grow faster than ever with the recent finalization of FDA requirements… The new rules are more stringent than expected and will bolster the proliferation of DMBs across the nation that will seek to keep printing costs down, as a single ingredient change in a recipe could require another print run of menus. The new rules include food trucks and vending machines, so look for digital signage growth in these spaces as well.”
Outdoor digital menu boards allow the flexibility to provide real time nutritional information to customers. Nutritional information can accompany the menu items displayed on the screen and enable customers to make their ordering decision. As Digital Signage Today clarified in a recent article, “Menu labeling is not going away and the faster restaurant operators can take the step toward compliance[,] the better off they will be when the regulations do take effect.”
With that being said, digital menus allow multiple changes to be made in a matter of seconds. It is quite simple for a restaurant owner to mandate a change simultaneously on the backend. With the click of a button, all store locations can be updated with the correct and/or new digital content. The screen content can promote specific menu items, modify menu items, change pricing, and display caloric content under one umbrella. That is convenient!
The Wand Corporation explained it best, “The upcoming FDA menu labeling requirements for calorie counts that kick in on December 1, [2016] apply equally to outdoor menus as they do to indoor. Do not let the regulations have a negative impact on outdoor sales by making your menus even more complicated and busy than they already are— instead use digital techniques, such as movies and motion graphics, to make them simpler, more attractive and dynamic.”
Menu board flexibility has always been one of the driving factors for QSRs to make the shift from static to dynamic digital signage. Not only can content be managed quickly, but attention-grabbing graphics and video can increase sales in the drive-thru. 'Going digital' allows the brand messaging to be consistent throughout all of the company's stores.
The endless possibilities with outdoor digital menu boards far outweigh the initial cost barrier and the boards will greatly assist restaurants in overcoming the fear of complying with the FDA menu labeling laws.
For More Information: Determining the Effectiveness of Outdoor Digital Menu Boards
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